News from October 2011

Don’t Let Oil Zombies Eat Your Brain

They are counting on you believing resistance is futile. Very soon, it will be. Ideology is a fancy word, much debated by philosophers. But, in the spirit of the Halloween season, it can be explained nicely with zombies. What is the ideology of zombies? Easy: “Brains!” Or, more accurately: “Braaaaaains…” In short, a zombie exists to [...]

Fossil Fuels as the Whale Oil of the Future

Amory B. Lovins, the longtime efficiency guru, has a new book out that analyzes the possibility of converting the nation to almost total reliance on renewable sources of energy. The conclusions may not win instant acceptance, but it is certainly in the running for the best-blurbed energy book of the year. Chelsea Green Publishing “Reinventing Fire: [...]

Beijing in fresh South China Sea warning

China could again be giving ExxonMobil the jitters after the former reiterated its stance against companies drilling in the disputed South China Sea. The warning from China’s foreign ministry on Monday comes shortly after ExxonMobil revealed it had struck hydrocarbons in a disputed region off Vietnam. “China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and adjacent waters,” [...]

“When Money Dies” (Hyper)Inflation In The Past, In The Present And In The Future

When it comes to discussing monetary history, and specifically what happens when it all goes horribly wrong, there are two must read tomes: one is “The Dying of Money” by Jens Parsson (pdf link) and the other one is “When Money Dies” (pdf link) by Adam Fergusson. Today, we are lucky to bring to you [...]

Has America Become an Oligarchy?

The Occupy Wall Street movement is just one example of the sudden outbreak of tension between America’s super-rich and the “other 99 percent.” Experts now say the US has entered a second Gilded Age, but one in which hedge fund managers have replaced oil barons — and are killing the American dream. At first, the [...]

ESAI: Russia aligned to globally ‘enhance market power’

Changes in Russia’s taxation policies will have a positive effect on the country’s upstream development, enabling a high level of exports for years to come, according to a report by ESAI Energy LLC. “Key tax policy decisions will favor upstream development over the refining sector, eliminating competing objectives that have heretofore threatened to undermine Russia’s [...]

Not so much: Shale gas shows its limitations

If you live in the United States and bother to turn on your television, it’s almost impossible to avoid ads telling you that natural gas from shale is both abundant and environmentally safe to develop. In these ads, so many happy people seem to enjoy burning natural gas [...]

China to maintain its family planning policy

China will adhere to its family planning policy so as to maintain a low reproduction rate, said the country’s family planning chief on Sunday, expected to be the eve of the world’s population reaching seven billion. “Over-population remains one of the major challenges to social and economic development,” said Li Bin, director of the State [...]

World’s 7 billionth baby expected Monday in Indian village

- At least two villages in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh are preparing to celebrate Monday the arrival of the world’s 7 billionth baby, media reported. The United Nations recently declared that the world’s population would touch 7 billion on October 31, although the exact moment or place where the child would be [...]

Orvlov: Stages of Collapse Revised: Joined at the Wallet

My neat and tidy taxonomy of collapse, “The Five Stages of Collapse,” has been read more than 70,000 times just on my blog alone since I first published it in February of 2008. It continues to be popular: there were over 10,000 hits to the page in the last year alone. People must still be [...]