The International Energy Agency (IEA) released World Energy Outlook 2009 today. Even before the sham was shipped, it was exposed as a big 'ol bucket of lies. Seems the current administration thinks Americans can't handle the truth, so we need to apply some pressure to keep the lid on the facts. If this country's paragon of transparency (i.e., world's leading liar) and master of hope (i.e., wishful thinking) actually trusted the American people, perhaps we could avert chaos.
If oil traders knew the truth about declining energy availability, the per-barrel price of oil would be $300 within a week. If stock traders knew the truth, we'd see capitulation of the markets shortly thereafter. If Americans knew the truth, they just might come to grips with reality, rally together, put their collective shoulders to the wheel, and start building a better world than the ominicidal culture of make believe to which we've all become accustomed.
But we'll never know, because the cabal of morally bankrupt bankers and politicians running this country -- and also the industrialized world -- will keep playing the shell game as long as they are allowed by the impotent media. Or, more likely, until the reality of oil priced in excess of $200 per barrel interferes with their imperial ambitions.
The consequences of the shell game extend well beyond economic disaster and the likely extinction of our species. In the short term, they include hijacking the world's marketplace, complete with child labor, hunger, and pollution (especially abroad), continued decline of intellectual "capital" in our universities, ratcheting up the war machine by attacking yet more countries (perhaps bringing a rapid demise to American Empire), further extending imperial overreach, continued shrinking of our credit-based economy, continued enrichment of the financially wealthy (including $100 billion for eight of Warren Buffett's companies), continued profiteering by the insurance industry, and continued land grabs in poor countries by wealthy countries. All with a U.S. military on the verge of complete collapse and despite widespread acknowledgment that American-style capitalism is not working.
To reiterate the choices facing us: (1) The economically dire truth and potential for chaos, now, or (2) Certain chaos and probable extinction, later. The moral certainty of the former choice is absolute. Perhaps that alone explains why we're choosing door number two.
Will reality intervene in time to save the living planet, including our own species? Is 2012 soon enough? Stay tuned.
In the meantime, think about what you'd do. Let's play King For A Day. Would you trust industrial humans with the truth? Or would you commit us to chaos and probable extinction in the name of politics? In your response, please wear two hats: first your own, then, to make the game realistic, the hat of your favorite billionaire.
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This post is permalinked at Energy Bulletin and Counter Currents.
Well said. The greater issue is of course for us importing nations who are reliant on less and less exports on the open market. Predictions say Mexico won't have oil to export in 3 years ( our #3 importer). Bad for us, even worse for their economy.
Me? I'd just return to using taxes for what they are supposed to be for - the betterment of actual people :) By that I mostly mean health, education, food and shelter. Anything left over I think should go to the health of the country environmentally and after that perhaps enhancement for other countries....
Anyhow, what would I know - I'm only a person and female at that thus not to be taken seriously by your average billionaire. I have no idea what they would do as I've never personally known one.
viv in nz
Dear Guy --
People like you are at a disadvantage in making sense of things. You have a conscience, a sense of honesty, and a sense of fairness.
Those in control have none of those impairments. They don't just lie, they lie BIG. When they get caught lying, they just lie some more. When they get caught stealing, they lie and they lie BIG. And then they steal some more.
Obama, unfortunately, plays the game as well as any of them. His continual use of the word "reform" of the health care system is a dead giveaway. He might tweak it a bit, but in the end, as long as the private insurers are allowed to set rates, buy politicians, and make huge profits in human misery, the "reforms" as promised by Obama will just be more hot air adding to the climate imbalance.
They are not going to reform. They are going to milk the economy like a Holstein until they milk it dry. And then they will butcher the Holstein for its meat, sell the offal to the renderers and send a bill to the government for their out-of-pocket expenses.
This is the end result of Dawkin's "the selfish gene". Nothing can or will be done to prevent the inevitable. But at smaller scales, we can and should do what we can to resist.
