Murray Neill: Peak Oil

Trading Credits

Thu, 17 May 2007 04:49:06 GMT

The Minister for Social Engineering, the Hon Ben Dover, announced today that the government would soon announce details of its child abuse credit trading programme. It is expected that under the plan those wishing to abuse children could purchase credits from individuals and organisations which care for and assist children. An official said: "it might work like this... a Plunket nurse could sell the credits accumulated over any financial year from the care of children to any individual or organisation without credit or with a shortage of credits to abuse children." The Ministry would be issuing a schedule of abuse, grading various activities and the number of credits required to carry them out under the scheme.

National's spokesperson on social engineering condemned the government's attempt to bring in the scheme and said under National child abuse would be regulated by individual hardworking New Zealand families. A Maori Party spokesperson said that gangs should be allowed to trade in the credits just like any other organisation. The Greens objected to the plan as being inferior to their own proposal to tax child abuse but said, nevertheless that they would support the government. Winston Peter's office said the Minister, presently touring refugee camps on the French Riviera could not be reached for comment.

(Written by my friend Ron Resnick as a letter to the editor of our local newspaper. Trying to get across the absurdity of carbon credit trading in 200 words or less is no easy task, let alone getting it printed. I think Ron nailed it with this and it's one of his best letter writing efforts to date.)

We can't buy our way out of global warming

Fri, 04 May 2007 07:36:19 GMT

Don't buy a smaller car. I know that sounds like something I wouldn't normally say. A greenie like me should be all for selling those SUV's and buying up electric hybrids as quick as they can build them, right? well. no.

I overhead a conversation today between a group of people admiring a shiny new car one of them had just bought. I was a nice compact, economical looking thing. The part of the conversation I overheard went something like this.

Admirer 1: "So you've traded down then?"
New car owner: "Oh no. I'm reducing my enviromental footprint."

I bit my lip and kept walking. Why didn't a shake their hand and say good on you? Well, because what they did probably had little or no effect on their "environmental footprint" at all. You've got to do the math. The whole equation from start to finish...

By the time a new SUV reaches it's proud new owner, it has already cost the planet about as much fossil fuels in the materials and manufacturing as it will consume in it's lifetime. The materials, the power for the assembly factory, the shipping of the parts and finished product, etc etc. Everything must be included in the equation. And here's the bad news. The enviromental cost of a brand new hybrid is not far removed from that of the SUV. Think about it; they are still made of the same materials, using the same manufacturing process, and they are still delivered on a truck.

So what has the person that sells their old SUV to by a nice new hybrid actually achieved for the planet? In reality they might as well just keep driving the SUV for the rest of it's life. Their "enviromental footprint" (I just love this feel-good buzzword) would remain the about the same.

If you want to make a difference by changing your mode of transport try a bicycle, public transport, or walk. Better yet, work on reducing your need to travel and stay at home. Buying a feel-good, technofix, economical, CAR is not part of the solution.

Ted and his SUB roadtrain

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 21:39:57 GMT

Every Saturday morning my friend Ted loads up his Xtracycle and trailer and heads of to the Nelson Market. He runs a kites and juggling stall. Everything he needs for the stall goes on the bike & trailer.

There are no less than three folding tables on the wideloaders.

This side you can see the kite-stock tube (red), the gazeebo on the snapdeck (yellow), and a of course a trailer full of stock.

Everything you see in this picture (excluding the customers) was transported by bike with zero emmissions. Well done Ted. This just goes to show that anyone who says they can't travel by bike because - insert favourite car-loving excuse here - probably just isn't willing to try. Sure, it would be easier for Ted to throw everything in a station wagon and drive to the market, but he chooses not to. Not because its cheaper, definately not because its easier (it ain't), and it's certainly is not quicker. He does it because it's the right thing to do, for us and our planet (oh...and its fun!). I long for the day this kind of action becomes mainstream.

This reminds me of what one of the Xtracycle inventers said in the video below... "It's not about making your life easier, its about making your life better."

This clip is from back in 2000 when the Xtracycle boys were first trying to spread the word about their idea. You've got to admire their tenacity (without which I wouldn't have had a chance to own my xtracycle). Thanks guys.

