The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler

Haven’t finished this book completely and had to return it to the library.  (drat) But… I am so very close to the end and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

The books takes on the challenge of explaining how worldwide oil depletion could pan out and then takes it one step further.  This book attempts to answer why.  Why won’t Hydrogen replace gasoline?  Why won’t there be enough wind or solar power?  Why won’t the ion battery work?  Why?  Why?  Why?

Early on the author states his position between the cornucopia and extinction groups.  He claims to be neither but somewhere along the middle, a few points further from the cornucopia camp. Kunstler believes humanity will survive, all over the world, in small localized towns and villages.  He foresees a bottleneck in human population caused by famine and increased diseases.  Also a loss of technologies the cheap oil era provided will contribute to a declining population… a triple bypass surgery or mitral valve replacement just isn’t possible without lots of electricity.

Without abundant cheap energy their are not enough ventilators  and lights for the large numbers of surgeries performed daily.  Electricity is also needed to sterilize the equipment and to monitor the patient before, during and after the operation.  It takes electricity to diagnose the problem and to make the anti-rejection medications for after the surgery.  So many energy consuming steps have to take place, in the right order, in a specific time window.  If one step is missed the success rate of such intricate surgeries plummets.

The book was published in 2005 and many (not all) of his predictions have come to pass.  I agree that the future holds many changes, not all of which will be easy.  I enjoyed this books view of history and the way the author connected the dots between seemingly unassociated events.  I really need to finish the blasted thing before I comment any more… but suffice it to say it’s a good book with clear and thought out explanations and opinions.  I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the future of humanity.  It is a relatively easy read:  Not too much jargon and lots of footnotes!

Oil Man To The Rescue! Or Not

Just like everyone else, I’ve been watching the commercials and listening to the radio announcements put out by T. Boone Pickens.  Initially shocked and surprised that an oil man would jump on the green wagon so whole heartedly I was happy but with reservations.

It felt like some vital piece of information was left out of his oh so green plan.  Well… it turns out he’s not only switching into the wind business but he and his subsidiaries are moving into the water business as well.

Those of us that live in Oklahoma and Texas draw water from the Ogallala Aquifer located under both states panhandles.  Pickens, a shrewd business man quite familiar with oil drilling techniques, is buying up the land and ground rights to the entire area for the wind farm.  Once T. Boone Pickens has the land and ground rights in his possession he can charge for energy and water.  Even when the aquifer is mostly drained Pickens will be able to scoop the last drops from the earth.  Talk about a money making deal!

In Beijing, and elsewhere, the aquifers must be drilled to a depth of about 3000 feet before finding fresh water.  Are we headed in the same direction??

As water tables fall, well drillers are using modified oil-drilling technology to reach water, going as deep as 1,000 meters in some locations. In communities where underground water sources have dried up entirely, all agriculture is rain-fed and drinking water is trucked in. Tushaar Shah, who heads the International Water Management Institute’s groundwater station in Gujarat, says of India’s water situation: “When the balloon bursts, untold anarchy will be the lot of rural India.” (from http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquifer_depletion)

Hmmm… T. Boone Pickens seems to be looking at a bigger picture than he lets on. Press play to see more on this story from one of my favorite, sometimes goofy, light hearted, entertaining, educational and environmental news channels… ZapRoot at http://www.viropop.com/.

Regardless of your political standing or how you feel about the human contribution to global warming, it seems to me, we’re not being given the whole truth.  Where there’s a little lie chances are a bigger lie lurks.

Summer’s Here!

Keeping cool while using the least amount of energy has become the goal of most in the Northern Hemisphere. The already high and continuously rising carbon fuel prices are making energy conservation a must. Not just oil but natural gas and coal, too. Many individuals, both locally and internationally are devising their own methods of energy conservation and production.

Reducing our energy dependency and finding cleaner and more affordable energy is important to the environment and to each country’s sustainability. The US is far behind the curve in energy conservation. Foreign oil will be more and more expensive as it becomes harder to find, extract and refine. Although Canada is lined with oil rich black sand beaches the cost of refinement is prohibitive. And the oil produced is not the golden honey we, as a nation, are accustomed to. The new found oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico is also hard to reach, expensive to ship, refine and then ship again.

With the rising cost of food and recent food shortage scares it becomes evident that our current modes of operation are unacceptable. We’ve known this for years… decades!

While bureaucracy stomps doggedly toward the same cliff it’s been aimed at since the end of WW2, the individual has started to wake up and smell the rubbish. The time has come to take matters into our own hands.

Anti Consumerism
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
http://www.verdant.net/
http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/Planet/anticonsumer.htm
http://use-less-stuff.com/
http://tipnut.com/category/crafts/repurposing/

DIY Alternate Energy
http://www.freesunpower.com/
http://www.awea.org/faq/rsdntqa.html
http://www.azsolarcenter.com/technology/pas-3.html
http://www.builditsolar.com/
http://www.tlgwindpower.com/customer/custbuilt.htm

Quick tips and tricks
http://greenterrafirma.com/wordpress/how-to-cool-yourself-without-air-conditioning/
http://www.energysavingadvice.co.uk/
http://www.electricitychoices.org/tenways.html
http://www.drivelesssavemore.com/driving/index.php
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

Groups and Communities
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/noelectricbill/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1
http://www.freecycle.org/
http://permaculturevisions.com/
http://www.sustainer.org/
http://farmersmarket.com/

If we do not find a solution to these problems the nightmares of global famine and Mad Max or Waterworld scenarios could be on their way.

Or perhaps something more realistic. These are just hollywood movies… worst case scenarios. Not realistic at all, really… that couldn’t happen.

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash is an award winning documentary concerning the end of oil. Link to the Crude Awakening homepage here.