The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New
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ROMAHDUS Vipu
ROMAHDUS ViPu Lokakuu 2014 1 Sisällys Lukijalle……………………………………………………… 2 1 Mikä romahdus?…………………………………………… 2 2 Romahduksen lajeista……………………………………… 6 3 Romahduksen vaiheista…………………………………… 15 4 Teoreetikkoja ja näkemyksiä……………………………… 17 5 Romahdus—maailmanloppu, apokalypsi, kriisi, utopia… 25 6 Romahdus ja selviytyminen………………………………. 29 7 Pitääkö romahdusta jouduttaa?…………………………… 44 8 Romahdus, tieto ja hallinta………………………………… 49 9 Romahdus ja politiikka…………………………………….. 53 2 Lukijalle Tämä teksti on osa pohdiskelua, jonka tarkoituksena on luoda pohjaa Vihreän Puolueen poliittiselle toiminnalle. Tekstin aiheena on jo monin paikoin ja tavoin alkanut teollisten sivilisaatioiden ja modernismin kehityskertomuksen romahdus. Tekstin ensimmäiset 8 lukua käsittelevät erilaisia teorioita, käsityksiä ja vapaampaankin ajatuksenlentoon nojaavia näkökulmia romahdukseen. Ne eivät siis missään nimessä edusta ViPun poliittisia käsityksiä tai tavotteita, vaan pohjustavat alustavia poliittisia johtopäätöksiä, jotka esitetään luvussa 9. Toisin sanoen luvut 1-8 pyörittelevät aihetta suuntaan ja toiseen ja luku 9 esittää välitilinpäätöksen, jonka on edelleen tarkoitus tarkentua ja elää tilanteen mukaan. Tätä romahdus-osiota on myös tarkoitus lukea muiden ViPun teoreettisten tekstien kanssa, niiden ristivalotuksessa. 1 Mikä romahdus? Motto: "Yhden maailman loppu on toisen maailman alku, yhden maailmanloppu on toisen maailmanalku." Moton sanaleikin tarkoitus on huomauttaa, että vaikka yhteiskunnan romahdus onkin yksilön ja ryhmän näkökulmasta vääjäämätön tapahtuma, johon -
1 Combined Wind/Pumped Hydro Energy System in WNY As An
Combined Wind/Pumped Hydro Energy System in WNY as an Alternative to Peak Oil Induced NY State Socioeconomic Disaster Derek Bateman [email protected] David Bradley [email protected] Submitted to the ESSCCA Conference, Buffalo, NY on April 1, 2001 1 Abstract The economy on which our civilization is based is both environmentally and economically unsustainable. Two obvious examples are the pending economic dislocation that will inevitably take place as a result of “Peak Oil” and Global Climate Change. For huge sectors of the economy many or most business models will no longer work when we are paying $5.00 to $20.00 a gallon for transportation fuel. What examples from social science research are available to prepare our society to avoid economic depression if not societal collapse? This paper will show how “Renewable Energy Feed-In Laws” (REFILs) can offer an approach to addressing Peak Oil and fossil fuel induced Global Climate Change, as well as Peak Oil induced economic damage. It also will focus on how wind turbines along with pumped hydroelectric energy storage and biomass for WNY/NY State can help address energy shortages that will result from Peak Oil while providing jobs and maximizing social cohesion. Summary • Global Warming and Peak Oil are related items • Oil combustion and oil consumption related infrastructure (e.g. cars, sub- urbs, car-centric shopping centers/malls, etc) are major emitters and/or causes of CO2 pollution, the major cause of Global Warming • Global Warming and Peak Oil have different time scales for noticeable effects and the timing of their impacts will often differ • Global Warming is mostly a weather, climate, rainfall, and ocean level phenomena, plus the effects of those on humans and their societies • Peak Oil is mostly an economic phenomena, and transportation (of goods and people) related • Peak Oil is a liquid fuels problem – liquid fuels have unique properties • Peak Oil is really a Peak World Oil Export problem for the U.S. -
Drumbeat: December 1, 2006
The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: December 1, 2006 http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/12/1/8307/71623 DrumBeat: December 1, 2006 Posted by threadbot on December 1, 2006 - 9:30am Topic: Miscellaneous [Update by Leanan on 12/01/06 at 2:10 PM EDT] House to vote on offshore drilling bill WASHINGTON - House Republicans agreed Friday to move a compromise offshore drilling bill passed by the Senate this summer that would open new territory in the Gulf Coast area to oil rigs and create a cash cow for nearby states. With time running out on the party's majority rule, GOP leaders decided to send the measure to the floor for a vote next week, Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Majority Leader John Boehner said. Energy industry: Give us something solid - Utility execs see carbon restrictions as inevitable, want regulations 'soon rather than later;' seek stability in oil markets; questions linger over nuclear power. Saudi Arabia was held up as a model example. John Roberts, an energy security specialist with Platts, the provider of energy information that sponsored the event, said the kingdom pledged $53 billion to expand its oil infrastructure. "They are putting their money where their mouth is," said Roberts. "They say they are increasing capacity, and there is no reason to think they won't. With other countries, it's much less clear." Stirling Newberry on the economy, peak oil, and global warming: The Other Future It isn't energy per se that is the problem, but the problem of recycling petrodollars and the marginal profits of energy. -