Hero

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:07:54 GMT

"I want to show the world that if I can make it around the Earth without any emissions, then surely almost anyone can make it to work or school." - Tim Harvey

The Velorution Has Begun (and it will not be televised)

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:28:36 GMT

Its happening all over the world. Cycling and the car-free lifestyle is back. After reading these two stories this morning I felt like I was part of something bigger as I jumped on my bike to ride off to work this morning...

Bicyclists winning a war of lanes in San Francisco

New German community models car-free living

...and check out this page of photos of those crazy europeans and their cargo bikes. Seriously it is incredible to me to see how the humble bicycle has been adapted to so many tasks. Photos curtosey of Cleverchimp who has just released the news that Clevercycles is now the first importer of Bakfiets (Dutch workbikes) in the US. I hope they catch on and I wish someone would bring them here to New Zealand... or better yet, start manufacturing them here! I'd have one in my bikeshed.

Strawcycle

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 07:19:54 GMT

I absolutely love doing this sort of thing with my xtracycle. Why? Because it messes with peoples heads. Forces them to think outside the square their petrol driven minds are stuck inside. I needed some straw for mulch on my garden. It keeps the moisture in, stops the blackbirds from digging to deep and uprooting plants, breaks down to 'feed' the soil for next season, keeps the strawberries of the ground, and it just looks good too. Ted had some organic barley straw at his house which was on the way home, and I just happened to have my wideloader bars with me today. So we traded two bales of straw for twenty litres of worm juice (compost tea) from my worm farm, which I will be riding in with tomorrow morning. Boy, did I see some rubberneckers on the way home! Some did a double take as I rode by, others looked at me like cows in headlights, and a few were belly laughing.

Ted had a wee test ride around Neale Park before I left.

Stopped at the Hira store. Now where am I gonna put the milk and bread!?

(ps. I apoligise for the quality of the pictures. They were taken on my phone since my dead camera has not been replaced yet.)

Nothing is Coming!

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:37:13 GMT

About a year ago I was musing that if I cycled to work twice a week, and stayed in town, near to work, in my campervan one day a week, saving a trip home, I could almost half the amount of driving I do. Thinking back today I realised that setting that goal, and acting on it, has taken me much further... and quite naturally so. Since then, and especailly over the last 3 or 4 months (since I got my Xtracycle) I have virtually eliminated driving altogether. I used to make the 50km drive to work and back every weekday. Thats 250km a week, or about 1000km a month. Since August I have averaged about 2 drives a month; about 100km worth. A 90% reduction! And without being to smug about it... it was no great sacrifice, in fact it was almost easy. Not to mention the other positive spinoffs, like way better health and fitness, less stress, lots of money saved (I think I'm addicted to endorfins though). And thats just the benefits for me. However marginal, there are benefits for our planet too.

Speaking of benefits for the planet... try this for one day, you never know where it might lead you.

Buy nothing day is this Friday.

http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/

This year's Buy Nothing Day has a special poignancy. Never before have our emerging environmental crises been planted so firmly on the lips of the policymakers and the general public. Rather than screaming from the fringes, high-profile economists and scientists are sounding the warnings in respected journals and the halls of parliament -- warnings that our oceans are dying, that the ice shelves are melting, and that we are setting ourselves up for the most massive and widest-ranging market failure the world has ever seen.

All of this points to a profound need for a shift in the way we see things. Recycling, protecting our waterways, driving hybrid cars -- all the old environmental imperatives -- are great, but it's becoming obvious that they don't address the core problem: we have to change our lifestyles, we have to change our culture, and we have to consume smarter and consume less.

This is the message of this year's Buy Nothing Day, and there are only a few days left to get that message out onto the streets. From the quietly sublime to the crazily anarchic, the ways in which you can mark BND are only limited by the imperative not to spend. Strut your stuff as if the fate of whole planet is resting in your hands, because even if each of us only does one small things to contribute, 96,847 small things sure add up!

At the BND campaign headquarters - that's http://www.adbusters.org/bnd - we've already featured upcoming actions in Japan, the UK, Canada, and the USA, with more to come from all over the world, including Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Hungary, Spain and Sweden. You can also download posters and other resources, as well as connect with activists in your own little corner of the globe.

