The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil
Okay--I have my fast crash cap on now. This is an important article to read, so please do and explain it to your friends and family if the conversation comes up. They won't hear it on the major media sources.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Peak Oil bits & pieces from the net
I'm finding myself with a bit less time to keep up my blog than I used to, partially due to the newish full-time job I have now. I'm sure everyone feels this way alot of the time but I wish I could devote all of my time and energy towards sustainability and the issues surrounding peak oil. I think I would be most happy.
I've been saving some interesting links since I last blogged, in hopes of creating one entry including all of things I've come across which have been interesting to me. So here they are in no particular order and maybe you'll find them interestign or helpful, too.
First link is Google Trends for 'peak oil'. Looks like we're on a downward trend in hit for peak oil right now. I certainly can't understand why. It's a neat little graph anyway.
I've also found out through Tim of Suburbia via energybulletin that there is a peak oil group in Indiana called Bloomingpeak that has presented a statement to their local government to acknowledge peak oil! They are based out of Bloomington, one of Indiana's most progressive areas. Too bad they are soooo far away from where I live!
If you like any form of bluegrass/folk, you'll like this posted from a fellow list member on a yahoogroup. He thought it was an appropriate peak oil focused song about living "Lower on the Hog" of which he had a part in developing/recording some years ago. Good sound, Artie!
In other media, the independent media, energybulletin put up an article about a made for TV series on peak oil, community & sustainability. You can watch some of the series here from Global Public Media. I haven't watched them yet.
In the sustainability arena, someone has ordered one of these for their future outhouse! It looks affordable and inconspicuous enough to me. All it would need is a little sawdust and nobody would know any better.
Of other interest on the peak oil lists lately has been handpumps and water well drilling. This might come in handy someday but I'm not this far yet. I don't know if I ever will be. But I'll study it and try to keep some ideas in memory in case I need to.
Another sustainable practice I found on yahoo news, actually. There is a growing desire in some areas of the U.S. to replace concrete sidewalks with rubber sidewalks. Old tires are taken and recycled and layed as sidewalk! Read here for the advantages. The actual site is called www.rubbersidewalks.com. I may have to get the city council's and mayor's attention on this one. Do you think this would be accepted in a historical downtown district? I wonder because everything has usually be specific to the era in materials and style.
I was looking for some Indiana peak oil people and I found this guy and his blog called www.myearthwatchexperience.com.
My yahoo group list has been discussing where the best place to live post-peak or mid-crash would be and I'm a little attracted to Ithaca, NY. Why? See here. I'm just kidding--it's not the *only* reason! It *does* look like a place I would like to live if I had a choice. The atmosphere, political climate, college-hosting place seems attractive.
Well, I must go now. Hope you enjoyed guided link trip and I'll be back when I find more little diddies. Someday, I might even post some gardening pictures when I buy more batteries and find some time. I also canned my first time last weekend. I canned pickles. I'll get some pictures of those, too, as well as the clothesline I just put up. Green beans are coming in now and I think I'll go out and buy myself a pressure cooker to try and can those. Wish me luck!
I've been saving some interesting links since I last blogged, in hopes of creating one entry including all of things I've come across which have been interesting to me. So here they are in no particular order and maybe you'll find them interestign or helpful, too.
First link is Google Trends for 'peak oil'. Looks like we're on a downward trend in hit for peak oil right now. I certainly can't understand why. It's a neat little graph anyway.
I've also found out through Tim of Suburbia via energybulletin that there is a peak oil group in Indiana called Bloomingpeak that has presented a statement to their local government to acknowledge peak oil! They are based out of Bloomington, one of Indiana's most progressive areas. Too bad they are soooo far away from where I live!
If you like any form of bluegrass/folk, you'll like this posted from a fellow list member on a yahoogroup. He thought it was an appropriate peak oil focused song about living "Lower on the Hog" of which he had a part in developing/recording some years ago. Good sound, Artie!
In other media, the independent media, energybulletin put up an article about a made for TV series on peak oil, community & sustainability. You can watch some of the series here from Global Public Media. I haven't watched them yet.
In the sustainability arena, someone has ordered one of these for their future outhouse! It looks affordable and inconspicuous enough to me. All it would need is a little sawdust and nobody would know any better.
Of other interest on the peak oil lists lately has been handpumps and water well drilling. This might come in handy someday but I'm not this far yet. I don't know if I ever will be. But I'll study it and try to keep some ideas in memory in case I need to.
