Group items tagged

Peak Oil is the point at which petroleum production reaches its greatest rate just before going into perpetual decline. In "Peak Oil and a Changing Climate," a new video series from The Nation and On The Earth productions, radio host Thom Hartmann explains that the world will reach peak oil within the next year if it hasn't already. As a nation, the United States reached peak oil in 1974, after which it became a net oil importer. Bill McKibben, Noam Chomsky, Nicole Foss, Richard Heinberg and the other scientists, researchers and writers interviewed throughout "Peak Oil and a Changing Climate" describe the diminishing returns our world can expect as it deals with the consequences of peak oil even as it continues to pretend it doesn't exist. These experts predict substantially increased transportation costs, decreased industrial production, unemployment, hunger and social chaos as the supplies of the  fuels on which we rely dwindle and eventually disappear. Chomsky urges us to anticipate the official response to peak oil based on how corporations, news organizations and other institutions have responded to global warming: obfuscation, spin and denial. James Howard Kunstler says that we cannot survive peak oil unless we "come up with a consensus about reality that is consistent with the way things really are." This documentary series hopes to help build that consensus. Click here to watch the introductory video, and check back here for new videos each Wednesday.

The forest was in chaos. Parts of it were burning and the food was scarce. Remembering how wonderful the forest used to be, various animal groups sent ambassadors to a very ancient owl. The wise owl remembered historical cycles and hopefully had clues on how to reset the forest so it could be productive again. They gathered by the gargantuan oak tree where the owl lived.

Wer sich heutzutage in den Straßenschluchten des Kapitalismus bewegt, muss aufpassen, von einstürzenden Paradigmen und herabfallenden Glaubenssätzen nicht erschlagen zu werden; die urbanen Schauplätze der gesellschaftlichen Reproduktion gleichen einem Trümmerfeld, und wo der nächste Einschlag erfolgen wird, weiß niemand so genau. Doch uns beeindruckt das überhaupt nicht: wir suchen stattdessen auf dem Ground zero der Vermögenspreise weiter nach Überlebenden. Das Schild an der Stelle, wo früher einmal die Investmentbank stand, sagt: „Bitte nicht füttern!". Das klingt merkwürdiger, als es in Wahrheit ist, weil sich dahinter jetzt ein Schwanenteich befindet: Diese elenden, schwarzen Viecher können mir aber gestohlen bleiben, ich rauche lieber erst mal eine Zigarette. Dabei erblicke ich auf der Verpackung den Warnhinweis der EU-Gesundheitsminister: „Langfristig sind wir alle tot". Na also, denke ich, dann kann von jetzt an ja alles nur besser werden ...