Has the U.S. Passed the Point of Peak Water?

Freshwater is fundamental for maintaining human health, agricultural production, economic activity, and critical ecosystem functions. But as populations and economies grow, new constraints on water resources are appearing, raising questions about ultimate limits to water availability. Such resource questions are not new. The specter of “peak oil”–a peaking and then decline in oil production–has long […]

Water Crisis Threatens Asia’s Rise

Framed by banana and eucalyptus trees, the caramel-colored Mekong River rolls through this lush corner of Yunnan Province in southwestern China with an unerring rhythm that is reassuring in its seeming timelessness. Yet as recently as April, a fearsome drought had shriveled the Mekong to its narrowest width in 50 years. Water levels were so […]

Report: China’s auto population will exceed 200M by 2020; causing “serious environmental issues”

Wang Fuchang, director of China’s Department of Equipment Industry, delivered a speech at the 2010 International Forum on the Development of the Chinese Automotive Industry held on September 5th stating: “It is estimated that automobile ownership in China will exceed 200 million in 2020, causing serious energy security and environmental issues. Striving to promote the […]

UAE minister not concerned with oil prices over $80

UAE Oil Minister Mohammed al Hamli said on Saturday that there was still some oversupply in the global oil market and that he was not concerned with prices hovering above the $80 threshold. Oil prices hovered near $82 per barrel on Friday, after rising during the week on a weaker dollar, but tempered by signs […]

Study: Global warming, energy shortages, food scarcity and recession could cause industrial ‘failure’ in 10 years

New research warns that oil-based industrial civilization will not survive the 21st century, and calls for a ‘post-carbon industrial revolution’. In the first peer-reviewed study of its kind, a new report by the Institute for Policy Research & Development (IPRD) in London warns that abrupt climate change, energy shortages, food scarcities and economic turmoil could […]

Want to conserve energy and resources? Stop wasting food

Supporting renewable and alternative sources of energy, recycling and driving your car less, are a few commonly-known and practical ways to improve the quality of the environment and conserve valuable resources. But a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology has found that if Americans would simply stop wasting food, the nation […]

Work, Exergy, the Economy, Money, and Wealth

This is something of a tutorial on the relationship between energy and the economy. I have been dismayed by how often people express their lack of knowledge about that relationship. Such expressions come in the form of beliefs that money is what drives the economy. Or the belief that the human desire to accumulate monetary […]

A Transportation Follow-Up

Ray LaHood, the Secretary for the Department of Transportation, recently noted on his own blog that in the course of his meetings with city officials at last week’s U.S. Conference of Mayors, their primary concern was about transportation (and infrastructure). These are the elected men and women closest to everyday life for Americans and the […]

U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels

With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels. Last week, a Marine company from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: […]

“Racing Against Time:” Running on Empty?

Welcome, Honda Motor visitors. I’m delighted to participate in this conversation.  I’m a clinical psychologist, got my doctoral degree 22 years ago, and I’ve been reading and answering letters from people who have learned about Peak Oil, started feeling crazy, and needed to talk to somebody who “got it.”  So they write to me.  Feel […]

Middle East Gas Consumption Outpaces Production

Rapid economic growth in the Middle East has resulted in the consumption of natural gas outpacing production, according to the Ernst & Young report, The Global Gas Challenge. As a result, tension exists between the requirement to supply domestic markets to fuel economic growth and the desire to achieve higher revenues via export sales agreements. […]

Australia holds Forum on Food Security

EXPERTS are gathering in Brisbane to discuss how to feed the world’s burgeoning population, amid forecasts food prices could rise by 50 per cent within 10 years. A public forum on food security will be held tonight as part of a three-day summit on one of the world’s most critical challenges. The event aims to […]

Managing Water as Scarcity Looms

Jean-Louis Chaussade, the chief executive of Suez Environnement SA, sees the world in terms of water: The map is becoming arid and full of opportunity. As the world’s population grows and migrates to cities, water shortages are happening in places where scarcity was unthinkable only five years ago, such as the Spanish coast. Even London, […]

Peak Oil Demand: The Beginning and End of Oil

It is demand for oil that may peak as governments adapt to the problems of global warming, security of supply and an amplitude of market volatility that could bring economic ruin to nations and then the world. Oil-demand may be reduced preemptively to the production peak (peak oil) through more efficient vehicle technologies and finding […]

UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome

The world may be on the brink of a major new food crisis caused by environmental disasters and rampant market speculators, the UN was warned today at an emergency meeting on food price inflation. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) meeting in Rome today was called last month after a heatwave and wildfires in […]

Peak Oil? Why not Peak Water

Peak Oil? Why not Peak Water, after all, water is much more crucial to life than oil ever will be and it’s being consumed in vast quantities by the same economic system that chows oil? In fact, water is a far more potent and relevant symbol of the way capitalism chows the planet than is […]

Will the world achieve food security?

