Peak Everything (33 page)

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Authors: Richard Heinberg

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Notes
Introduction
1
From the
OPEC Bulletin,
November-December, 2006: “[A]ll in all, most would appear to agree that
peak oil output is not very far away for all of us. It could take place sometime within the next decade or so,
which in fact means that there is not much time left for a world economy to be driven largely by oil.” Meanwhile, Claude Mandil, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, speaking on the IEA
World Energy Outlook 2006,
had this to say: “WEO-2006 reveals that the energy future we are facing today, based on projections of current trends, is dirty, insecure and expensive.”
energybulletin.net/22042.html
(Cited June 11, 2007)
2
Robert Hirsch et al. “Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation and Risk Management,” 2005.
projectcensored.org/newsflash/the_hirsch_report.pdf
(Cited June 11, 2007)
3
See also Kenneth S. Deffeyes,
Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak.
Hill and Wang, 2005 and Roger D. Blanchard,
The Future of Global Oil Production: Facts, Figures, Trends and Projections, by Region.
McFarland, 2005.
4
Energy Watch Group. “Coal: Resources and Future Production.” energy
watchgroup.org/files/Coalreport.pdf
(Cited June 11, 2007) See also Richard Heinberg. “Burning the Furniture.”
globalpublicmedia.com/richard_heinbergs_museletter_179_burning_the_furniture
(Cited June 11, 2007)
5
Kevin McKern. “Trader Kev Explores the Commodity Peak Zeitgiest.”
kontentkonsult.com/blog/2006/01/peak_metals.html
(Cited June 11, 2007). See also David Cohen, “Earth Audit,”
New Scientist
May 23, 2007 issue 2605.
6
Energy Watch Group. “Uranium Resources and Nuclear Energy.” December 2006.
energiekrise.de/news/docs/specials2006/REO-Uranium_5-12-2006.pdf
(Cited June 11, 2007)
7
Ivan Illich.
Energy and Equity.
Calder & Boyars, 1974, p. 17.
8
World Income Inequality Database.
wider.unu.edu/wiid/wiid.htm
9
James B. Davies, Susanna Sandstrom, Anthony Shorrocks, Edward N. Wolff.
The World Distribution of Household
Wealth.wider.unu.edu/research/2006-2007/2006-2007-1/wider-wdhw-launch-5-12-2006/wider-wdhw-report-5-12-2006.pdf
(Cited June 11, 2007)
10
We know this from the field research of anthropologists. See, for example, Marshall Sahlins,
Stone Age Economics.
Aldine, 1972.
11
Data for this paragraph are taken from Juliet B. Schor,
The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure.
Basic Books, 1993.
12
Phillip Johanson. “The Genuine Progress Indicator Shows Continued Decline in Quality of Life.”
socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/117.html
(Cited June 11, 2007)
13
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment.
maweb.org/en/index.aspx
(Cited June 11, 2007); Dan Moukerud. “Global warming is here, now what?”
article.wn.com/view/2007/01/04/Global_warming_is_here_now_what/
(Cited June 11, 2007)
14
Michael Klare.
Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum.
Metropolitan Books, 2004.
15
Thanks to my friend Chellis Glendinning, for her book
Waking Up in the Nuclear Age,
Beech Tree, 1987, which has been an inspiration in more ways than one.
16
Jason A. Merchey, ed.
Living a Life of Value.
Values of the Wise Press, 2006.
17
Richard Heinberg.
Fifty Million Farmers.
schumachersociety.org/publications/heinberg_06.html
Chapter 1
1
Lewis Mumford. “Authoritarian and Democratic Technics.” Originally published in
Technology and Culture,
Vol. 5 No. 1, reprinted in John Zerzan and Carnes, eds.
Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant?
New Society, Publishers, 1991, p. 17.
2
John Zerzan.
Elements of Refusal.
Left Bank Books, 1988.
3
Lewis Mumford.
Technics and Human Development.
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1966;
The Pentagon of Power.
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1970, p. 146.
4
Richard Heinberg.
A New Covenant with Nature: Notes on the End of Civilization and the Renewal of Culture.
Quest Books, 1996.
5
Richard Heinberg.
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies.
New Society Publishers, 2005, p. 26.
6
Marvin Harris.
Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture.
Random House, 1979, pp. 56-58.
7
Zerzan's
Elements of Refusal
(Left Bank Books, 1988) includes chapters on time, language, number, art, agriculture, and domestication, arguing in each instance that the costs for each of these “advances” has far outweighed its benefit. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his opinion, he must be credited with consistency.
8
Robert Adler. “Entering a dark age of innovation.”
NewScientist.com
news service, July 2, 2005.
newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7616
(Cited June 12, 2007)
Chapter 2
1
Fernand Braudel, in his classic study
The Structures of Everyday Life: The Limits of the Possible
(translated from French by Sian Reynolds, University of California Press, 1992), notes that, “Famine recurred so insistently for centuries on end that it became incorporated into man's biological regime and built into his daily life.… France, by any standard a privileged country, is reckoned to have experienced 10
general
famines during the tenth century; 26 in the eleventh; 2 in the twelfth; 4 in the fourteenth; 7 in the fifteenth; 13 in the sixteenth; 11 in the seventeenth and 16 in the eighteenth.” (pp. 73-74).
