.
- In Paraguay, bulldozers are destroying the home territory of one of the last uncontacted tribes in the world. A Brazilian company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., is clearing the land so bovines can eat grass there. The government is doing nothing. If anything like hell exists, clearly all these people belong there, no parole. (Survival International)
- Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, wants a second stimulus package and wants it to be “100 percent infrastructure.” He wonders, “We’ve got to fix [our decaying infrastructure] – why don’t we do it now?” Well, for one thing, because the Obama administration isn’t on board… (Politico)
- The respected UK Energy Research Counsel says that peak oil is likely coming in the next decade — meaning that double-digit gas pricesmight not be too far away. Meaning that Americans might have to make a lot changes in how we live, and quickly. ( Guardian)
- Statistics show that texting while driving is very dangerous. But motorists don’t consider it to be among their 5 most hazardous distractions. For men #1 is road rage. For women it’s kids in the car (followed by the application of make-up). (Chicago Tribune)
- The vacancy rate at American strip malls now stands at the highest level in 17 years. “It is daunting to observe this acceleration in decline in what has traditionally been regarded as a stable property type,” said an expert. (Reuters)
- This week Mike Bloomberg announced a contest for designing mobile apps to make America’s largest city more transparent. It goes hand-in-hand with the city “Data Dump.” Great in theory, but the execution has been pretty shoddy, says a critic. The prizes make no sense and data dump has been a huge disappointment. (Planetizen)
- Avenue Q tells us the internet is for porn. But we know better: The internet is for lists! Ever wonder what the 10 greatest streets in America are? Well, now you can find out. Spoiler: Number one is in Alaska. (APA)
[SButtonZ button="digg"]
Image via si.org
Tags: HEADLINES
I just got the best laugh of the day…I had forgotten how funny Avenue Q was when I saw it on Broadway in NYC.
They aren’t the greatest streets. Just this year’s winners.
Peak oil is irrelevant, you can make gasoline from coal and other fossil fuels. Peak hydrocarbon is what matters.
Colin,
Not so much. Of course you can make gasoline from coal or tar sands or shale or algae or… — but it’s rate of production that ultimately matters. Can those other production methods allow us to keep growing oil production from 85m barrels a day today to 110 or whatever in 2025? And will they even allow us to maintain current levels of production as larger, older fields like Cantrell in the Gulf start petering out (and doing so much faster than predicted)? Remember, even with the massive levels of investment over decades, Canada’s tar sands (the “Saudi Arabia of North America” of whatever) is never meant to kick out more than 3m barrels a day. That’s no game changer. Nor will be Coal To Liquids, I’d venture. Etc.
Jebediah
Those questions are not easy to answer, but the point remains that oil itsnt the only source of fuel and so peak oil isnt as important as peak hydrocarbon. Its worth noting that the older fields like Cantrell were also never expected to produce as much as they have, and newer finds would have been considered impossible to recover 20 years ago. Technology has a way of catching up when demand starts pushing prices up.
Speaking of higher prices (and that is one aspect of peak oil that is quite relevant), sustained high oil prices spurred on the drive to find new sources and extend old ones, here are a few links:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090902-713525.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704252004574459123520147400.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/business/energy-environment/24oil.html
That guardian article kinda tip toes past the whole “you can make gas from lots of stuff” concept. They seem to be saying, “yes we can, but we shouldnt” so be afraid of peak oil anyway.
Your Reuters link for the strip mall story is totally borked…