Stan Moore
From wikipedia.....Scott Nearing
The tension between the dissident individual and the group was an unenviable one, Nearing believed. In the conflict between the solitary individual and the community, Nearing saw only three possible outcomes:
"(1) The individual may win out and impose himself and his ideas upon the group. The normal consequence of such an outcome is a personal dictatorship or the imposition upon the community of an oligarchy in which the dissident individual or individuals play a prominent role. (2) The division of the community into factions, one of which upholds the dissident individual, with a stalemate leading to feuding, rebellion, civil war. (3) The group wins out, imposes its will and eliminates the non-conformist. Such conflict sequences have occurred repeatedly in contemporary and in earlier history."
Not only can people not handle the truth, they flat out will not believe it until it happens. For instance, I've talked about peak oil to many friends, and maybe *one* has taken it seriously.
Quit talking about "saving the planet". The planet will be fine, it will shake us off like a bad cold. Humans are the ones at peril.
David,
George Carlin has a great piece about saving the planet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw
"The planet is fine, the people are fucked"
The Truth About the Drones of Empire
Listening to the aftermath of the Fort Hood murders causes me to think of an aspect of current warfare that I have not seen discussed, even in the alternate media. I am talking about the use of drones to kill “enemy” personnel off the battlefield.
I could not help but notice that both the generals and the president took note of the fact that soldiers like to feel safe in their barracks, especially stateside. American soldiers feel the stress of invading and occupying foreign countries, and feel entitled to go home and unwind and feel secure in their home areas. But the American way of warfare does not allow that luxury to men of military age in Afghanistan or Pakistan. If you are carrying an automatic rifle and you are spotted by a drone, you can be on your way to a wedding or maybe even to surrender or volunteeer with the Afghan Army and you may be blasted into smithereens by a Hellfire missile fired by a soldier whose skills were perfected on Gameboy and who cares not a whit that you were not on the battlefield when he attacked you. Nor does he care if your female three-year old cousin was also killed, because you were a valid target and he was fighting low risk warfare, the new American way.
There seems little doubt that this warfare will ultimately provoke some form of unprecedented blowback. When the Nazis bombed London, the Allies Bombed Dresden. Tit for tat. And eye for an eye. There is no long term impunity in this sort of fighting. And the memories of our chosen, provoked enemies will likely be very, very long. And that may very well be the goal — making enemies leads to profitable war, and the cost in cannon fodder is bearable, especially when the generals and the president seem very willing to pay those costs. I am reminded of that scene in the old Jimmy Stewart movie “Shenendoah”, where he lost his son to unwilling participation in the Civil War, and the Jimmy Stewart character talked about war, how the politicians saw the need for it, and the generals saw the glory in it, but the soldiers just wanted to go home.
Yet, now our society is manipulated cynically by economic unfairness that drives young men to the military often because other career options are out of reach. So, they become cannon fodder for the old generals and the presidents and end up with their boots lined up while Taps is played and everyone feels genuinely sorrowful until the next day and the next mission.
Maybe that is why Jesus said, “Blessed are the peaceful…” — the blessing that is self-endowed and self-sustaining.
Stan Moore
David Lewis, we're killing the living planet. The millions of species we are driving to extinction will NOT be fine. A sense of morality, and even a sense of self-preservation for our own species, indicates we should be throwing everything we've got at saving our landbase, including the non-human species occupying the landbase. Thanks for the advice, but I'll just keep on talking, writing, and thinking about saving the living planet, as if it matters.
Nice post, CJ. Carlin was amazing.
Great line, daniel, and thanks for the first-time comment ... ditto for and Jonathan and knutty knitter. The Nearings were as amazing in their own way as Carlin. What an inspiration -- quitting the sweet academic gig at Penn to live the good life.
And thanks to Stan Moore for the always-thoughtful commentary.
Memo to Knutty Knitter:
-----------------"I'm only a person and female at that".You could not be more wrong.Since the start of The Terminal Depression I've noticed that woman do a far better job of coping,helping others to do likewise,understanding,and better adapted to handle crisis.
Our future lies with the female gender.Men are not handling this well.
