The Oil Drum: Europe

In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about.

Under the fold, more Kunstler (in a short telephone interview), an interview with Paul Erhlich at E&ENews, and a copy of a recently published paper of Al Bartlett's on population, climate, and the world we live in.

An increasing number of stories in Drumbeat, and in the world press, are focusing on the impacts of higher oil prices. Whether it is in the sacrifices that families must make to stretch their incomes to cover costs, the lack of city and state funding to cover all the utility and maintenance cost increases , or the rising fuel bill that the military must meet, often, particularly in national bases, from existing budgets. And even in field operations the use of alternate approaches is being considered.

The different sizes and scales of the price impact mean that, short of greatly increased supplies of oil becoming available at low cost, (as readers know an unattainable dream) alternate solutions and changes to lifestyles and practices will have to be implemented, on a growing scale as the costs of supply continue to rise. But these answers must be different in different places, and as they seek to address different scales of problem.

From time to time, and particularly in Comments, there are suggestions and reality based discussions on what individuals can do to change or help with their personal lifestyle changes. At the other extreme we debate the success, or otherwise, of national programs to address the issue, and certainly there is a need for such a debate. But there is also an intermediate level, the one where the impact of oil and natural gas cost increases is already clearly apparent, and that is at the level of local, and state government. And here, while the pain is immediate, remedial steps can either occur quite quickly or much more slowly – depending on the local government understanding of the situation.

It is also at this level that most of the decisions are made about permitting new power plants. I was thinking about that, and the factors that lead to permitting decisions when I looked at the announcement about T. Boone Pickens new wind farm program. The plan does not have as immediate an impact as I first understood.

A show on CNBC tonight at 8p and again at 11p EDT, called America's Oil Crisis, may be worth discussing. Here's an open thread for you.

The first real segment of the show is John Kilduff v. Dan Yergin. It was a contrast in styles and substance, shall we say?

A lot of talks in the media about the recent jump in oil prices.

Boone Pickens yesterday morning:

"We've never been where we are today at $87 a barrel and we're still whistling along. Everybody seems to be, 'So what? We can handle $87' " he said. "I don't know where the world chokes on the price."

Oil suppliers are tightening taps says Jeff Rubin, CIBC World Markets chief economist, because they're using more and more themselves. (Oct 2, CNBC, 5 min, hat tip to Energy Bulletin, Moral Equivalent of War, and Graphoilology). If you're interested in more from Rubin, check out his slides entitled "OPEC's Call on Itself" here (pdf warning).

It all sounds like what Jeffrey Brown has been saying regarding his Export Land Model. Good on you Jeff.

T. Boone Pickens shares his outlook on oil. (Sept 19, CNBC, 5 min)

Connect to other peak oil media or comment on these below. Send the link to friends or put it in comment boxes on other sites! (Kenneth Heebner is under the fold, by he way...)

Here's three four pieces of media that you can send to folks to explain the basic arguments regarding peak oil. First is Matt Simmons on CNBC a month ago talking about the GAO report (7 mins), then under the fold a link to Jim Kunstler's latest talk (which is great), a piece by ABC Radio of Australia on the GAO report and peak oil, and Boone Pickens on the issue as well.

"The GAO report found no focussed coordinated government plans to prepare for peak oil or other supply disruptions."
"We are on the verge of replacing the term 'global warming' with the term 'peak oil.'"
"The best new oil basin we will ever find is the one called 'conservation.'"

Global Public Media has links up to Friend of TOD Jason Bradford's interviews with TOD's Nate Hagens discussing many of the common misconceptions about energy supplies (Part 1) and the cognitive, social and psychological factors that make it difficult for societies to agree, even when all the facts are open and transparent (Part 2). Two darned good interviews, in my humble opinion (Nate's height definitely comes through in the interview)--both related to Nate's three part series featured here over the last couple of weeks (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

Also, under the fold are links to a few of the perennial pieces of media that you can send to folks to explain the basic arguments regarding peak oil. First is Matt Simmons on CNBC talking about the GAO report (7 mins), then under the fold a link to Jim Kunstler's latest talk on the American car culture, Albert Bartlett's wonderful lecture on exponential growth and how it affects our lives, and then the venerable Boone Pickens on the issue as well.

Please feel free to provide more media links in the comments. As always, I cannot recommend enough going over to Global Public Media and surfing their archives.

Here's three four pieces of media that you can send to folks to explain the basic arguments regarding peak oil. First is Matt Simmons on CNBC yesterday talking about the GAO report (7 mins), then under the fold a link to Jim Kunstler's latest talk, a piece by ABC Radio of Australia on the GAO report and peak oil, and Boone Pickens on the issue as well.

"The GAO report found no focussed coordinated government plans to prepare for peak oil or other supply disruptions."
"We are on the verge of replacing the term 'global warming' with the term 'peak oil.'"
"The best new oil basin we will ever find is the one called 'conservation.'"

westexas over at graphoilogy has sent a letter to the editors of the papers in the DFW area arguing for increased awareness.  Very much worth the read (go to the link above...or it is reproduced under the fold).