The Environment

[The Jays]

Anyone care?

[The Jays]

Well, anyway, a few years back, I read "The Geography of Nowhere", a book by James Howard Kunstler. Basically, it outlined how the culture within the US is devoted to shitty housing and devotion to the automobile, and how this will lead to an impending crisis within America. I usually find this book as part of the syllabi of my urban design and sustainable technologies classes at school.

Anywho, I have been reading his website, we has an extensive backlog of his journal writings about contemporary America, usually linking the latest headlines with his ideas on our addiction to oil.

June 3, 2003
The Association for the Study of Peak Oil threw a major conference last week in Paris. The org is lead by Colin Campbell, retired chief geologist for Shell Oil, and the board members include an impressive roster of geologists who have worked both for Big Oil and acadamia, for instance, Kenneth Deffeyes of Princeton, retired exploration manager of France's giant Total company Jean Laherrere, Pierre-Rene Bauquis, VP of the French Energy Institute (IFP), and others like Matthew Simmons, the Houston-based investment banker specializing in energy companies.
The message emerging from the meeting is that the world may have already entered the unchartered territory of global oil depletion -- that is, the downside of "Hubbert's Curve," the bell graph first used by Shell Oil geologist M. King Hubbert in 1956 to describe the destiny of the world's oil supplies. Here are some of the salient points presented (thanks to Michael C. Ruppert reporting for the Fromthewilderness.com).

-- Deffeyes repeated a claim he made in April that, based on production figures for the past three years, the world seems to have passed peak oil production in 2000.

-- The once-hoped-for Caspian Sea bonanza has proved to be a major bust. British Petroleum and Exxon/Mobil have already pulled out.

-- Reserve figures have been uniformly overstated for decades by both major oil companies and national governments -- for tax advantages in the case of US companies and to evade export quota regulations in the case of OPEC members. Saudi Arabia's reserves may be substantially lower than the 250 billion barrels claimed, and in fact Saudi Arabia may be producing now at 100 percent capacity, meaning they may now be passing peak.

-- Oliver Appert, Chairman of the IFP, declared there are no more major significant reserves to be discovered and that the world oil depletion rate is between five and ten per cent per year, requiring 60 million barrels a day in new production to meet demand.

-- Auto sales in China jumped 50 percent in 2002 alone.

-- Matthew Simmons told the group that the US natural gas supply is near a crisis point. By 2001, with record drilling, there was no increase in supply, and by 2003 production was in serious decline. New Texas gas wells, he said, are in decline an average of 83 percent one year after drilling. "The world has no Plan B," he said.

--Dutch economist Maarten Van Mourik told the group that deep water drilling would not add significantly to the world's oil reserve, that it did not make sense economically, and ultimately could only produce five billion barrels -- equal to a 60-day world demand at current levels. Van Mourik also made the interesting observation that, "it may not be profitable to slow decline."

-- All speakers addressing the issue stated that no combination of alternative energy sources can replace hydrocarbons, and none even dreamed of will be implemented in time to avert major disruptions in industrial civilization.

-- Dr. Jorg Wind, representing auto giant Daimler / Chrysler told the conference that his company did not view hydrogen as a viable alternative to petroleum-based engines. He stated that fuel cell vehicles would never amount to significant market share. Hydrogen was ruled out as a solution because of intensive costs of production, inherent energy inefficiencies, lack of infrastructure, and practical difficulties such as the extreme cost and difficulty of storage. The Daimler / Chrysler representative dismissed ethanol out of hand as "not energy efficient."

-- Pierre-Rene Bauquis remarked that commercial production of hydrogen is two to five times the cost of fossil fuels used to produce it.

-- Other French presenters stated that ethanol used in France enjoyed a 300 percent government subsidy.

-- Physics Professor Kjell Aleklett told the conference that exploiting the Canadian Tar Sands would be a financial and economic disaster, insofar as the amount of natural gas needed to create steam to process the mined sands, as well as the massive amounts of water used and polluted in the process.

-- Chris Skrebowski of the UK's Institute of Petroleum noted that by 2007 Britain will be in its second year of natural gas imports and its first year of oil imports, having severely depleted its North Sea reserves by that time.