Remember: Make a scene. Make people laugh. Make them think. If you have to, make them angry. Just get out there.

Cheers,
THE BUY NOTHING DAY TEAM

I'm planning on a Buy Nothing Christmas too (and that's not as grouchy as it sounds).

Have your fish, and veges, and eat them too

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:56:21 GMT

You've heard of aquaculture (or fish farming) and you've heard of hydroponics (growing plants in liquid instead of soil). If you marry the two, you get aquaponics; an intergrated system that reuses water in a continuous cycle to produce an abundance of food. Some claim it is possible with this system to produce food for up to 300 families on an average urban lot.

The idea involves using nutrient rich efffluent from a fish tank to feed hydroponics plants which in turn clean the water to be returned to the tank. There is almost no water loss during the whole cycle making the system virtually drought proof.

I read about this type of system for the first time last week when I found this document on my web travels. Although fascinating, a picture is worth a thousand words, and today I found a short video of an aquaponics system up and running (very succesfully). It is of the Ecocity farm. Could this be the way of the future for our presently fossil fuel dependant food supply? I think it shows very strong promise for the cities of the future.

My New Bumper Sticker

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 10:39:34 GMT

(Thanks A & P)

Cycling Comfort

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:40:16 GMT

With all the 'extra' commuting I've been doing on by bike since I got my xtracycle, I decided I deserved to be comfortable. I never realised what a poor fit my old bike was until I upgraded to a frame that actually fits me. My old green machine feels awkward and cramped compared to my new Bauer Hardline Xtracycle conversion. My credit card lies seriously wounded but it was worth it, and since I'm not forking out for desil, tyres, road tax, etc it will pay for itself in time.

One feature that really makes a difference, apart from the large spacious frame, is the seat post suspension. Rear suspension is always a comprimise as it soaks up some of the riders effort every pedal stroke and prevents a fraction of the power from getting to the ground. The seat post suspension gives me comfort without the sacrifice. It just soaks up those ruts and bumps that are common on the shoulder of the road.

Adjustable handlebars positions are also a good idea. I've also fitted an airhorn. It is delicously evil fun. At 115 decibel it s louder than your average truck and is a great way to let other road users that you're coming (or that they have just cut you off). And the best thing about it is it's rechargable. The bottle mounted of the front carrier rack can be pumped up to 80 psi with and ordinary bike pump which gives me around 70 half-second blasts before it needs refilling.

The first task for my new xtracycle setup, was to cart away my old bike....

(btw... I have to mention the fantastic service I got at the Stoke Cycle Center. I have used the services of several other local bike shops recently, but this is a business that really remembers the meaning of the word 'service'. Not only did they fit my Xtracycle at no cost, but the put my old bike back together, and tuned it. They transfered all my accessories like airhorn, carriers, bags and lights too. The new bike came with a service contract that gives me free servicing of my bike for the entire time I own it. And what's more, they remember your name. Highly recomend them to any locals buying a bike or looking for good bike servicing.)

I think I'm gonna be sick

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 23:19:10 GMT

I hate man's arrogance in thinking he is somehow superior to the rest of the species on this planet. We love to list the things that seperate us from the 'animals'. Opposable thumbs, self awareness, etc, etc. Why do we think we have the right to destroy other creatures inhabiting this planet?

In China over 2000 people a year die of rabies (which is entirely avoidable/treatable), out of about 1,306,313,812 of them. To curb this the government have ordered the massive slaughter of dogs. Like its their fault. What's wrong with vacination anyway? Sick. Sick. Sick.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060804/ap_on_re_as/china_dogs_killed

Why can't we turn the same logic on ourselves? Cars kill about 1.2 million people (I couldn't find any statistics on other species) each year world wide.... I think you see where I'm going with that.

The flavour of freedom

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 07:34:11 GMT

My first SUB (sport utility bike) is complete. And I did it myself. It took me a day to do what an experienced bike mechanic could have done in an hour, but I learnt a bit along the way. Like how to break and reconnect a chain; how to fit a brake or gear cable; and a couple of reasons not to buy a 'department store quality' bicycle.