Michael: Welcome to This Episode of the Future Is Calling Us to Greatness
Michael: Welcome to this episode of The Future is Calling Us to Greatness. Today I’ll be talking with John Michael Greer, who is a peak oil writer, a blogger, actually, to be quite honest, of everyone that I’m interviewing in this series, I’ve not read anyone more deeply and more enthusiastically than John Michael. In face, my first introduction to him was just maybe eight months ago. I read The Ecotechnic Future. Richard Heinberg was the one that introduced me to that book. Then I listened to it. Fortunately it was available on audio. Then I’ve read several others of his books that I’ll talk about here. But John Michael, welcome to this podcast series, this interview series, on The Future is Calling Us to Greatness. John: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be on. Michael: So John Michael, could you begin just by sharing with our viewers and listeners a little bit about your own background, your accomplishments, and especially what you’re particularly passionate about or interested in at this time. John: Well, I reached adulthood at the end of the 1970’s, the early 1980’s, at the last time that American society was showing any signs of paying attention to the future or any future outside of Ronald Reagan’s distorted imaginations. I was at that time very heavily involved in what we used to call the appropriate tech movement. There’s a phrase that doesn’t get a lot of reference these days, but doing things like solar energy and wind power, but not taking over vast amounts of Nevada. -
1 OXREP the Future of Fossil Fuels – Is It the End? Dieter Helm1 12Th January 2016 Abstract Contrary to the Assumptio
OXREP The future of fossil fuels – is it the end? Dieter Helm1 12th January 2016 Abstract Contrary to the assumptions underlying much of current energy and climate policies, fossil fuels have fallen and may remain at the new “normal” levels. In the medium term, Iran and Iraq have considerable potential to increase their outputs, and the new shale technologies will gradually globalise. Longer term, new technologies in electricity generation, storage and smart demand side technologies, together with electric cars and the shift towards digitalisation and new electricity-based technologies in manufacturing, with increase demand for electricity, but not fossil fuels. These new and emerging technologies, rather than international agreements, and the promotion of current generation renewables, will probably bring fossil fuel dominance to a gradual close. To facilitate decarbonisation, energy policy should be directed at enhancing R&D and next generation renewables, instead of supporting existing ones. JEL classification: Q4, L9, O3. 1.Introduction 1 Comments on drafts by Ken Mayhew, Alex Teytelboym, and Christopher Adams are gratefully acknowledged and discussions with Cameron Hepburn, John Feddersen and Ben Irons have also very helped. All errors remain mine. 1 The demise of fossil fuels has been often predicted, but they have proved remarkably resilient. Stanley William Jevons in the nineteenth century worried that Britain was running out of coal, and would as a result have to return “to her former littleness”2. Yet nobody worries that the world is going to run out of coal a century and a half later. For oil, the end has been predicted in almost every decade since the modern oil industry was founded. -
Dowd 2016 Oneing (Vol 4, No 2) Essay.Pages
Evidential Medicine for Our Collective Soul What’s Inevitable? What’s Redemptive? By Michael Dowd Religions are evolving. Nowhere is this more evident than in how spiritual leaders across the spectrum are expanding their views of revelation to include all forms of evidence. We are witnessing the birth of what I have been calling the Evidential Reformation,1 a time when all forms of evidence (scientific, historic, cross-cultural, experiential) are valued religiously. Crucially, ecology—the interdisciplinary study of God’s nature—becomes integral to theology. Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, the Dalai Lama, and the signers of the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change are spearheading this evidence-honoring greening of religion. The movement has been passionate and inspired for decades. But the noble sentiments that spawned care for Creation are no match for the crises now spinning out of control. It is time for a prophetic turbo-charging of our religious traditions. Foremost is the need to expand beyond the self-focus of individual salvation or enlightenment to also include vital community concerns—notably, survival. The community now, of course, is the entire human family and the more-than-human Earth community.2 A renewed call to action cannot be expected to offer pat solutions. Sadly, what were problems in the recent past have now exploded into predicaments. A predicament (by definition) is a kind of problem for which there are no solutions. It can neither be solved nor overcome; yet it is too impactful to ignore. A predicament must be dealt with conscientiously and continuously. Our responses can offer only more or less helpful interventions. -
