Grain Drain: Get Ready for Peak Grain

This is not a surprising development. As we continue to expand our population, the resources that we depend on just don't seem to keep pace. We have not found a way to create resources yet. All we have mastered is the consumption of them. They are finite and it seems there is no way we can avoid using them up. Indubitably, when one is gone we will start using up the next one. The trouble with growing food for fuel is that it depends, to a huge degree, on the fuel that we are trying to replace with bio-fuels. That is a double whammy. As the fuel runs out it will also become harder to produce bio-products to replace them because there isn't enough fuel....ad infinitum. Someday we will have to face the facts. There isn't going to be enough to go around. We will have to adjust our numbers or adjust our consumption or have it done to us. There are no other "long term" options. [Link: Grain Drain: Get Ready for Peak Grain]

Climate costs: The global picture

Now this complicates the picture somewhat. When President Bush pulled the United States out of the Koyoto protocol he gave as his reason that the solutions would be destructive of the U. S. economy. Now these British officials have concluded that not dealing with the climate changes will devastate the economy. Now we have a dilemma here. Now, it is possible that if we spend money to fight global warming we may be avoiding huge costs that would accompany its effects. Things rarely get simpler when you ignore them. [Link: Climate costs: The global picture]

The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on oil depletion

You can watch a slightly reduced version of this classic Peak Oil video on YouTube. Give it a look. It is a good introduction to the subject.

The Encyclopedia of Earth

I would like to direct you to this new site that promises to be a significant resource for all things environmental. I haven't spent much time in its dark corners yet but what I have seen looks very promising. If anyone has a more studied opinion, good or bad, please consider sharing a comment.[Link: The Encyclopedia of Earth]

Koppelaar: Peak Oil, Separating Facts from Fiction

Here is a very long and technical article about the global oil supply and depletion. If you read this and, more importantly, understand it, you will be well on your way towards having a rational backing for your ideas about resource depletion. It isn't an easy subject and, as always, the devil is in the details. You may not even reach the same conclusions the author has. But if we are going to find a way out of this looming resource dilemma we are going to have to start with knowledge not belief. We can change to meet the challenges resource depletion presents. No matter how much we want this problem to go away, however, it won't change for us. [Link: via The Oil Drum]

OPEC's Cuts Signal Pricing Worries

What is one to believe? The Saudis announce (see Link below)they will cut the production of oil in order to shore up the falling crude prices. How do we know that they aren't having trouble producing as much oil as we think they can. They wouldn't want to say that now would they? It seems to me that, either way , we are going to see the price start back up soon. The winter demand is heating up (no pun) and it has been almost a year now since we have seen any increase in global oil production. I guess we will not know 'til we know but I sure wish somebody would put their oil well where their mouth is. [LINK: Business Week]

The name of the Blog

How do you like the name I chose for this Blog? It isn't a real word but it evokes a sense of the wasting away of the essence of the petrochemical world which is kind of what I am trying to grapple with. I like it. If you don't, of course, you can start a Blog with a better name.

First post, new blog

Just created this new blog to try out the new blogger system (one of the least pressing issues facing us today) and to create a space for me to talk about what, I believe, is the most pressing issue that humanity faces today. That issue being the potential rapid depletion of our finite supply of hydrocarbon resources. I will be talking about that subject, pointing out some valuable resources and directing you to important discussions by others as well. I derive my authority for the content herein, not by being an expert on the subject, but as a fully invested beneficiary of its effects, as we all will be.
My comments on this subject had previously been mixed with the comments in my other Blog, CybeRedoubt.