Can ‘peak oil’ help slow climate change?

“Peak oil” describes the point at which the production of petroleum reaches its final high-point and begins a terminal decline. Given that oil is a finite resource, everyone agrees that a peak is inevitable, but views differ about when it is likely to happen and what the impacts will be. Some experts argue that the […]

India’s population reaches 1.21 billion

India added more than 181 million people to its swelling population in the past decade, growing to more than 1.21 billion, according to census data released yesterday. “We are now over 17 percent of the world population, and India is 2.4 percent of the world’s surface area,’’ said C. Chandramauli, India’s census commissioner. The census’s […]

When the Fukushima Meltdown Hits Groundwater

Fukushima is going to dwarf Chenobyl. The Japanese government has had a level 7 nuclear disaster going for almost a week but won’t admit it. The disaster is occurring the opposite way than Chernobyl, which exploded and stopped the reaction. At Fukushima, the reactions are getting worse. I suspect three nuclear piles are in meltdown and we will […]

Fukushima Dai-ichi status and prognosis

The disjointed news flow from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) continues to provide a confusing picture of the status of the 4 crippled nuclear power stations at Fukushima Dai-ichi on the East coast of Japan. This is leading to a very broad spectrum of opinion on the actual status and future consequences. The spectrum of […]

Peak Oil and Depopulation

The growth of the human population cannot continue forever—there is a limit to our numbers, even if we cannot specify what that limit might be.  There is also a limit to how much oil can be extracted from our planet, even if we don’t know exactly how much oil there really is.  These two variables […]

Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor

The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site. The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation […]

Radiation Found in Massachusetts Rainwater

Radiation from the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan is now showing up in rain in Massachusetts, health officials announced today. The state Department of Public Health said low levels of radiation were detected in Bay State rainwater earlier this week. Massachusetts now joins scores of other states from the west to the […]

All Workers evacuated as radiation now 10 million times the usual level

Radioactivity in water at reactor 2 at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant has reached 10 million times the usual level, company officials say. Workers trying to cool the reactor core to avoid a meltdown have been evacuated. Earlier, Japan’s nuclear agency said that levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the plant had risen […]

Whither population explosion?

Ever since the New Economic Implosion in this hapless world of ours, the economists have not tired of drawing a link between development and population. The theory they have been expounding ever since is that in order to ensure economic progress, it is imperative to check the growth of population. In simple language, what they […]

Japan Radioactive Iodine Releases May Exceed Three Mile Island By 100,000 Times

The damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan continue to release radioactivity into the atmosphere. So far, the accident has released far more radioactivity than the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) accident. While Chernobyl had one source of radioactivity, its reactor, there are seven leaking radiation sources at the Japanese site. Together, the three damaged reactors […]

Fukushima Dai-ichi status and slow burning issues

With no buildings blowing up at Fukushima for a couple of weeks now, global media attention has shifted back to Libya where there is lots of violence to watch. Does this mean that trouble at the 4 wrecked reactors on the East coast of Japan is over? With the restoration of mains power to the […]

How to protect cities from tsunamis and peak oil

Town on 35 feet of elevated fill. A tsunami would be split as by a ship’s bow, saving lives and protecting property. Image: Richard Register. Could better real-estate development have helped save lives in Japan? And could the same type of compact, landscape-friendly urban planning also help us prep for peak oil? Visionary urban designer […]

Australia New Zealand Ban Japanese Food Imports

AUSTRALIA has halted food imports from four Japanese prefectures because of concerns over radiation contamination from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Food Standards Australia New Zealand has requested a holding order for all food originating from the Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures in Japan’s north. Australia, Canada and Singapore have joined a list of […]

Gasoline Gangsters Episode 9: The Economics Of Extinction

You’ve heard of peak oil, but have you heard of peak fish and peak bee? Mankind makes money exploiting animal and plant species that are endangered or near extinction. In this episode I discuss the Tasmanian Tiger, the Wolomi Pine and the passenger pigeon. youtube.com

Fukushima Smoking Gun Emerges: Founding Engineer Says Reactor 4 Has Always Been A “Time Bomb”, Exposes Criminal Cover Up

It was only a matter of time before someone grew a conscience, and disclosed to the world that in addition to the massive cover up currently going on with respect to the true extent of the Fukushima catastrophe, the actual plant itself, in borrowing from the BP playbook, was built in a hurried way, using […]