Basically, he thinks that each of us seriously need to consider that our dependence on oil, in general, will lead to an economic devastation, though many others think that we are very well diverisfied, and will be ready once all the oil is gone.

This is what I'm reading at the moment, so I guess my thoughts are a bit slanted.

[The Jays]

and , no one cares...

[Mad]

Biodiesel Boom Well-Timed

[Keyser Soze]

the earth will outlive us all.

[Mad]

Still no reason to shit where you eat.

[Keyser Soze]

my point being, the damage we do to the enviorment will kill us before it destroys the earth. preserving the enviorment is about self preservation, which is why dolts like the republican party should pay closer attention but are too busy reversing all the acts that reduced profit margins in order to clean up pollution.

[Galt]

It's not that I don't care, I'm just not worried.

[Keyser Soze]

it wont kill us in our lifetimes, but the damage we are doing will certainly affect the lives of generations to come.

[Galt]

what damage?

Other scientists have published that the hole in the ozone is bullshit. That global warming is bullshit. That there is more forrest in the country than at the turn of the 19th century (containing fires), that landfill space is more than ample for eons.

Things I think are a bit worrisome (no idea if they're even valid): farming areas that wipe out species because they are not economically viable (like how certain trees don't make good wood products -- rippling through to the other species that rely on those)

That the reason that oil prices are so high isn't because of OPEC, but because it's much more difficult to drill for existing oil, and there are no significant untapped oil reserves.

The fact that Cancer has skyrocketed in this country over the last few generations

[Keyser Soze]

i agree the ozone and global warming was overblown. but like you said, cancer is all too common these days.

[Mad]

Cancer and AIDS is big business. Just follow the money.

[Keyser Soze]

gun nut AND conspiracy theorist! you really are the militia poster child.

[Mad]

I am not in the militia, douche nozzle.

Actually, I'm more of a researcher then anything else.

[Galt]

If Cancer and AIDS is "big business" is a conspiracy keeping them alive so drug companies can make money, I'd blame the FDA more than anything else. Drugs are 5-10 years behind where they should be because the approval process is so long and hamstrings drug companies.

That said, the libertarians are wildly against the FDA, I think that you simply can't allow drug companies to flood the market with drugs whose safety is unproven.

It would be like that Fight Club thing where they would just compare the revenue they could make from desperately sick people with the costs of settling lawsuits from x% of people who will die from taking it.

[Mad]

I don't know if anyone will remember this, but about 10 years ago the FDA was pushing for Vitamins and Supplements to be sold by prescription only. The AMA was all for this, the FDA raided a Doctors office in Oregon with a group of machine gun wielding Jack Booted Thugs to seize his records.

A little over kill if you ask me over a Doctor giving vitamin injections to his patients.

[Black Lazerus]

calm down Remy

[Keyser Soze]

sir, slowly step away from the internet

[Mad]

FDA TERRORISTS RAID FLORIDA ALTERNATIVE CLINICS

[Mad]

1990; Mt. Angel, Oregon: Nine FDA agents, 11 US marshalls, and 8 heavily armed Oregon state police raid Highland Laboratories, kicking in both front and back doors. Over an 11 hour period, virtually everything except tables and chairs is carted off to waiting trucks, including many items not listed on the search warrant, at a total value of $37,000. Nobody was informed about the grounds for the raid, the "supporting affidavit" being suppressed by the court. The seized property was taken to an undisclosed location. Mr. Kenneth Scott, owner, and other Highland employees were threatened with violence if they attempted to enter the company premises, and the daughter of the owner was held "in house arrest" for 12 hours at a location several miles away. Highland subsequently reopened, and hired a separate outside mailing service to satisfy FDA requirements. In response, the FDA raided the mailing service, which was a small business run out of the home of a woman in another town. Finding nothing there except mailing equipment and business records, FDA agents threatened to confiscate the woman's checkbooks and cash, failing to do so only after being begged not to. When she asked them "Why are you doing this?", the agent replied "Somebody's got to do it!!" Because of the raids, the owner of the mailing firm subsequently closed her business, and refuses to file charges out of fear of government reprisals(!!). No charges were ever filed by the FDA against anyone, nor has any of the seized property been returned. The FDA still has not given anyone reasons for their outrageous tactics, which were designed simply to put the firm out of business.(14)


More evidence.