Free refrigeration & permaculture

Here's a great article about doing free refrigeration.

And in case you don't already know about permaculture, I suggest you read this wiki about it.

preparing in the face of stupidity and ignorance

ok, so I'm a little miffed today :) It's because I came across a couple things today:

1. Did you check out the new hummer ad? It shows this astronomer realizing that the world is about to be crushed by a huge asteroid, so he rushes to buy a customized hummer online, and then drives his fuel-efficient car to pick up the hummer. Then the tagline, "we're not saying, we're just saying."

What's the message? "Hey all you Christians! The world is going to end anyways, so why worry about the environment, dwindling oil supplies - or even your own credit? There is no future, so some have fun by buying a hummer!"

2. Here's a new AP "analysis" of the U.S. oil industry. It's utterly ridiculous - it uses all these points that obviously support Peak Oil to somehow conclude that the U.S. oil companies are underperforming in an effort to crank up profits. Idiots!

Net-net: Don't succumb to marketing, ignorance and stupidity. The self-proclaimed "conservative" viewpoint is anything but. Decide for yourself, but you'll have to work to shake off all the bad information.

evil CERA

I know this is not exactly preparing for peak, but it's pretty important in the big scheme of things for society and all.

In case you hadn't heard, you should be aware of a recent CERA (Cambride Energy Research Associates) report.

This is actually very long recap of their official report (which costs $1000). It's a bashing of Peak Oil theory, which is something they're always trying to do.

I suggest you take a read, and note the language they use. It's so thick with language such as "..the peak oil argument is based on faulty analysis..." it's almost humorous. I suppose they think if they repeat the same thing over and over, it'll become true.

Don't believe it though - CERA gets paid lots of $$ from governments and big companies, and peak oil is definitely not something their clientelle wants to believe. No matter what their data actually say, they're not going to risk pissing of their clients by telling the truth. Here are Tom Whipple's thoughts on the subject.

Bottom line: Look into the data yourself. Don't buy obviously biased arguments one way or the other, dig into the data and decide for yourself. Start with Hubbard and go from there.

P.S. And if you think there's some legitimacy behind CERA's absurd claims, read Kunstler's opinion .

Recent oil prices vs. oil companies et al

Check out the price of oil vs. various oil companies over time, and you'll see something interesting (kind of).

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6761/1812/1600/June2006.gif

You'll see that the oil companies generally track oil rises and falls quite closely. Except for the last four months.

In recent months, you'll see that oil prices fell around 20%, but in those same months we've seen a definite rise in oil companies, probably 10-15%. This is basically unheard of.

What might cause this maddness? One might conjecture that long-term investors have bought into Peak Oil. One might also conjecture that it's easier to impact/manipulate the futures market than it is the equities market. One might also also conjecture that everyone knows that oil is going up, but can't say exactly when.

But that's all conjecture. Go buy USO.

Updated peak oil design

I mentioned this gentleman's blog a few month's ago:
http://peakoildesign.blogspot.com/

In addition to regular, interesting topics, he's compiling a list of objectives & requirements for a "homestead project." That is, what does a family need to do now to prepare for peak oil? Something truly useful for society - wish I had something more to offer than occassional blather...

Check it out!

and one more thing (if you live in the South)....

MOVE AWAY!!!

The harsh poverty that characterized the South prior to 1970 will return in spades. If you're living the high life down there, the best thing you might do for you and your family is to move away.

I mention this because I just read Kuntsler's most recent post:
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/
(Gawn South)

On the BART

I was riding BART the other day and three young environmentalists walked in. They were carrying political signs that said, "YES on 87," sporting a CALPIRG bag, some sort of California Environmentalist garb, etc. Since 87 is all about oil & energy, I figured it was a sure thing they'd know about Peak Oil. So I asked them. None of the three had ever heard of it.

What does this tell us wrt preparing for peak? It's that almost nobody gets it. Once people do (and they will) oil is heading straight for the roof. That will be the true beginning of Peak Oil, at least from a social perspective. At that point, it will probably be too late to prepare, people will be hoarding, freaking out, etc. The time to prepare is now.