Looks pretty normal at first glance.

Its like adding the carrying capacity of a car boot to your bike.

The XtraCycle naked.

Hand me the destructions

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:27:02 GMT

I have my bike, upside-down in the middle of the room, where the coffee table usually is. I have a fistfull of spanners and alen keys...

...and I have a big oblong cardboard box with "XtraCycle - FreeRadical" in big black letters on the outside.
Photos tomorrow.

Free Radicals & Stokemonkeys

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 08:57:24 GMT

"Environmental stickers don't mean shit when they are stuck to CARS!" - Bumper sticker on the Sport Utility Bike That Ate Detroit.

Take a standard bicycle, add a Free Radical kit from Xtracycle, a Stokemonkey Human Electic Hybrid Drive, and optional extras like airhorn, full suspension leather saddle, handlebars and footpegs for passengers, and a box for extra battery packs, and you get this. Put together to replace a car this has got to be the ultimate machine for a world without affordable fossil fuels.

From the bikes owner:

Here's My Story and I'm Sticking To It

I've found an alternative to using a car in everday life. I'm over 60 years old... if this works for me, it will work for just about anybody.

I work as Home Care Nurse in the hills of San Francisco. I put in 25 to 40 miles a day. I haul about 30 lbs of gear.

I like:
Clean air.
Exercise with daily living (no gym fees!)

Freedom from:
oil changes/plugs/tuneups/valve adjustment
car insurance/registration/DMV lines
WAITING IN TRAFFIC
Endless Oil War.

I think one of these should be government issue for every man, woman and child, who chooses to live without owning a car. It would be a start anyway... (they could just use my share of the funding for new roads to pay for mine). I think what appeals to me most about this beastie is that it illustrates beautifully that the end of cheap fossil fuels does not mean we have to go back to the stone age. There are new ways forward... first, we have to imagine them. Here's another... the optibike.

(btw. the inventor of the Stokemonkey, Cleverchimp, also has a pretty cool blog which I think you'll enjoy.)

Energy

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 03:05:01 GMT

If there's a recipe to gain a true appreciation of what incredible source of energy fossil fuels are this could be it....

Spend a frosty winter day chopping up a couple of dead willow trees (blown over by the wind) using only hand tools (two different sized pruning saws, an axe and a hatchet) while listening to a chorus of chainsaws as neighbours clean up their own dead wood. I spent most of the day doing what I could have achieved in an hour or so with the help of a cup or two of petrol and the appropriate technology to put it in. And for all my effort I only managed to get the trees stripped of their smaller branches (anything smaller than my wrist) and lined up ready for tomorrow when a friend is coming to visit with a chainsaw. It will take all of 20 minutes to chop and stack the trunks of the trees. I shudder at the thought of how long that would take me with hand tools.

There is something about this kind of physical labour that makes a beer taste better...

Dixie Chicks for President

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 05:53:39 GMT

http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/2006/06/dixie-chicks-for-president.html

At least they're talking about it

Tue, 09 May 2006 08:37:18 GMT

This week phrases like "peak oil production", "move to a post-oil economy", and " investment in public transport" were heard in our Parliament! I'm not getting to excited though. At least peak oil is on they're radar screens but this feels like watching a car crash in slow motion. The inertia of our political system is painful. Like the car crash victim, we simply cannot react fast enough.

Below is a transcript of an exchange between Jeanette Fitzsimons (Co-Leader-Green) and the Prime Minister...

---

JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime Minister: What
instructions, if any, has she given her Ministers and her department
to develop a strategy for New Zealand's primary industry, transport,
tourism, and trading relationships to adapt to the reality of more
expensive and less available oil, in light of her statement of 18
April that the reason for high oil prices is "because we're probably
not too far short of peak production, if we're not already there?"