The world has to increase food production by 50 percent by 2030 and double it by 2050 to meet future demand. This seems to be the consensus among economists, scientists, politicians and representatives of the agricultural industry. But does the world really have to do so? Even if the global population crosses 9 billion by […]

Rising Energy Demand Hits Water Scarcity ‘Choke Point’

“We are about to see water wars in the future,” said U.S. General Anthony Zinni. “We have seen fuel wars; we’re about to see water wars.” The study was carried out by Circle of Blue, a network of journalists and scientists dedicated to water sustainability, and could have implications not just for the relationship between […]

The storm in agriculture

Whether Thomas Malthus will have the last laugh will be known in around 50 years. For most of the past few decades, powered by the confidence of the Green Revolution, we have been laughing at the Malthusian paranoia of population growth outstripping food production. World population has grown from around three billion in 1960 to […]

Systemic Risk Arising from a Financial System that Requires Growth in a World with Limited Oil Supply

It seems to me that if we are in fact reaching limits with respect to oil supply, this should be of considerable concern. We have a financial system that demands economic growth, for reasons that will be discussed later in this paper. At the same time, as we approach limits with respect to oil production, […]

A Post-Growth Economy FAQ

Behind the problems of climate change, resource depletion and biodiversity loss, not to mention a fair degree of injustice, is our pursuit of economic growth. It is the driver behind ever increasing consumption, and we will never achieve a sustainable society without addressing the issue of growth. There is one compelling, and in my opinion […]

Cluck Trek: a tour of local chicken coops

This past weekend, one of the Transition groups in our greater Los Angeles area offered a Cluck Trek: a tour of local chicken coops. Chickens are the happening thing in the city — as evidenced by the fact that the event was highlighted by the Los Angeles Times (none of our Transition events have ever […]

Scarcity: The Fountain of Innovation

With concerns about peak oil, peak water, peak real estate, peak financial markets – and just about peak everything else – scarcity is on the minds of business and political leaders alike. The panel members come at scarcity from diverse disciplines. I come at it from the perspective of environmental sustainability, where scarcity has been […]

Is the World Prepared for the Next Food Crisis

Food riots that took a toll on a number of developing countries in 2008, now appear to be repeating, with thirteen people killed in Mozambique in the wake of rising bread prices in early September. One must thus ask whether the world is better prepared today to deal with high international food prices and to […]

Interview with Bob Hirsch on his team’s new book—“The Impending World Energy Mess”

Andrews: In your earlier work dating back at least five years, you resisted forecasting a time frame for peak oil. There seems to be a bit of a change on that front in your book. Care to comment on that? Bob Hirsch: In years past, there was considerable uncertainty in my mind about when the […]

Biologist looks at consumerism and our world

Q: What do you think is the biggest sustainability issue our nation faces? Consumption. We are a nation driven by consumption. The world’s richest 10 percent account for 59 percent of the world’s consumption. The poorest 10 percent account for 0.5 percent. The U.S. has about 5 percent of the world’s population and accounts for […]

Russia Inks $6 Billion Deal with China to Supply 475 Million Tonnes of Coal

Russia has agreed to supply China with 475 million tonnes of coal over the next 25 years. In a new deal between the two countries, China will provide Russia with a $6 billion loan to finance the development of several coal projects into large-scale mines. The announcement followed a conference on energy cooperation in Blagoveshchensk, […]

Is Peak Oil a Disaster or Are We Just Soft?

On the weekends my wife and I sometimes turn off our brains and watch hour after hour of disaster porn. As the giant comet, asteroid or alien ship appears in the skies, Americans look up from their handheld devices and people around the world run in panic. The Japanese are still in good shape thanks […]

Andrew Sullivan: Peak Oil, Meh

“Will it be the end of civilization?  No.  But surely dealing with the coming oil crisis is a major policy concern for all people across the political spectrum.” With some slight modifications, the post below is the letter I sent to both Andrew Sullivan and Reihan Salam yesterday in response to Salam’s post minimizing the […]

China may relax its one-child rule

An aging population and the need for more workers have prompted China’s Communist Party to consider relaxing the decades-long ban that restricts most couples to one child, a harsh policy marked by forced abortions, sterilizations and fines for those who have more than one. In 2011, China will start pilot projects in five provinces, all […]

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