Four More Quakes Hit Fukushima

Early morning earthquakes rattled Japan’s crippled nuclear plant as engineers restored lighting at a control room and endeavored to connect power cables needed to cool the reactors. Four quakes of 5-magnitude or greater struck eastern Honshu, Japan, within an hour starting at 7:12 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website. There was […]

Peak Water Has Already Come and Gone

Canadian Kevin Freedman is celebrating World Water Day Tuesday by living on 25 litres of water a day, instead of the North American average of 330 litres per day. And he has enlisted 31 others in his “Water Conservation Challenge” to go water- lean, using just 25 litres per day for cooking, drinking, cleaning, and […]

Nuclear Plant’s Fuel Rods Damaged, Leaking Into Sea

Radiation leaked into the sea from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, raising concern that seafood may become tainted, while the site’s operator moved closer to restoring power to critical cooling pumps. Five kinds of radioactive materials released by damaged fuel rods were detected in the sea, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said on its website. Levels if […]

Nuclear plant workers restore power to two reactors as Japanese admit radiation has got into Tokyo’s tap water

Engineers ready to start cooling two reactors But they may have to release radioactive steam from another unit Villagers told not to drink tap water because of radioactive iodine Government bans sale of spinach near Fukushima Death toll estimate hits 18,000 Iodine tablets handed out to 540 Britons Radiation from Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant […]

New Oil Spill Reported Near Deepwater Drilling Site in Gulf

The Coast Guard is investigating reports of a potentially large oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico not far from the Deepwater Horizon site. According to a knowledgeable source, the slick was sighted by a helicopter pilot on Friday and is about 100 miles long. A fishing boat captain said he went through the slick yesterday and it was […]

Radiation hampers efforts to restore power to nuclear plant in Japan

Efforts to try to restore power to reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi complex are interrupted as high radiation forces the withdrawal of workers. But it’s unclear whether a return of power will help. Spent fuel rods remain the biggest concern. LA Times

Japan Nuke Disaster Could Be Worse Than Chernobyl

A global nuclear disaster potentially worse than Chernobyl may be under way in Japan as hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel are open to the sky, and may be on fire and emitting radioactive particles into the atmosphere. Many countries have advised their citizens in Japan to leave the country. “This is […]

UN: Radiation Plume to hit US by Friday

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday. Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, […]

Japan in frantic bid to cool reactors

Japanese military helicopters have dumped water on an overheating nuclear plant damaged by last week’s deadly earthquake. Cooling functions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, about 220km north of Tokyo, have been damaged and workers are engaged in a desperate bid to avert a nuclear meltdown. On Thursday morning, helicopters dumped around 30 tonnes of water, all aimed […]

Nuclear Plant Operator: Water in Pool Storing Spent Nuclear Fuel Rods May Be Boiling, an Ominous Sign for Release of Radioactivity

Kyodo News reports: A nuclear crisis at the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant deepened Tuesday as fresh explosions occurred at the site and its operator said water in a pool storing spent nuclear fuel rods may be boiling, an ominous sign for the release of high-level radioactive materials from the fuel. Tokyo Electric Power […]

END:CIV – Resist or Die – documentary

END:CIV examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations. Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen, END:CIV asks: “If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the […]

How One Farm Plans to Survive Peak Oil

When film maker Rebecca Hosking and her partner Tim Green explored the implications of peak oil for her family farm, the resulting documentary called A Farm for the Future became a surprise hit on the BBC. Now they are following up with regular blog posts as they try to explore transitioning a traditional, working non-organic British farm […]

Radioactive Winds Head Towards Tokyo As Some Flee Capital

With Japanese authorities confirming that the third blast at Fukushima’s stricken nuclear plant caused radioactive particles to be released directly into the atmosphere, localized winds are blowing the radiation towards Tokyo, causing many to flee the capital, but the longer term trajectory of upper atmosphere prevailing winds will still send any potential radiation cloud towards […]

Cover Up Of Fukushima Chain Reaction Underway

All the nuclear reactors at the earthquake stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are under threat of  melting down and exploding in a chain reaction that will signify the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster and send clouds of radioactive particles hurtling towards the United States – that’s the scale of the crisis facing Japan as officials admit […]

The Mirage of Fail Safe Engineering

Smoke billows into the sky moments after an explosion occurred at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant. As I have said many times, all of our energy options require trade-offs. I can’t think of any that don’t have some negative consequences and risks associated with their production and/or use. One job of the engineer is to […]

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