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister): Ministers and officials are
working on how to increase the use of bio-fuels, as well as
researching improvements in vehicle fleet efficiency. As well, a New
Zealand energy strategy is being developed, and the National Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Strategy is being reviewed, and I thank
the member for the work she is doing in respect of that. The actual
date for peak oil production is a matter of debate but there is no
doubt that it will occur.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: Is she confident that the national energy
strategy will take sufficient account of her statement, with which I
agree, that oil is not going to get cheaper over the long term,
given Treasury's projection in the December Economic and Fiscal
Update that prices will drop to $54 a barrel, from $75 now, after
this year and the 2003 projections still on the Ministry of Economic
Development's website that forecast a drop in oil prices to $25 a
barrel by 2020 and constant prices thereafter?

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK: I think there will be fluctuations around the
price, but I have little doubt that the long-term trend will be for
the price to go higher. That is because of the huge demand for oil
now as a finite resource from the emerging mega-economies of China
and India and also the fact that the world's oil supplies tend to be
drawn from rather unstable parts of the world. All those factors are
leading great economies like that of the United States to start to
think actively about how to move to a post-oil economy.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: Does she agree that if cities are to remain
viable, investment must shift from new motorways into better public
transport, especially electric rail in Auckland and trolley buses in
Wellington, and what does her statement about peak oil imply for the
economics of a new Transmission Gully motorway at a time when the
affordability of private motoring is declining?

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK: I absolutely agree with the member about the
importance of investment in public transport. The investment that
has gone in over the last 6½ years is many times what was there
before then, and that is the right thing to do. I think for the
modern day and age, people want the independence the private vehicle
offers, but for the future I think we will see the private vehicle
increasingly be powered by sources other than oil.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: Has she received any reports that suggest that
our current high use of transport fuels, which is growing by nearly
4 percent a year, could be sustained by bio-fuels alone, and what
impact would that have on land available for agriculture in New
Zealand?

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK: No, I have not seen reports on that, but I
understand from colleagues that the Government is likely to be
setting a target around bio-fuels in June. I look forward to that,
because I think that will be part of our energy future.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: Will the Government consider establishing a
process involving both the Government and the private sector to
study the work done in Sweden, which plans to cut its reliance on
petroleum by 2020, and to plan a similar transition here?

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK: I am open to such suggestions. I am well aware
of the impetus that Sweden is giving to how to develop a post-oil
economy, and it is good to see those kinds of initiatives from
offshore now being reported in our own press, and quite fully. I
think we do need new initiatives, and I am certainly open to
discussing initiatives like that.

---

Anyone else feel like a crash test dummy?

No solutions, just responses.

Fri, 05 May 2006 05:19:47 GMT

I've become a little disillusioned with the peak oil movement of late. I don't doubt that peak oil is upon us, and I definitely do not doubt its severity. In fact I think it is the enormity of its consequences for man kind that is at the source of my disillusionment. I find myself sitting around wondering what to do first, instead of leaping into action. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people putting a lot of amazing effort and self sacrifice into getting the message across to the public at large. Their work is of huge value to those few souls they get through to. One mind at a time as they say... I have been wondering lately though, where to apply my efforts.

Sure I've got my garden, my bike, and I'm doing a heck of a lot of study on everything from willow basket making, to nuclear fusion. All well and good as far as preparing myself goes (although there is also much more I could be doing there too), but I want to start preparing my community. I'm gonna need them, and they are gonna need me. I think the difference between a slightly uncomfortable post peak oil world and a disastrous one, will be decided by the way we react to the crisis, and the way we treat each other. When the pain of an economic recession caused by the coming energy crisis hits will we look at our neighbours as friends or foe? Are they people you want to band together with, share a meal with, and seek comfort from? Or are they more like competition, rivals for jobs, money, food, and the scraps of the industrial age?

Humans are not 'designed' to live as individuals. We need community for survival. The individualism of recent decades is something relatively new to humans, only made possible by the wealth and prosperity afforded us by cheap fossil fuels. To quote Ran Prieur "you will have to trade your sterile, insulated links of money and law for raw, messy links of friendship and conflict.". In other words, we are going to have to learn to work together and survive with the people in our immediate community, wether we like them or not.

