Global Warming, Peak Oil, Resource Depletion, and Sustainable Living

Stewart Brand has become a poster boy for a "nuclear renaissance" that has just suffered a quiet but stunning defeat. Despite $645 million spent in lobbying over the past decade, the reactor industry has thus far failed to gouge out major new taxpayer funding for new commercial reactors.

In an exceedingly complex series of twists and turns, no legislation now pending in Congress contains firm commitments to the tens of billions reactor builders have been demanding. They could still come by the end of the session. But the radioactive cake walk many expected the industry to take through the budget process has thus far failed to happen.

The full story is excruciatingly complicated. But the core reasons are simple: atomic power can't compete, and ... See entire blog item

From the Greenman3610 YouTube channel: "No issue will have a greater impact on the new century than the decisions we make on energy and the impact of global climate change, and this is one of Peter Sinclair's presentations that makes the critical points
dramatically clear and immediate."

[Note: to understand some... See entire blog item

Tour the century-old organic Chaffin Family Orchards where even the animals are "farm hands." Visit chickens in their egg-mobile, scratching for bugs and pooping fertilizer in the heirloom stone-fruit orchards. Goats chomp off low branches from the olive trees, so no fuel or human labor is needed. This certified predator-friendly enterprise includes 200 acres of olive trees plus various... See entire blog item

[A comment to begin with: IIER is a research organization trying to assess the situation of our societies from a politically and technically neutral perspective, and with that, find out what strategies work and which ones do not.  By no means are we trying to promote or discourage any specific energy alternative, and we have no vested interest other than stable future energy supplies. What you read below is the result of years of thorough analysis and research. When we began, we were completely neutral towards any particular solution and technology, and our only aim was to understand the implications of various energy scenarios on the future of our societies. Now, we have an opinion. - IIER editor]

On June 15, 2010, when U.S. President Obama responded to the dramatic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during his Oval Office speech, he not only included the list of things the government wants to do about the imminent problem, but also urged the country to... See entire blog item

By Terry Winckler         See biologist video on Corexit

It's hard to imagine—as we watch birds, turtles, dolphins and other animals struggle and die in the oil from BP's blown-out well—that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported just three years ago that drilling in the Gulf... See entire blog item

By Labor Day, we need a dramatic new set of economic policies to jump-start the 21^st century green economy.  Green jobs can put millions of Americans back to work, boost America's war-torn foreign image, and combat climate change.

Democrats are likely to lose a significant number of seats in November if they do not aggressively push a new vision and action plan for the future. The Obama Administration is weighed down by foreign wars, a liquidity starved economy, a collapsed housing market, wrenching unemployment, and the BP oil fiasco.

Having destroyed one of the world's great fisheries, the oil industry will pledge to redouble its efforts and offer up millions of dollars for safety and improved technologies. ... See entire blog item

Josh Fox — the director of Gasland — grew up in Milanville, Pennsylvania. One day not too long ago he received a letter in the mail telling him that natural gas drilling was coming to his doorstep: A Halliburton-designed technology could unlock the rich reserve of natural gas underneath the ground in the Catskills/Poconos region. See the Video

Why were they coming now? Well, for starters, in 2005, the Bush administration exempted the natural... See entire blog item

I still don't believe the 35,000 minimum to 60,000 barrels per day upper limit that the experts are now quoting, but they are getting within shouting distance. 

BP and the government (following BP's lead) started by chanting 1,000 barrels a day, and then for quite some time, 5,000 barrels a day.  Scientists are now saying 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day, and BP laughably says the amount does not matter, they will just clean it all up.  Unfortunately, lack of accuracy in revealing the rate of the leak also means the tankers they have in... See entire blog item