Oil, Climate, Agriculture and Learning to Love Limits

“New technology is almost as alluring as sex. Once humans have experienced any invention that eases physical effort, they will not give it up. That is the behavioral characteristic that may destroy us as a species. Curiously, only in sports do we agree to eschew technological advances, making rules, for example, to limit the power […]

Agreement for New Global Treaty To Reduce Emissions

The world is increasingly committed to dangerous levels of global warming with yet another failure by nations of the world to agree to needed reductions in carbon emissions here in Durban. However, as the 17th Conference of Parties ended early Sunday morning, members did agree to talk about a new global treaty to reduce emissions. […]

Kurt Cobb: Deconstructing “ethical oil”

When I stumbled across the site EthicalOil.org recently, I thought there was a small chance that it was a parody. And, it turns out that the site reads like a parody in some places even though I am certain that the owners are dead serious. You see, the site is a defense of the Canadian […]

EPA links natural gas fracking to contamination of water supply aquifer

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a preliminary report linking chemicals found in a Wyoming drinking water aquifer to hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells in the area. The EPA first began an investigation in 2008 after people in a small community near Pavillion, WY contacted the agency reporting changes in the smell […]

BP: Halliburton Destroyed Test Results On Deepwater Horizon Cement

BP on Monday accused oilfield-services giant Halliburton of destroying unfavorable results from tests on cement used to plug the leaking well in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Halliburton prepared the cement mix that BP had used to plug the deep-water well that blew out in April 2010, killing 11 and unleashing a huge oil spill. In […]

Economics trumps environment in crisis

“Economics trumps the environment. The emission targets set by the Kyoto Protocol will expire next year, and negotiators are fighting to keep UN climate talks on track while efforts to save the Euro push the struggle to save the planet down the priority list. In the United States, seen as the biggest single obstacle to […]

TEPCO Again Underplays Severity of Situation at Fukushima

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is once again trying to mislead the public on the severity of the situation at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. On November 30, TEPCO reported “fuel at the No. 1 reactor may have eroded part of the primary containment vessel’s thick concrete floor” and has “seeped deeper […]

25% Of World’s Land Highly Degraded

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has issued a report about the state of the world’s agricultural land. In the report – the State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) – they reported that in order to keep up with the world’s growing population, food production systems, […]

Radioactive fallout scatters in Japan

Japan’s Science Ministry says radioactive substances from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have spread across the country following Japan’s devastating temblor in March. The ministry said that the cesium from the stricken nuclear plant has now reached all prefectures including Uruma in Okinawa Prefecture, about 1,700 kilometers from the plant, Japan’s daily newspaper The Japan […]

Study Funded By National Science Foundation Concludes: ‘Global Warming Rate Less Than Feared’

As serious scientists pull back from the alarmist predictions of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and from the extreme policy pronouncements of left-wing lobby groups, the complex reality of climate is starting to emerge. AFP reports today, “Global warming rate less than feared: study”: High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may […]

R-Squared Energy TV: Episode 2 – Environmentalist and Debunking Myths

This week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV considers a couple of questions that I receive from time to time. The questions are as follows: You’ve called yourself an environmentalist in the past; can you expound on that? What causes do you support? Do you get enjoyment out of debunking myths? Popout Next week’s episode will […]

Shale gas push ‘would wreck UK’s climate change targets’

The UK will fail to meet its climate change targets if industry and politicians back controversial new plans to go ahead with widespread drilling for shale gas, according to a report published on Wednesday. About 2tr cubic feet of natural gas trapped in dense shale rocks is estimated to lie beneath Lancashire according to Cuadrilla […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: A Report to Remember

Last week the International Energy Agency released its annual report (600 pages) on just where energy production and consumption in the world is going over the next 25 years. Four or five years back, producing the annual World Energy Outlook was a rather straightforward task. All the IEA had to do was to take the […]

Fukushima: “China Syndrome Is Inevitable” … “Huge Steam Explosions”, or “Nuclear Bomb-Type Explosions” May Occur

Fukushima May Blow I’ve repeatedly noted that we may experience a “China syndrome” type of accident at Fukushima. For example, I pointed out in September: Mainichi Dailly News notes: As a radiation meteorology and nuclear safety expert at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, Hiroaki Koide [says]: The nuclear disaster is ongoing. *** At present, I […]

Date and Rate of Earth’s Most Extreme Extinction

It’s well known that Earth’s most severe mass extinction occurred about 250 million years ago. What’s not well known is the specific time when the extinctions occurred. A team of researchers from North America and China have published a paper in Science which explicitly provides the date and rate of extinction. “This is the first […]

Peak oil and Global Warming

Professor Heinberg discusses the links between peak oil and global warming. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels to prevent climate change. This would reduce the risk of oil wars and help stabilize oil prices as the global economy transitions to renewable energy.

