Tainted Saints

What if, as a result of efforts to fight climate change and boost energy efficiency, global oil demand peaked in the foreseeable future? You could argue that such an achievement would be one of the most historic accomplishments of human civilization to date, proof, indeed, that we are civilized. It’s a task that will require lots of hard work all over the globe, but based just on the actions taken by President Obama in his first year of office, in the United States, we have made real progress toward that goal.

The International Energy Agency, reports Spencer Swartz in the Wall Street Journal, is predicting that even if China and India continue to consume ever more oil, overall, the world’s appetite for crude is slowing down. [more...]

“Every generation of Americans should live better than its predecessor. That’s Americans’ core definition of economic “progress.”

But for today’s young, it may be a mirage. Higher health spending, increasing energy prices and stretched governments at all levels may squeeze future disposable incomes—what people have to spend—and public services. Are we condemning our children to downward mobility?…”

If corporations, banks, and insurance companies qualify for welfare, why not the Saudis?

“Imagine the scene, perhaps two decades from now. After years of gradually lengthening brownouts and blackouts, your town’s power has been down for days, and no one knows if or when it can be restored. No one is even sure if the blackout is statewide or nation-wide, because radio broadcasts have become more sporadic. The able members of your community band together to solve the mounting practical problems threatening your collective existence. You hold a meeting.

Someone brings up the problems of water delivery and wastewater treatment: the municipal facilities require power to supply these essential services. A woman in the back of the room speaks: “I once read about how you can purify water with a ceramic pot, some sand, and charcoal. It’s on a website….” Her voice trails off. There are no more websites.

The conversation turns to food. Now that the supermarkets are closed (no functioning lights or cash registers) and emptied by looters, it’s obviously a good idea to encourage backyard and community gardening. But where should townspeople get their seeds? A middle-aged gentleman pipes up: “There’s this great mail-order seed company—just go online….” He suddenly looks confused and sits down. “Online” is a world that no longer exists…”

Full article…

Juan Cole proposes something called “nuclear latency,” which “would allow the production of an atomic bomb on short notice if an extreme danger to national autonomy reared its ugly head.” And the reason for the new facility at Qom is because the existing facility at Natanz is “too easily bombed or struck with missiles.”

Are we seeing the terrible irony here? The U.S. and Israel have been rattling sabres at Iran for several years now — recall that during the 2008 primaries, Hillary Clinton threatened to “totally obliterate” Iran if they attacked Israel. Because of this near-constant barrage of threats, Iran rightly fears that their nuclear facility may be bombed, so they rushed to build a new one in a more remote area of the country. They also know that both the U.S. and Israel have nuclear weapons, and have been openly stating that they would be willing to use them on Iran.

Since Iran’s Supreme Leader has been clear that “no Islamic state may possess or use atomic weapons because they willy nilly kill masses of innocent civilians when used, which is contrary to the Islamic law of war (which forbids killing innocent non-combatants)”, why are we really so obsessed with Iran? Richard Heinberg spelled out the reasons quite nicely in his excellent 2005 piece in Energy Bulletin entitled Onward to Iran. We have no control over them, whatsoever, since we have no bases there, and Iran is the second-largest exporter of oil in the world. You do the math…

In the spring of 2005, Rolling Stone published a piece called ‘The Long Emergency’, which was about the potential ramifications of Peak Oil. Although I had three books at the time in my Amazon.com Wishlist about Peak Oil, I didn’t really grasp the gravity of the issue, and never actually read any of the books. I also tended not to read the essays in Rolling Stone because they always had so many words, but something about Kunstler’s piece made me begin reading, and then I couldn’t put it down. When I was finished, my heart was racing, and I felt sick to my stomach. And my priorities would never be the same…

It turns out that Kunstler is a racist, sexist bastard who is given to generating as much sensationalism and hysteria about Peak Oil as he can muster. Which doesn’t mean there aren’t some hard truths to be found in what he says, or that we shouldn’t treat this issue with deadly seriousness, but you have to weed through the copious amounts of garbage in his books and podcasts to get to it. Nonetheless, I recommend reading this article because I think we all need to be shaken to the core about what our future could look like – not 100 years from now, but just around the corner…

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7203633/the_long_emergency

Rapid economic and population growth are increasing demand for energy in Saudi Arabia, which could ultimately impact the amount of oil exported from the country if new reserves aren’t discovered soon.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6eb3bd10-aeea-11de-96d7-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Where they already have a network of high-speed trains, and clotheslines are the norm. Maybe they’ll still let us visit sometimes (at least until the jet fuel runs out…)

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5942I920091005

Doing so would ensure the uranium could only be used for nuclear power, not weapons. Iran has, however, refused to halt uranium enrichment, altogether, since it’s still an essential component of nuclear power..

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/76369.html

Have you noticed that the price of gasoline has been increasing in recent months, slowly but steadily? Have you wondered why that is, given that the “fundamentals of the economy” seem to be getting weaker by the day, and demand is about as low as it can be, with growth at a virtual standstill? Michael T. Klare, author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, has something to tell you….

http://tomdispatch.com/post/175117/michael_klare_energy_xtremism