Double D
David Lewis: Guy pointed out the problem with “the planet will be just fine.” I would suggest the Venus is “just fine.” It chugs around the sun once every 224.7 days without a hitch. Of course the greenhouse effect there puts the mean temperature at 464°C (867°F for us laypeople). Most of us are working hard to make Earth just as “fine” as Venus. So you are right, we are at peril. And yes, we are doing it to ourselves. Unfortunately, we are taking the whole thing down with us. It seems every week we find out about a new feedback loop that makes it even worse and speeds everything up.
Daniel: Thanks for the reviewing Scott Nearing for us. I revisit “Living the Good Life” and “Continuing The Good Life” once or twice every year. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t ask myself, “What would Scott do?” But those questions revolve around compost or the woodpile. I had a chance to ask myself the same question when I was standing in line last August to speak to my Congressperson about health care. I’m a flaming liberal and live in a very conservative district so I knew my representative and the assembled crowd would not like what I had to say. But I knew with a certainty that Scott Nearing would never hesitate to speak his truth no matter the consequences. Of course I’m just a goofball in his shadow but even us old guys need heroes. Thanks for reminding us.
An Uncomfortable (Even Excruciating) Truth
I hate thinking about it, but I am gradually coming to grips with the truth that humankind is one of nature's ways of reshuffling the deck.
Stan Moore
Perhaps it's time for carbon-based life to step aside and let silica have a go at it.
OTOH, maybe we need to take the long view, and consider that the world-wide fires as forests die and combust sequesters enough carbon to matter. Not likely if permafrost melt releases the methane it appears to contain, but hey. It passes for optimism.
If I were King? I'd do my best to see to it that we fight a World War using viruses targeted at humans. As a species, we're short-sighted enough for that to work. Look at nuclear winter; we haven't given that option up yet.
But don't worry; as a mere peasant I'm content to stand aside and just plant trees, so that whatever survives has something to eat and nest under.
vertalio,
This is not meant as a snide jab at you but as a serious question. When you plant trees are you making some compensation for the northward migration of temperature zones? I am stuggling with what to do. Here in northeast Washington I have begun agressively selecting for ponderosa pine over Douglas fir, although right now the fir is growing like weeds. Lodgepole pine is being blasted by bark beetles here and now the Douglas fir bark beetle is killing big swaths of National Forest too. I know, I know, it seems crazy for an old guy to be trying to figure out what to grow in my forest to meet conditions that will exist after I am long dead, but we do what we can do. Your ideas would be appreciated.
Michael Irving
I think chaos only makes things worse, its disorganization of the current unsustainable or fragile system I would like, without chaos. Yes, species will be doomed no matter what we choose, slow or fast descent, we are using more resources.
I remember very few people discussing how awful it was when the stock market was increasing at 10% per year in 2004, or how retirement accounts were then so large people could retire a few years early. Now we are on the flip side of gain and everyone complains. It takes a truly principled person to set aside their riches or lack of them and unselfishly work for the greater good.
I choose the third rail, promoting optimism while trying to tell people things aren't going to be the same.
Chris 11:
Most people have come to believe that things are never going to be the same.The very few exceptional people who have the independent
intelligence to see the truth,such as Prof Em Guy,also agree that
the American standard of living has been permanetly lowered.
Hurray for nature.
The remake of "The Prisoner" debuts today on AMC.I saw the previews.
It looks bad,but will withhold final judgement until I see the 1st of the 3 night series tonight.
Once again I'm reminded that you cannot go home again.
Double D
Hiked through the Victorian Alps this weekend.
Literally sat around the camp fire discussing
energy descent and civilisation. Two of my
companions had recently climbed Kilimanjaro
and ‘could not work Africa out’ ie whether
it was the future or the past. We concluded it was
the future. Over population and carrying capacity
overshoot leads to a slow erosion of human rights/dignity.
Incidentally, one morning we climbed 4300ft over 3 miles.
Approx gradient of 23%, with full packs and carrying
a gallon of water each. My mates felt the weekends
hiking was far more difficult than what they had experienced
in climbing ‘Kili’’. To cut a long story short, they reckon we all grew
a second set of testicles this weekend. So Stan, if you are still in need
and I can send you a pair.
