The Oil Drum: Europe

John Robb's piece over at Fast Company also deserves a read (hat tip: Matt Savinar):

The next decade holds mind-bending promise for American business. Globalization is prying open vast new markets. Technology is plowing ahead, fueling--and transforming--entire industries, creating services we never thought possible. Clever people worldwide are capitalizing every which way. But because globalization and technology are morally neutral forces, they can also drive change of a different sort. We saw this very clearly on September 11 and are seeing it now in Iraq and in conflicts around the world. In short, despite the aura of limitless possibility, our lives are evolving in ways we can control only if we recognize the new landscape. It's time to take an unblinking look.

Also see John's latest at his blog here.

So I went into the bookstore down in Mountain View at lunchtime in search of serendipity. The book that found me was an annotated version of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", which of course I have never read in the original. It's a fascinating read for a peak-oiler for several reasons. Firstly, it's just an engaging and well-written book. Secondly, it's still viewed as the founding text of economics, and one can see many of the thought strains that still shape that discipline already. Thirdly, it was published in 1776. The steam engine ("fire engine" to Smith) had been invented, but was very inefficient and not yet used in transportation. The spinning Jenny had been patented six years before. The industrial revolution was largely in the future. Although coal was starting to be used in bulk for heating and smelting iron, still, the fossil fuel era was only just beginning. The economy that Smith describes is largely powered by wind, water, and biomass.

I heartily recommend it to those of you who believe peak oil means a return to a pre-industrial, localized economy. Of particular interest to me was the following quote (below the fold), since I am not amongst those peak-oilers who think global trade is likely to end after peak oil (at least not soon).

(I'll resume the population analysis tomorrow when I have time).