The Crisis of Civilization: Trailer

The Crisis of Civilization crisisofcivilization.com is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system. Weaving together archival film footage and animations, film-maker Dean Puckett , animator Lucca Benney and international security analyst Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed […]

Radioactive Iodine Blankets Much of Europe … Everyone Points Fingers

Reuters notes that elevated levels of radioactive iodine have been detected in Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. The Stockholm News reports that Denmark and Poland are also experiencing heightened radiation. NHK notes that Russia has been hit as well. AP notes that the radioactive releases are ongoing: An official [from the International Atomic Energy Agency] familiar with […]

Population, growth raise capacity issues

The recent much-ballyhooed birth of the 7 billionth member of the living human race provides an occasion to reflect on the world population’s rapid growth and the prospects for the survival of a habitable environment as we press on toward 8 billion. For example, there is this question to consider: How many human beings can […]

India was the first in the world to initiate family planning

With its population crossing seven billion people, the world just got more crowded – as did India. Babatunde Osotimehin , director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), spoke with Monobina Gupta about the challenges a growing population presents – and the advantages it can offer: How should policymakers and communities meet the complex and […]

IEA: Time running out to limit earth’s warming

The International Energy Agency warned Wednesday that the world is hurtling toward irreversible climate change and will lose the chance to limit warming if it doesn’t take bold action in the next five years. In its annual World Energy Outlook, the agency spelled out the consequences if those steps aren’t taken and what needs to […]

Population size, growth raise capacity questions

Last week’s much-ballyhooed birth of the 7 billionth member of the living human race provides an occasion to reflect on the world population’s rapid growth and the prospects for the survival of a habitable environment as we press on toward 8 billion. For example, there is this question to consider: How many human beings can […]

Is ‘Peak Oil’ The End Of The World?

Please watch both of Alec’s video and subscribe to his channel at the following links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLazDpqmijU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS_XQNVzvXE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL The Documentary “Collapse!” Part 1: http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/50078/Collapse__part_1_/ Part 2: http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/50113/Collapse__part_2_/ An important 1 hour long lecture on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vII-GxsrR2c&feature=bf_next&list=WL689… And other shorter, relevant videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/CollapseMovie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A06Jioj5zJQ&feature=channel_video_title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHKp5vF_VoE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDrBLIdn9SA

As Dolphins Die, Gulf Residents Ask, ‘What About Us?’

Willie Seaman of Irvington, AL, lays carpet and floors for a living. But last summer, as the BP well gushed thousands of barrels of oil daily into the Gulf, Seaman signed up with the BP cleanup program, working on a shrimp boat several miles off shore. It was brutally hot and the smell of oil was putrid, […]

ASPO-Italy 5: beyond peak oil

Peak oil is behind us. That much seems to be clear from what was said at the 5th meeting of the Italian section of the Association for the study of peak oil (ASPO) held on Oct 28 in Florence, Italy. Already in the first talk of the meeting; the one given by Ian Johnson, secretary […]

Overpopulation the real problem

The most ghoulish thing to happen this Halloween is that the world’s human population reached seven billion. Moreover, the United Nations Population Fund is predicting that, depending upon fertility rates, the global population could exceed nine billion by 2050 and even reach 15 billion by 2100. As individuals we know how much we consume, and […]

Global 7 Billion: Half a Solution from Ted Turner

In 1950 world population was 2.5 billion. This week it passed 7 billion, an ominous occasion marked by various events across the globe, including a special CNN editorialpenned by none other than f0rmer boss Ted Turner. Turner has a right to opine on population growth and global poverty implication, seeing as he donated $1bn to set up […]

Five myths about the world’s population

1The world is overpopulated. Sure, 7 billion is a big number. But most serious demographers, economists and population specialists rarely use the term “overpopulation” — because there is no clear demographic definition. For instance, is Haiti, with an annual population growth rate of 1.3 percent, overpopulated? If it is, then was the United States overpopulated […]

Federal probe into hydraulic fracturing and its effects on drinking water to begin

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released the outlines of its long-awaited probe into whether hydraulic fracturing — the unconventional drilling technique that’s led to a boom in domestic natural gas production — is contaminating drinking-water supplies. Investigators will try to determine the impact of large-scale water withdrawals, aboveground spills of drilling fluids, and the […]

Breaking a Long Silence on Population Control

Major American environmental groups have dodged the subject of population control for decades, wary of getting caught up in the bruising politics of reproductive health. Yet, virtually alone, the Center for Biological Diversity is breaking the taboo by directly tying population growth to environmental problems through efforts like giving away condoms in colorful packages depicting endangered animals. […]

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