Another sustainable practice I found on yahoo news, actually. There is a growing desire in some areas of the U.S. to replace concrete sidewalks with rubber sidewalks. Old tires are taken and recycled and layed as sidewalk! Read here for the advantages. The actual site is called www.rubbersidewalks.com. I may have to get the city council's and mayor's attention on this one. Do you think this would be accepted in a historical downtown district? I wonder because everything has usually be specific to the era in materials and style.
I was looking for some Indiana peak oil people and I found this guy and his blog called www.myearthwatchexperience.com.
My yahoo group list has been discussing where the best place to live post-peak or mid-crash would be and I'm a little attracted to Ithaca, NY. Why? See here. I'm just kidding--it's not the *only* reason! It *does* look like a place I would like to live if I had a choice. The atmosphere, political climate, college-hosting place seems attractive.
Well, I must go now. Hope you enjoyed guided link trip and I'll be back when I find more little diddies. Someday, I might even post some gardening pictures when I buy more batteries and find some time. I also canned my first time last weekend. I canned pickles. I'll get some pictures of those, too, as well as the clothesline I just put up. Green beans are coming in now and I think I'll go out and buy myself a pressure cooker to try and can those. Wish me luck!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Is 2006 the year of peak oil? The latest figures are suggesting it could be.....
www.indymedia.org.uk
I've also heard the latest stats from the government site is showing more demand than supply in the first quarter of this year. Someone suggested the thought that stored inventories may have been or are being used to meet demand.
With oil trading at highs of around $76/bbl today, I can't imagine what is going to happen if something catastrophic happens like widespread war in the ME or another major natural disaster like Katrina.
I bought a clothesline this past weekend. That's one goal met for the summer. I think I better splurge for the water filter ASAP. For some reason, having clean water is foremost on my mind, and I am not prepared in that respect! KI (Potassium Iodide) also comes to the forefront of my mind......don't have that yet, either. I probably should move that to the front burner, too.
I've also heard the latest stats from the government site is showing more demand than supply in the first quarter of this year. Someone suggested the thought that stored inventories may have been or are being used to meet demand.
With oil trading at highs of around $76/bbl today, I can't imagine what is going to happen if something catastrophic happens like widespread war in the ME or another major natural disaster like Katrina.
I bought a clothesline this past weekend. That's one goal met for the summer. I think I better splurge for the water filter ASAP. For some reason, having clean water is foremost on my mind, and I am not prepared in that respect! KI (Potassium Iodide) also comes to the forefront of my mind......don't have that yet, either. I probably should move that to the front burner, too.
Good Reference Link: www.peakoilready.com
Click here to see this new website. This is a new website created by a fellow yahoogroup list member for peak oil. There are alot of good references for books on various issues surrounding peak oil.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
getintheirface.blogspot.com
Click here. May be too political for some. There is a PBS newspiece clip by Bill Moyers from 1987 called "The Secret Government". Some other good video clips, too. Another about the dying coral reefs. This blog rocks!
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Friday, July 07, 2006
OpEdNews.com: Peak Oil Has Arrived/Crisis Imminent
Peak Oil Has Arrived/Crisis Imminent
There is a good link to information clearinghouse where there is a 12-minute video made by ABC Australia. Check it out. Probably won't see it anywhere in our media.
There is a good link to information clearinghouse where there is a 12-minute video made by ABC Australia. Check it out. Probably won't see it anywhere in our media.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Richard Heinberg's Open Letter to Greg Palast
Read it here. I like to read Greg Palast but if he is saying things like this about peak oil, he's very wrong, in my opinion.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Peak Oil Medicine
Since I'm a nurse, I thought this website might be an appropriate thing to reference on my blog. Scroll down and read "Modern Medicine Runs on Fossil Fuel". I don't think enough people realize the impact the decline of fossil fuels could have on our healthcare system.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Energy Bulletin: Peaksters on the Potomac
Full article here.
excerpt:
excerpt:
"For five years the peak oil movement has been largely the province of internet conspiracy buffs, church basement conferences and esoteric debates among petroleum geologists and scientists about statistical data few can understand. Last month, however, oil “peaksters” seemed to break out of their policy doldrums when they journeyed to the banks of the Potomac for what may have been their first mainstream conference in the nation's capital.
Street Cred
Sponsorship by the University of Maryland gave peak oil at least momentary “street cred” on Pennsylvania Avenue as federal, state, and local politicians joined with business executives, bureaucrats, economists, and respected scientists. City council members from places like Huntington Beach, Calif., and Bloomington, Ind., joined Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, and such Washington stalwarts as Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.). The Maryland Republican, an engineer who invented an oxygen recycling machine used by NASA in manned spacecraft, has founded the peak oil caucus in the House.
