22 Oct 2007
The Big Melt report that caused me sleepless nights last week showed that climate change is happening far faster than anyone, the IPCC included, had predicted. Over the last week the peak oil argument has similarly sped up, exceeding predictions almost on a daily basis. It crashed through the $80 a barrel ceiling, which set experts talking about $90 a barrel sometime next year, but before the end of the week, there it was. Now the mythical $100 a barrel level could be as little as days away. It is worth remembering that when prices are adjusted for inflation, the highest oil prices we have ever had were during the last oil crisis in the 70s, and were around $102 a barrel, and that caused a major recession. Beyond $102 we are into new terrain; all bets, as they say, are off, with regards to what we might find when we get there.
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15 Oct 2007
We are delighted to be able to offer a full-time position as part of the Transition Network, to help support the organisation through its viral growth across the UK and beyond. Below is a short description of the post, for more information contact Ben Brangwyn (email address below).
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15 Oct 2007
In talks I give and in other places, such as this website, I often enthuse about Oil Vulnerability Auditing, the tool developed by Simon Snowden at Liverpool University, but haven’t yet written much about it. I thought you might find it interesting to read the following short report by Fiona Ward of Transition Town Totnes who co-ordinated the OVA work in Totnes. Two pilots have so far been done, and in the report, Fiona reflects on the process and on what emerged from them.
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10 Oct 2007
An excellent documentary aired on BBC Wales last night, called Back to the Land, which was part of a series called ‘Week In, Week Out’. In featured Patrick Holden, the director of the Soil Association, discussing peak oil and the impact that finding out about it had on his life and on how he farms his farm in Wales, as well as looking at the bigger implications of its ramifications for food and farming. It also included interviews with myself and some peak oil deniers, and sets out a strong argument that the transition to life beyond oil could actually bring many benefits to society. You can watch the film here for the next week.
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10 Oct 2007
Global Public Media just posted a great interview with Klaus Harvey of Transition Town Kinsale which looks at what has happened in Kinsale since the Kinsale Energy Descent Plan (KEDAP) was produced two years ago. Global Public Media has followed the Kinsale story since the beginning. The first mention of interesting things afoot in Kinsale came in an interview with Richard Heinberg when he was in Kinsale in June 2005 at the Fuelling the Future conference, the event where the KEDAP was first released. In it he mentions the KEDAP (which he calls “an extraordinary document”) and gives a sense of what a powerful event it was.
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The Big Melt report that caused me sleepless nights last week showed that climate change is happening far faster than anyone, the IPCC included, had predicted. Over the last week the peak oil argument has similarly sped up, exceeding predictions almost on a daily basis. It crashed through the $80 a barrel ceiling, which set experts talking about $90 a barrel sometime next year, but before the end of the week, there it was. Now the mythical $100 a barrel level could be as little as days away. It is worth remembering that when prices are adjusted for inflation, the highest oil prices we have ever had were during the last oil crisis in the 70s, and were around $102 a barrel, and that caused a major recession. Beyond $102 we are into new terrain; all bets, as they say, are off, with regards to what we might find when we get there.