2
Statistics gathered by Jennifer Bresee from USDA website:
usda.gov
(Cited December 11, 2006)
3
Pearce Hammond and Brian Gamble. “Alternative Fuels.”
Simmons Energy Monthly,
Sept. 15, 2006,
simmonsco-intl.com/files/091506%20Alternative.pdf
(Cited June 12, 2007)
4
I recommend the DVD documentary,
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.
Community Solution, 2006.
communitysolution.org/cuba.html
(Cited June 12, 2007)
5
The story of the victory garden movements is recounted in David M. Tucker,
Kitchen Gardening in America: A History,
Iowa State University Press, 1993, in the chapter “Victory Gardening” pp. 121-139.
6
David Holmgren.
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.
Holmgren Design Services, 2002, p. 27.
7
Brainy Encyclopedia.
brainyencyclopedia.com/b/bi/biointensive.html
(Cited June 12, 2007)
8
“Indian Line Farm - Model for Farmland Preservation and Conservation.”
smallisbeautiful.org/clts/indian.html
(Cited June 12, 2007)
9
Kirkpatrick Sale.
Human Scale.
Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980.
10
B. S. Frey and A. Stutzer. “Happiness Prospers in Democracy.”
Journal of Happiness Studies,
Vol. 1, No. 1, 2000, pp. 79-102.
Chapter 3
1
Frank Lloyd Wright. “America's Tomorrow.”
American Architect,
May 1932, p. 32.
2
Earnest Elmo Calkins. “Beauty: The New Business Tool.”
Atlantic Monthly,
August 1927, p. 152.
3
Stuart Ewen.
All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture.
revised edition, Basic Books, 1999, p. 121.
Chapter 4
1
Eric Freyfogle.
Why Conservation Is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground.
Yale University Press, 2006.
2
World Commission on Environment and Development. “Our Common Future.” 1987.
are.admin.ch/are/en/nachhaltig/international_uno/unterseite02330/
(Cited December 11, 2006)
3
Albert A. Bartlett. “Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment — Revisited.”
Renewable Resources Journal,
Vol. 15, No. 4, Winter 1997-1998, 6-23.
hubbertpeak.com/bartlett/reflections.htm
(Cited June 12, 2007)
5
William E. Rees and Mathis Wackernagel.
Our Ecological Footprint.
New Society Publishers, 1995. Website:
footprintnetwork.org
6
Bartlett 1998, op. cit.
7
Simon Dresner.
Principles of Sustainability.
Earthscan, 2002.
Andres Edwards.
The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift.
New Society Publishers, 2005.
8
Jared Diamond.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
Viking, 2005.
Joseph Tainter.
The Collapse of Complex Societies.
Cambridge University Press, 1988.
9
Julian Simon. “The State of Humanity: Steadily Improving.”
Cato Policy Report,
Vol. 17, No. 5, p. 131.
10
Bartlett 1998, op. cit.
11
Simone Valente. “Sustainable Development, Renewable Resources and Technological Progress.”
Environmental and Resource Economics,
Vol. 30, No. 1, January 2005, pp. 115-125.
12
Albert A. Bartlett. “Sustained Availability: A Management Program for Nonrenewable Resources.”
American Journal of Physics,
Vol. 54, May 1986, pp. 398-402.
13
Richard Heinberg.
The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse.
New Society Publishers, 2006.
oildepletionprotocol.org
14
Marshall Sahlins.
Stone Age Economics.
Aldine, 1972.
Gerhard Lenski.
Power and Privilege.
University of North Carolina Press, 1977.
Ivan Illich.
Energy and Equity.
Calder and Boyars, 1974.
Chapter 5
1
Mark Bittner.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
Harmony Books, 2004. Mark Bittner's website is
markbittner.net
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
DVD. Directed by Judy Irving.
pelicanmedia.org
. All quotes are from the book.
2
Gary Snyder.
The Real Work: Interviews and Talks, 1964-1979.
New Directions, 1980.
3
Raymond C. Kelly.
Warless Societies and the Origin of War.
University of Michigan Press, 2000, pp. 20-21.
4
Max Weber.
The Vocation Lectures: “Science As a Vocation”; “Politics As a Vocation,”
ed. David Owen and Tracy B. Strong. Hackett Publishing Company, 2004.
5
Irene Pepperberg.
The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots.
Harvard University Press, 2002.
6
Dinitia Smith. “A Thinking Bird, or Just Another Birdbrain?”
New York Times,
October 9, 1999.
Chapter 6
2
William Stanton.
The Rapid Growth of Human Populations 1750-2000.
Multi-Science Publishing, 2003, pp. 73-74.
3
peakoil.ie/newsletters/588
(Cited December 11, 2006)
4
Albert Bartlett.
Arithmetic, Population, and Energy.
DVD, University of Colorado, 2002.
Chapter 7
1
Lewis Aptekar.
Environmental Disasters in Global Perspective.
G. K. Hall, 1994, p. 110.
2
Samuel Prince.
Catastrophe and Social Change.
Columbia University Press, 1920.
3
Max Weber.
Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology.
Bedminster Press, 1968.
4
Benjamin McLuckie.
Italy, Japan, and the United States: Effects of Centralization on Disaster Responses 1964-1969.
Disaster Research Center, Ohio State University, 1977.
5
Lisa Rayner.
Ecological Collapse, Trauma Theory and Permaculture.
ecopsychology.org/journal/ezine/archive2/ecological_collapse.html
(Cited June 12, 2007)
6
Rob Hopkins.
Is Our Collective Oil Dependence an Addiction?
energy
bulletin.net/16846.html
(Cited June 11, 2007)
7
World Health Organization.
Lexicon of Alcohol and Drug Terms.
who.int/substance_abuse/terminology/who_lexicon/en/
(Cited June 12, 2007)
8
Doug McKenzie-Mohr and William Smith.
Fostering Sustainable Behavior.
New Society Publishers, 1999.

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