What I'm seeing a lot of among the peak oil aware people I know is canvasing of local and national government, writing letters to the editor, setting up websites, forming groups, and organisations with the aim of getting the warning out there into the public consciousness. This is all good stuff BUT I feel that for me there is something more pressing to be done, and that is getting to know all my neighbours. I don't just mean getting to know them well enough to wave to when we pass on the road when driving, but well enough to know what I can do for them, and what they can do for me. Well enough to be able to trust them, and for them to trust me. Well enough to rely on each other like family. Sounds corny and idealistic doesn't it? If anyone who was alive through the great depression was reading this I imagine they wouldn't find it corny at all.

How does one go about enhancing their community relationships? Where could I start? One thing I'm going to try is car-pooling. Don't worry, someone's already informed me that "car-pooling does not work". I thank them for their input, but I'm going to try anyway. The number of cars I see everyday travelling the same route to town as I do with only one person in them tells me there are no shortage of candidates. Its just a matter of time before the price of fuel will prompt each and every one of them to reconsider their travel arrangements. The weathers starting to get to cold for me to be biking to work (I know, I'm soft), so I'd far rather be sharing my warm van with several other commuters. I've started by advertising a ride on www.carshare.co.nz; I'm on of two ride share offers for the whole Nelson region. I'll put up an advertisement on notice board at the local store and drop a note to the editor of the local community newspaper. I'm even considering a letterbox drop. At the very least I'll be planting a seed in the minds of locals for when they are ready to stop debating the reality of peak oil, and start making some changes... whenever that may be.

NZ Prime Minister out of the closet on Peak Oil

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 08:25:56 GMT

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0604/S00169.htm

PowerLess NZ Press Release
21 April 2006

As the price of oil hangs at record heights, unmoving, like a pall threatening to choke economies and festering the sore that is inflation (October delivery contracts on the NYMEX are over US$75 a barrel), the cattle-class as well as the impotent media transfixed by daily trivialities and titillations by and large continue to remain clueless as to why we are paying almost $1.80 a litre at the pump.

Economists and "analysts" roll out the usual suspects whenever the price moves skyward, security worries in Nigeria, "weapons of mass destruction" in Iran, or was that Iraq, hurricanes in the gulf. The point today is any minor supply concern that results in a few thousand-barrel production cutback translates into a several dollar bull-run on oil on the mercantile exchange which is never clawed back. To say that "the end of cheap oil" is here is to merely state the bleeding obvious.

Matt Simmons energy investment banker and Peak Oil advocate argued that 2006 would be the year Peak Oil would be absorbed into the public consciousness as much as climate change and it seems he may be right. This week Helen Clark, New Zealand's Prime Minister joined a rapidly growing but exclusive club, the penny has obviously dropped – she openly admitted the real reasons behind high oil prices, "because we're probably not too far short of peak production, if we're not already there" [1].

This watershed statement, which incidentally went over the heads of most of the media turkeys in attendance, has enormous economic and social implications. Firstly it absolves Trevor Mallard (acting Minister of Energy) from having to regurgitate International Energy Agency nonsense that Peak Oil is at least 30 years away. "Not too far short of peak production, if not already there" surely can't mean the same thing as 30 years away. The minister can now base policy in geological reality rather than the flawed economic "business as usual" fantasy that has cheap abundant oil production growing alongside the economy for all eternity.

But will he? Will she?

I can already hear the screams of the damned led by Peter Dunne, all the way down every double-laned highway in the country. By this very admission the Prime Minister puts the Government in a very sticky situation. If indeed we are already at peak oil multi-billion dollar roading projects are about as sensible as New Zealand developing it's own uranium enrichment program. But New Zealand is obsessed with the growth dilemma. Economic growth necessarily depends on a cheap energy subsidy, to grow economically one needs to increase energy consumption. As the price of oil continues to creep upwards the spectre of oil-shock induced stagflation looms. The economy is already stagnant. Interest rates are relatively high and inflation is expected to run at over 3% this year. Expect the ride to become somewhat bumpy over the next couple of years.

In light of Prime Minister Helen Clarks peak oil admission the concept of growth must be re-evaluated. Economic growth and oil production exhibit a linear relationship. As we enter the era of oil decline, Jim Kunstler argues the only growth we are likely to see is "growth in our exertions to stay where we are, and the truth is many of the weak will simply fall behind" [2].

