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Global Public Media

I'm sure everyone but me already knew about this, but Global Public Media is a kick-ass site that contains interviews with all sorts of smart people about a range of issues relating to a "post-carbon world." It's eaten about half my day so far. Right now I'm learning about permaculture and the central importance of soil from David Holmgren. Visit at your own risk.

Peak oil: catastrophic or merely unpleasant?

On EnergyBulletin, permaculture-guy Toby Hemenway does his part to cool off some of the more overheated peak oil apocaphilia. He doesn't deny the basic physical facts of peak oil, but he says for peak oil to be truly catastrophic, the following five propositions must be true:

1. Our demand for oil is unchangeable and is not significantly affected by price.

2. We are so badly addicted to oil that we will watch our civilization collapse rather than change our behavior.

3. Significant oil conservation is not possible in the time frame needed.

4. Even with conservation, demand will be more than oil plus alternatives can possibly meet.

5. Society is so fragile that it cannot withstand large shocks.

In fact, Hemenway says, all five are false.

He makes a good case, and I don't really dispute it. But if someone did want to dispute it, I think it would go something like this:

Outsourced linky post

Over at Peak Energy, Big Gav has one of his patented long, link-filled, impossible-to-summarize posts, covering several things I wanted to mention, thus saving me the trouble. Go read it.

There will come a day …

... when buying green tags to offset [your group's activity here] is no longer worth sending out a press release about. And it can't come soon enough.

Carat Top

Ringing in a new era of ethically and ecologically responsible jewelry Did you know 30 tons of waste rock can be generated in producing one gold ring? Us neither, but now we’re never getting married. Trying to keep a step ahead of consumers’ growing social and environmental consciousness, the jewelry industry is making some changes. […]

Aral Be There

Aral Sea coming back to life after decades of draining damage The dramatic diminution and pollution of Central Asia’s Aral Sea is one of the 20th century’s most stunning eco-disasters — but its restoration may become an eco-miracle of the 21st. Since the World Bank’s $85.8 million Kok-Aral Dam project began in 2001, the Aral […]

And then there were eight

Maryland has joined seven other Northeast states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Maryland is more reliant on coal-fired power plants than are the other states in the regional pact, and the enactment of such tough pollution control legislation there is considered a major environmental victory.

The dominoes are falling.

What do full-sized pickup trucks and peacocks have in common?

Associated Press reminds us that things are still looking bad for U.S. car manufacturers:

The U.S. auto industry's slump hit GM hard in March, when the struggling automaker's sales fell almost 15 percent as rival Toyota reported its highest-ever monthly sales.

But, not all is lost:

Still, Ford's F-Series truck held its own, posting a 5.5 percent increase for the month, its best March sales since 2000, with 84,168 sold. Ford said it was the third consecutive month sales rose for the nation's best-selling vehicle.

Do hybrids use more energy in their lifecycle than other cars?

What to make of this news from the Eugene, OR Register-Guard?

In a report that's sure to be controversial, CNW Marketing Research ... concludes ... that, even though hybrid cars use less fuel, they require more energy - and are therefore worse for the environment - than conventional cars because their design and manufacture are more complex and the costs of disposal or recycling are higher for their batteries, electric motors and other specialized components. [Emphasis added.]

Hybrids use more energy throughout their lifecycle than regular cars? Can this possibly be true?

Color me skeptical: I think there's very good reason not to take the study too seriously -- at least, not until the authors can answer some tough questions about what their study implies.

American Prospect on a green economy

I haven't read all (or even most) of it yet, but I feel obliged to direct you to a special edition of American Prospect on the subject of a post-petroleum economy. Much of it is behind a subscription wall (go ahead, subscribe), but David Morris' piece on the carbohydrate economy is free to read, and a mind-blower. At least it blew my mind a little. I'm still processing it -- may post something later.