Part I: Introduction
Part I: Introduction “Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” -Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) “For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.” -Patrick Henry (1776) “I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.” -William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator (1831) “Gas is running low . .” -Amelia Earhart (July 2, 1937) 1 2 Dear Reader, Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the wacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society. -
Museletter 327 / May 2020
MuseLetter 327 / May 2020 richardheinberg.com MuseLetter #327 / May 2020 by Richard Heinberg Dear Readers, This month I offer two short pieces: my review of Planet of the Humans, a new film produced by Michael Moore; and "Nobody Takes Renewable Energy Transition Seriously," in which I offer suggestions for what we should do if we really want to get society off of fossil fuels and avert catastrophic climate change. Stay safe and healthy, Richard Review: Planet of the Humans A few days ago, Emily Atkin posted a reaction to Michael Moore’s latest film, Planet of the Humans (directed and narrated by Jeff Gibbs), in which she began by admitting that she hadn’t seen the film yet. When writers take that approach, you know there’s already blood in the water. (She has since watched the film and written an actual review. Full disclosure: I’m in the film, included as one of the “good guys.” But I don’t intend to let that fact distort my comments in this review.) The film is controversial because it makes two big claims: first, that renewable energy is a sham; second, that big environmental organizations— by promoting solar and wind power—have sold their souls to billionaire investors. I feel fairly confident commenting on the first of these claims, regarding renewable energy, having spent a year working with David Fridley of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to assess the prospects for a complete transition to solar and wind power. We found that the transition to renewables is going far too slowly to make much of a difference during the crucial next couple of decades, and would be gobsmackingly expensive if we were to try replacing all fossil fuel use with solar and wind. -
Sustainability Leaders
new society publishers 2020 YEARS Sustainability Leaders Publishing Books for a World of Change 40 Years new society publishers is proud to be celebrating 40 years of activist, solutions-oriented publishing. From our roots in non-violent of Publishing civil disobedience training during the Vietnam war to today, with over for a World 500 books published — some across a dozen languages — we continue to bring positive solutions and cutting-edge ideas, to some of the most of Change troubling challenges of our time. Having never wavered from our mission to help build a just and ecologically sustainable society — placing planet and people before profit —we are proud to hold the highest environmental and social standards of any publisher in North America. With a dedicated community of changemakers and thought leaders, always working ahead of the curve, we look forward to another 40 years of bringing our readers books for a world of change. As the climate crisis accelerates and the coronavirus outbreak exposes the fragility of the just-in-time globalized, growth economy, we are focussed ever more on local resilience. Our Fall 2020 list is packed with practical books to get you started on building local capacity with how-to books on ecological land design, regenerative agriculture, and growing quality, nutritious local food – the very backbone of a resilient local economy. Yet resiliency is not all about food. We also offer tools for the deep inner work of personal transformation and methods for leveraging behavior change to build an inclusive society in which all voices are heard and all people can contribute. -
Presenting the American Monetary Act (As of July 18, 2010) ©2010 American Monetary Institute, P.O