If Helen Clark truly comprehends peak oil then momentous changes in public policy must follow, not to mitigate risk in light of such information incurs liability and, is arguably negligent.

The Clark led Government must start immediately with the recognition that we have adopted (and continue to develop at breakneck speeds) a suburban living arrangement for which the outlook is truly bleak. The public can no longer get what the public wants, the required message will not be popular.

Continuing to pump billions into roading projects, ultimately dependant upon the continued stream of cheap Middle Eastern oil after the Prime Ministers admission is moronic. With less oil being produced every year and as the price of petrol moves beyond Himalayan like territory, Transmission Gully (just picking one example), begins to look like a very expensive white elephant – a monument to the exuberant industrial age when there was always more of everything.

[1](2006) PM Talks Palestinian Aid, Health 'N' (Peak) Oil, Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 5:53 pm , Article: Scoop Audio., http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00206.htm

[2] Kunstler, J. (2006) April 3, Clusterfuck Nation Chronicles: Commentary on the Flux of Events., http://www.kunstler.com

Steve McKinlay for
PowerLess NZ

PowerLess NZ is a growing group of scientists, energy analysts and concerned citizens whose principle objectives are to alert both Government and the general public to New Zealand's looming energy crisis. Our aim is to support development of renewable energy resources at both a private and public level, as well as encourage a firm move away from dependence upon fossil fuels.
Steve's blog is located at http://ontic.blogspot.com/
More information about global peak oil and resource depletion can be found at http://www.oilcrash.com/

Robert Newman's History of Oil

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 05:09:21 GMT

Imagine giving a 40 minute presentation on the history of oil, war, and politics of the last hundred years AND making it not only informative, and provocative, but also hilarious fun.

Sounds impossible? Well Robert Newman does it in style with a brand of humor that is quintessentially British.

"This innovative history programme is based around Robert Newman's stand-up act and supported by resourceful archive sequences and stills with satirical impersonations of historical figures from Mayan priests to Archduke Ferdinand. Quirky details such as a bicycle powered street lamp on the stage brings home the pertinent question of just how we are going to survive when the world's oil supplies are finally exhausted."

Check it out here...

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/04/1814999.php

.

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 05:30:47 GMT

Peak Oil coming out of the closet

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 01:19:37 GMT

It seems the peak oil message is making the mainstream news more and more lately. When Matt Simmons, (CEO of Simmons & Co Intl, author of "Twilight in the Desert", and energy adviser to the Bush administration), says to "...fasten your seat belts – we're in for a rough ride ahead", he's a little harder to ignore than your average peak oil "doom & gloomer". Last week he spoke at the New Zealand Petroleum Conference and it sounds like he got their attention.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3602571a1864,00.html

The issue has made it to NZ current affairs program 'Close-up' also...

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/tvone_minisite_story_skin/678721%3fformat=html

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/tvone_minisite_story_skin/679406%3fformat=html

I have to say though that the way the topic was covered on this program was pretty disappointing. It started out well in the first half with some pretty good reality checks from people like Matt Simmons. But hang on... right at the end of the first instalment they bring a guy (who remained nameless) to tell us its OK because we are sitting on a black "gold mine" here in NZ. To quote this mystery expert, "there are people who think there are hundreds of million, perhaps even billion barrel oil fields down there, or trillions of cubic feet of gas, in other words, prospects that are comparable to or even bigger than Maui." Very comforting, but hardly conclusive. There are 'people' who 'think' many different things on the subject; they are not all right.

They second part then goes on to suggest if we can just convince overseas oil companies to come and explore here, we will be fine because as a little country we don't need that much oil. It suggested that the Maui field has completely filled our energy needs for decades (why have we been we importing more than half of our oil then?) and we just need to find another field just like it. Pipe dreams. Overseas oil companies are already exploring here, and have been for years. They are looking for scraps. One commentator on the video clip at the link above suggests that because oil companies are prepared to come a long way and spend a lot of money to look in our back yard, there must be a lot of oil down there. As one industry insider with 30 years experience in exploration already exploring in NZ told me, it simply means they are getting desperate. And even if they do find something significant, the international demand for oil will soon be so great that we won't be able to afford to keep it anyway; it will go to the highest bidder (or the biggest army, which ain't us). At least we don't have any WMD's here in NZ to warrant an occupation... but then neither did Iraq.