Human Evolution and Inevitable Catastrophe
If I were to distill the essence of human success in an evolutionary sense, which I believe will ultimately result in human castrophe, I would focus on man's ability to seemingly defy and overcome limits set by nature. Over man's evolutionary history, his mental and physical faculties have combined to overcome more powerful predators, manipulate nature to produce abundance of foodstuffs through agriculture, domestication of animals, harvest of wildlife and fish, the ability to adapt to extremes of hot and cold and drought, etc. Man has repeatedly found ways to overcome the limits seemingly imposed by nature, and this has become engrained in our genes.
But nature's limits are finite, whereas man's ambitions and greed are not. The advent of agriculture and the shaping of permanent settlements, cities, and land ownership was the beginning of man's end. The beginning of the end was the exploitation of detrivorous fuels which allowed mankind to temporarily exceed the carrying capacity of the planet, while maintaining a civilizational mindset that such limits had always been overcome in the past and new ways and means of overcoming nature's limits could always be worked out through brains and brawn.
But, as one wise man said, Nature bats last. When the final pitch as been thrown, mankind will strike out. Our evolutionary history will work against us and even now we see an inability to honestly face crises such as global climate change in the irrational hope that somehow we will overcome it with some combination of brains and brawn.
We broke the gravity barrier (on a limited basis) with hot air balloons and then aircraft. We broke the sound barrier with jet aircraft. But we cannot break the laws of thermodynamics and we cannot escapt the fundamental law that we will reap what we sow.
Our evolution and our past successes will guarantee our downfall.
Stan Moore
Stan,
Yes, Of Course. It the same for every species. The difference is only that we have set the stage for our own demise, becoming a geophysical force capable of initiating this mass extinction event. Some may not yet understand that, but those who read this blog almost certainly do. The question is, knowing the former, what does it mean to be human in the twenty-first century? What now gives life it's meaning? How do we "die well" as a species? What consitutes a life well lived in the midst of an ecological collapse? Is there a civic duty? Should we hole up and hope our genes somehow squeak through the bottleneck? What does it mean now to be a father, a son, a friend? What does it mean now to do something beautiful?
Mike
Micheal Irving-
Yeah, I do try to guess which species or varients will thrive where I plant them, but of course have scant data to use...GISS maps of forest type depending on varying changes, paleobotanists work on the past, recent and distant...basically I'm sowing slightly southerly cousins of species already here in NE. Most non-native species die when transported, but given the potential speed of change...plant the seeds you think best, in varied locations vis a vis water/elevation/bearings/sun/shade, and let them work it out.
What I do is try to start seed forests, or small plots of trees that can spread if conditions allow.
Preforestation is how I think of it, kind of Noah's ark in reverse.
Basically, I feel the whole native/invasive argument is moot. If it will survive and provide, I consider it native. Nowadays it pisseth me off greatly to hear humans judge other species on their "nativeness". Who do they think were the vectors?
My optimism, and sanity, such as it is, rests on the possibility that seeds that I sow grow into trees, into groves, disseminated by creatures that survive the changes to re-populate the terrain. It could take ten thousand years, but so what?
When I die, I intend to leave a lovely copse. Pun intended.
Vertalio,
Thanks. I am thinking along the sames lines. Nicely put about the future copse.
Michael Irving
hi,Micheal Irving,i support evolutionary theory..and the content in this blog is self explanatory.Thanx for posting.
"hi,Micheal Irving,i support evolutionary theory..and the content in this blog is self explanatory."
Well, science does not support evolution.
The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy increases. In everyday language that means that disorganization increases. Evolution says that organization has increased over millions of years, so the idea is diametrically opposed to scientific law.
I lately came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first remark. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Respectable blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
EarthSure`s AirRay Auto: the Car That Oil Companies Don`t Want You to Know About
The Air Ray concept car will have incorporated within a hybrid auto or traditional gas or diesel run vehicle. EarthSure CEO Raymond Saluccio adds this automobile will be solely electric powered and not have any need for gas or oil. The energy the car creates through the solar panels and the wind turbines will be enough for the automobile to run without worry of losing power. The AirRay car turns air and light into energy.
Just thought this was interesting hopefully this will be allowed someday on the market.
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts
The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.