Department of Energy consultant Roger Bezdek, who directed research for the federal Energy Research and Development Administration during the 1970’s energy crisis, discussed his strategy for a crash program to develop alternatives to oil. Former World Bank economist Herman Daly, winner of the Sweden’s alternative Nobel Prize the Right Livelihood Award, and Lester Brown, founder of the Worldwatch Institute and its annual State of the World Report, were there. So was NASA Goddard Space Institute Director James Hansen, perhaps the leading scientist to document global warming, and Mona Sahlin, minister of Sustainable Development for Sweden, which is pursuing a plan to completely end its dependence on oil. This was no crowd of radical tree huggers.
For three days, they debated how the nation and world should respond to the imminent peak in world oil production, after which the supply of Beverly Hillbilly Jed Clampett’s “black gold” will decline forevermore while demand blows through the roof as the industrial and automotive age engulf China and India."
Monday, June 26, 2006
Solar Cooking Experiment
Here is where I got the idea, and it only cost me $2.42:
solarcooking.org
1-2pm:
I put the solar cooker out in the sun today around 1pm between work and going to the anniversary celebration. It was mostly sunny and in the 80s. I had to hurry up and think of something to experimentally cook, and I also had to find a dark pot of some kind in a hurry before I left to go to the celebration. I found this small teflon-type red pot. It was small enough that I could place the pot into a large plastic bag as the instructions showed. As for the food item, I found some frozen green beans in the freezer so I threw them into the pot, put the pot in the plastic bag and set it out on the solar cooker. After that, I left for the party closer to 2pm.
5-6pm:
Arrived home. Checked on cooker and it was IN THE SHADE! But it did look like it had been heating up while I was gone. There were moisture beads on the walls of the plastic bag and the pot was warm but not hot. I went ahead and moved the whole solar cooker back into the sun and facing west to follow the remaining path of the sun....then I went inside and took a nap--big mistake but I rather enjoyed it!
8pm:
Woke up and went out and checked on cooker. It was no longer in the sun again and was cool. But it did look like it cooked--the beans were still warm. Actually, the beans looked whitened or blanched from the sun.
Conclusion:
--You need to be around to move the cooker as the sun moves. Leaving it and taking a nap was my mistake.
--The sides were a little "flappy" and curved inward at times. You have to keep adjusting it but it does heat up and work.
--Wind could be a major problem and you could lose your food if it tips over.
Overall, my impression is that this is not a real stable setup, and I think I'd rather try building a small wooden box-type of solar oven for more stability. I may have to move on next weekend and try that. It's supposed to rain here all through the week into next weekend so I probably won't have the opportunity to experiment much. This model I've tried is a very good alternative, though, if you have no other options. I believe it *will* work. Maybe I need to go and buy a $6 windshield reflector....
solarcooking.org
1-2pm:
I put the solar cooker out in the sun today around 1pm between work and going to the anniversary celebration. It was mostly sunny and in the 80s. I had to hurry up and think of something to experimentally cook, and I also had to find a dark pot of some kind in a hurry before I left to go to the celebration. I found this small teflon-type red pot. It was small enough that I could place the pot into a large plastic bag as the instructions showed. As for the food item, I found some frozen green beans in the freezer so I threw them into the pot, put the pot in the plastic bag and set it out on the solar cooker. After that, I left for the party closer to 2pm.
5-6pm:
Arrived home. Checked on cooker and it was IN THE SHADE! But it did look like it had been heating up while I was gone. There were moisture beads on the walls of the plastic bag and the pot was warm but not hot. I went ahead and moved the whole solar cooker back into the sun and facing west to follow the remaining path of the sun....then I went inside and took a nap--big mistake but I rather enjoyed it!
8pm:
Woke up and went out and checked on cooker. It was no longer in the sun again and was cool. But it did look like it cooked--the beans were still warm. Actually, the beans looked whitened or blanched from the sun.
Conclusion:
--You need to be around to move the cooker as the sun moves. Leaving it and taking a nap was my mistake.
--The sides were a little "flappy" and curved inward at times. You have to keep adjusting it but it does heat up and work.
--Wind could be a major problem and you could lose your food if it tips over.
Overall, my impression is that this is not a real stable setup, and I think I'd rather try building a small wooden box-type of solar oven for more stability. I may have to move on next weekend and try that. It's supposed to rain here all through the week into next weekend so I probably won't have the opportunity to experiment much. This model I've tried is a very good alternative, though, if you have no other options. I believe it *will* work. Maybe I need to go and buy a $6 windshield reflector....
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
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