Archive for the ‘Oil’ Category

New Political Ads

April 30th, 2008

agree with Barack that getting rid of the gas tax isn’t going to do crap for us. All the oil companies will do is say, hey, now we can charge 6 cents more. I don’t necessarily agree that we need to develop alternative fuels, we need rearrange our lifestyles and change the fact that we need so many cars. Just the idea of a fuel to burn is wrong, even hydrogen is stupid. We’d be wasting energy converting electricity into a liquid form when we could just NOT turn it into hydrogen and save all of that energy. We don’t need alternative fuels, we need alternative energy and to be more efficient energy in general. We need to be smart. (sigh)

It’s not that great of an ad except for that last line. “And you thought no one could be worse than George Bush”, that kills me.

Al Gore’s New Presentation

April 10th, 2008

This is phenomenal. Put a price on carbon!

Gore is passionate, convincing and inspiring. Now I understand what he’s going to do with his new ad campaign. I’m going carbon neutral. I want a footprint so light you can’t make it out in the sand. I want to be a part of the hero generation. Let’s save this planet people!

By the way, you should definitely check out more of the TED talks. They have amazing speakers that give really interesting presentations, performances, etc.

Staring at the Sun

March 9th, 2008

sunSpace.jpgI have a new favorite magazine. I’ve heard about Mother Earth News and probably seen copies of it laying around since I was young but never really read it until a couple weeks ago. I got a subscription after reading about the articles coming out in the next issue and after reading it cover to cover I ordered the 40 years of archives on CD. I can already tell it was an excellent investment. That’s a lot of wisdom for $50.

I’ve been reading back through the issues looking for articles and information that might help me on my way to a sustainable existence. I’d say about 75% of the articles are relevant or interesting to me. I’m especially interested in the renewable energy, natural building, gardening and water/rainwater management articles. I came across a really interesting one on solar power and wanted to share a few of the highlights…[continued]

Peak Everything

February 20th, 2008

I believe that this guy, Richard Heinberg, is absolutely 100% right on the money. I haven’t seen someone sum up everything I’ve read this well yet and I’m so glad I found it. This is why I’d like to start an organic permaculture farm and live a sustainable lifestyle. After I get myself taken care of I want to start working on a local level around the farm to teach others and help the community work on larger community projects that can’t be done by individuals.

Anyway, watch these videos. They’re important. You may not want to hear it, but it may be the most important thing you’ve ever watched.

Click to continue reading this entry and view the other 5 parts to this talk.

Oro Negro

November 23rd, 2007

oilblob.jpgI was thinking about what I will tell future generations about what life was like during the time of oil. Whenever I think generally of oil my first thought is the opening credits to “The Beverly Hillbillies”. I found myself thinking of those nicknames, “black gold” and “Texas tea”.

While I was living in El Salvador I developed the tendency to think of the Spanish version of words and phrases. It was just mental practice of thinks I might want to say.

So when I translated “black gold” to “oro negro” I started actually thinking about the latin origins of “oro”. I’m sure that it is derived from the same word that we use for “ore”, which immediately brings to mind mining…

Al Gore for President…Again!

October 13th, 2007

I guess I missed this while I was in El Salvador last year.

Accountability in Washington, D.C.

September 14th, 2007

bush_blowjob.jpgTomorrow morning, September 15th, around 10 a.m. I’m heading down to meet up with thousands of anti-war protesters on the lawn in front of the White House. At around noon we’re marching to congress, supposedly in the hopes that this will influence them into some form of action.

I’m not convinced of the power of mass demonstrations, but I know that it certainly can’t be hurting. Agressive resource wars against foreign nations will never solve the problem that there simply isn’t enough cheap energy/oil in the world. We could and should be spending our money to find some other type of energy source…

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities

September 2nd, 2007

deepeconomy.jpgI recently finished reading a book called “Deep Economy” by Bill McKibben. It discussed how life will inevitably have to change after oil goes away. That’s of course assuming we don’t find any other form of cheap energy, which is unlikely.

The main change is that we’ll all have to start living more locally. Right now it takes 10 times more energy to deliver a pound of peas than the peas actually contain. The main reason for this is processing and especially delivery. Did you know the average piece of food you eat travel 1,500 miles to get to your plate. These are colossal wastes of energy which can be solved simply by growing things locally…

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