Personally I hope they don't find anything major. Not because I want to see an economic crash, but because I think clinging to false hopes of continuing this consuming way of life are dangerous. All this talk of more investment, more exploration, more technology, is just a futile attempt to (slightly) delay the inevitable. The sooner we come to grips with the reality of the situation, the sooner we can all just get on with the huge task of preparing for a lifestyle that ISN'T predicated on cheap fossil fuels. CHEAP fossil fuels are a thing of the past... regardless of how much effort we put into pretending that isn't so.

The first thing you should do when you find yourself stuck in a hole is, stop digging.

Terminator Seeds

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:36:04 GMT

http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/messages/10_mar_06_terminator.html

No it's not another action movie - it's much worse than that. Terminator gene technology is a serious threat to farmers all over the world and to the environment. Next week the NZ Government has a chance to address this threat. We need to urge them to take strong action.

Did you know that over 1.4 billion people around the world depend on saved seed for food? Seeds from each year's crop are saved for planting the following season.

This age old practice of saving seed is under threat right now from US seed and chemical corporations and a tiny number of countries - including New Zealand. They want to introduce a selfish and short-sighted new technology that is a veritable ticking time-bomb.

'Terminator' technology is an extreme for of genetically engineered seed that produces sterile offspring. It is specifically designed to stop farmers saving seed and so must buy new seed each season. This directly threatens the livelihood of the communities who rely on saved seed for food.

Over 120 countries and the world's biggest aid and environmental organisations are calling for the current de-facto moratorium on 'terminator technology' to stay in place.

At present New Zealand is one of only four countries pushing for this ban to be overturned.

Now is the time for action. The issue will be debated at the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity meeting in Brazil later this month. Please take a few minutes to defend the right of all farmers to save seed and particularly the 1.4 billion people who depend on this by sending an urgent message to the New Zealand Government here

Thank you for your support,

Greenpeace Aotearoa NZ

Bumper Sticker

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 10:26:22 GMT

Seen on a bumper sticker, stuck on an SUV, parked outside the a big department store on Sunday afternoon...

"On judgement day you'll be meeting Father God, NOT Mother Earth."

The second thing through my head (after WTF?) was, what if the first thing he asks me is "What have you done to my creation?"

How to Survive the Crash and Save the Earth

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:02:08 GMT

This very astute eassy by Ran Prieur was a welcome read. Written with delightful good humor it deals with a serious subject that is difficult to even approach in our culture.

http://ranprieur.com/essays/saveearth.html

Here are just a few quotes I really liked but do go and read the whole thing....

"For thousands of years we've been going into debt and calling it 'progress', exterminating and calling it 'development', stealing and calling it 'wealth', shrinking into a world of our own design and calling it 'evolution'. We're just about done."

" ...it's not about avoiding guilt, or reducing your ecological footprint, or being righteous. It's not a pissing contest to see who's doing more to save the Earth -- although some people will believe that's your motivation, to justify their own inertia. It's not even about reducing your participation in the system, just reducing your submission and dependence: getting free, being yourself, slipping out of a wrestling hold so you can throw an elbow at the Beast... This world is full of people with the intelligence, knowledge, skills, and energy to make heaven on Earth, but they can't even begin because they would lose their jobs."

"If you can just get 10% of yourself free of habit and conformity, people will call you 'weird'. 20% and they'll call you a genius, 30% and they'll call you a saint, 40% and they'll kill you."

"You may feel like you want to do it alone, but you have never done it alone. To survive the breakdown of this world and build a better one, you will have to trade your sterile, insulated links of money and law for raw, messy links of friendship and conflict."

"Humans have the ability to go beyond sustainability, to live in ways that increase the richness of life on Earth, and help Gaia in ways she cannot help herself. This and only this justifies human survival... sustainability is only the middle of the road, and there's no limit to how far we can go beyond it."