Solutions
Transition Initiative – a network of communities addressing the transition from oil dependency to a low energy future. More information on their old site and co-founder Rob Hopkins’ blog. YouTube hosts many clips on peak oil and Transition but start with this 52 minute interview with Rob Hopkins or if a bit pushed for time, this short 6 minute intro to Transition Towns, also by Rob
Transition Scotland – the place to find out about the Transition Movement in Scotland
Dark Optimism is Shaun Chamberlin’s excellent blog, focusing on energy and the environment, which is unashamedly positive about what kind of a world humanity could create, and unashamedly realistic about how far we are from creating it today
Zero Carbon Britain is a report from the Centre for Alternative Technology which details how Britain can eliminate emissions from fossil fuels in 20 years and break our dependence on imported energy by halving energy demand and installing massive renewable energy generation
The Pöyry report – a report, commissioned by Greenpeace, arguing that Britain doesn’t need to build major new power stations to keep the lights on
Post Carbon Institute is an educational institution which helps communities implement proactive strategies to adapt to an energy constrained world by relocalising
Energy
Chris Martenson’s Crash Course is the world’s most concise video seminar on how our economy, energy systems, and environment interact, and how they will impact the future. If you only go to one of these links, go to this one!
FT Exploring is another excellent web resource (nowt to do with the Financial Times) which explains the basics of energy so simply that I even get it!
Can renewables replace fossil fuels? Part 3 of a series of reports from the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference, which looks at exactly what it is that we are trying to find alternatives for
Net energy
eroei.com was under construction and looked promising but today (24 Aug 2010) seems to have vanished but I’ll let you know if it reappears
The Oil Drum have handily pulled together a bunch of articles on net energy here
Peak Oil
Wolf at the door - a beginners guide to oil depletion (but there are many out there!)
Energy Bulletin - an excellent source of peak energy in the news. The site’s editors comb the mainstream media and specialist publications for stories that provide insight into peak oil & its implications
Oil Drum UK - the European branch of The Oil Drum, a well-respected peak oil and energy futures blog site with lots of links and up-to-the-minute news
Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO), a group of highly respected geologists studying Peak Oil
Depletion Scotland is a small Scottish-based group who carry out various activities to promote discussion of Peak Oil
Oil Depletion Analysis Centre (ODAC) is an independent, UK-registered educational charity
Climate Change
Rising Tide UK is a network of groups and individuals dedicated to taking local action and building a movement against climate change
Real Climate is “climate science from climate scientists” with a ‘start here‘ page. Panorama showed a good documentary (28 June 2010) which is available on iPlayer until June 2011. Interesting to learn where the sceptics agree
Growth (only a madman or an economist would think it could go on forever in a finite world!)
Growth isn’t possible – a 2010 report by the New Economics Foundation (nef), which follows on from their 2006 report, ’Growth isn’t working‘
Magical thinking at the G20 – an essay by Chris Martenson on the global economic crisis – the days of printing money might be over
Life after Growth, by Richard Heinberg – an essay looking at why growth will stop in which Richard charts his wake-up calls – first the 1972 Limits to Growth report, then peak oil. But there are many examples of what people are doing now to embark on a life after growth, which could be better than life today. It’s up to us…
Hi Mandy -
Just found your blog, which I hadn’t known about – it was mentioned to me by Maire McCormack. Great that you’re still fighting the good fight.
For us, for the West, the biggest problem is going to be selling frugality to a materially spoilt, systematically infantilized populace. One whose politicians have operated by forever promising more. It’s hard not to worry for democracy. Even more so when you think that the social bonuses we take for granted, while griping about their less than perfect manifestations – democracy, freedom of speech, independent judiciary – have never been sustained, as far as I know, except within a capitalist economic system. And – sustainable capitalism? Really? It sounds like an oxymoron; another sign of the disease of our age, wishful thinking.
It’s too late to panic, I think. Purely notional solutions – that won’t be taken up by the electorate-government folie a deux – are a waste of rhetorical effort. Maybe – at the risk of being heretical – we shouldn’t fret too much about global warming: I don’t see how, by the time it really kicks in, the other converging catastrophes (population growth, water shortage, post-oil agriculture, etc) won’t have already resulted in hundreds of millions of deaths. I don’t think I’m being hysterical – look at the three I just mentioned, think of Africa and India.
What’s coming will take all we’ve got to cope with. Perhaps more than we’ve got, though let’s not go there. We’ll need to concentrate hard if we’re going to hold onto anything like our system of government through the mess, and find something better on the other side. The fewer hostages to fortune the better. It’ll be no time for preciousness.
I’d like to be less depressed. Someone talk me out of it.
Hi Simon – I agree that it’s hard not to be depressed and I often wonder why I bother with all this stuff! I tend to agree with you regarding how many will experience the impacts of climate change which are predicted for 2050. The problem is that we are too ensnared in the current economic system to make the leap we need to get out of it. We’re up to our ears in debt caused by unsustainable economic growth, yet even although it’s creaking at the seams, we’re still insisting that the economy must grow again. David Orrell’s Economyths is a good read…
We all have our ideas about how the future might play out but none of us really knows. It’s quite a good position to be in to hope that your deeply held beliefs will be shattered! I watched some Herman Daly on You Tube last week and he said something along the lines of, “Frugality is the recognition of scarcity. A policy of ‘efficiency first’ does not mean frugality second”. It’s so true! Frugality doesn’t sell but efficiency means a nice new car/fridge/roof. Frugality don’t make economies grow now do it?
All we can do is what we feel it is right to do and if that involves growing a bit of food, all the better!