Presenting the American Monetary Act (as of July 18, 2010) ©2010 American Monetary Institute, P.O. Box 601, Valatie, NY 12184 [email protected] 518-392-5387 “Over time, whoever controls the money system controls the nation.” Stephen Zarlenga, Director Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) made history on December 17th, 2010 when he introduced a version of this Act as the National Employment Emergency Defense Act (NEED Act), HR 6550, which faithfully contains all of these monetary reforms. Introduction Dear Friends, The World economy has been taken down and wrecked by the financial establishment and their economists; and by their supporters in the media they own, and even by some in the executive and legislative branches, in the name of “free markets” and insatiable greed. Shame! Shame on them all! The American Monetary Act (the “Act”) is a comprehensive reform of the present United States money system, and it resolves the current banking crisis. “Reform” is not in its title, because the AMI considers our monetary system to never have been adequately defined in law, but rather to have been put together piecemeal under pressure from particular interests, mainly banking, in pursuit of their own private advantage, without enough regard to our nation’s needs. That is the harsh judgment of history as made clear in The Lost Science of Money, by Stephen Zarlenga (abbreviated LSM).* That book presents the research results of The American Monetary Institute to date and this Act puts the reform process described in Chapter 24 into legislative language. Chapters 1 thru 23 present the historical background and case studies on which Chapter 24 is based. -
ICT After Fossil Fuels
Communications Information Technology After Fossil Fuels Wednesday, August 17, 2016 Speakers: Casey Hall directs Citizen's Engagement Lab's Climate Lab), Dr. Douglas RusHkoff, (author of THrowing Rocks at the Google Bus), RicHard HeinBerg (Post CarBon Institute), AsHer Miller (Post CarBon Institute) Contact Us: [email protected] Tweet Us: #renewablefuture WeBsite: OurRenewableFuture.org Monica Hello! ZacH An excellent, useful read! leslie [email protected] david An exciting topic, that is for sure! leslie #renewablefuture Lovis WHat is the role of B incorporation in creating the renewable/sustainable future? Jack THanks for opening this view of the Human predicament leslie CHeck out all the free reading and the in depth analysis AsHer mentioned Here: leslie www.ricHardHeinBerg.com leslie Http://www.rusHkoff.com/ leslie Http://engagementlab.org/people/casey-Harrell ZacH Your thougHts on How alternatives to the growth douBling down can enter the political reality would "Appropriate tecHnology reminds us that Before we cHoose our tools and tecHniques, we must first cHoose our dreams and values, for some tecHnologies serve them wHile others make them Craig unoBtainable" Tom Bender Looking Back it seems the only collective dreams and values centers on Silvia Can capitalism Be reformed to Be compatiBle with a living, livable planet? Can we Have a "well- Monica Can people de reformed to think in terms that are compatiBle with ecological Health, social respect ZacH You can. People can. Ben Capitalism to serve the planet... it's a Both/and. Mark THis is really Boring. WHat's the purpose Here? Economics Has Become the language of extinction as we give value to the very things that directly Craig undermine our and future generations well Being. -
Global Oil Risks in the Early 21St Century
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Munich RePEc Personal Archive MPRA Munich Personal RePEc Archive Global oil risks in the early 21st century Dean Fantazzini and Mikael Hook and Andr´e Angelantoni Moscow School of Economics, Moscow State University, Russia, Uppsala University, Global Energy Systems, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala, Sweden, www.PostPeakLiving.com (USA) 1. February 2011 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/33825/ MPRA Paper No. 33825, posted 30. September 2011 17:16 UTC Global oil risks in the early 21st Century Dean Fantazzini∗ Mikael H¨o¨ok† Andr´eAngelantoni‡ Abstract The Deepwater Horizon incident demonstrated that most of the oil left is deep offshore or in other difficult to reach locations. Moreover, obtaining the oil remaining in currently producing reservoirs requires additional equipment and technology that comes at a higher price in both capital and energy. In this regard, the physical limitations on producing ever-increasing quantities of oil are highlighted as well as the possibility of the peak of production occurring this decade. The economics of oil supply and demand are also briefly discussed showing why the available supply is basically fixed in the short to medium term. Also, an alarm bell for economic recessions is shown to be when energy takes a disproportionate amount of total consumer expenditures. In this context, risk mitigation practices in government and business are called for. As for the former, early education of the citizenry of the risk of economic contraction is a prudent policy to minimize potential future social discord.