I am one of those who believe that oil production has already peaked. Others believe it is ten years from now. Whilst others bury their heads in the sand and assume there will always be oil.
Actually, that last statement is true in that there will always be oil in the ground. Eventually oil will be too difficult and expensive to get at and so it will remain underground for all eternity.
Regardless of how much oil we have used, and how much remains to be found, we can already see the effects of peak oil. It only takes half a dozen armed men in Nigeria to attack a rig or a refinery strike in Scotland to send the price of oil to new records. Why? Because production is at maximum capacity and producers can't cope with even the slightest loss.
Why don't they build more refineries? A refinery has to be paid for and to show a return on its investment. The price of building more refineries is added to the price of oil. That depresses demand and the price falls to where building new refineries is not profitable. Hence, little interest in building new refineries.
Now we hear talk from Saudi Arabia about saving oil for future generations. There will be no increased rig building. That could just be a cover as many believe the Saudis lie about their oil reserves. Either way it puts a crimp on how much oil the world's largest oil producer can put on the market. That means increased demand cannot be met thus pushing the price of oil up as buyers compete in the market for limited supply.
Well, that's the market speak out of the way. How is it going to affect you and me? You can see the effects all around you. Food prices doubling in months. Why? Because alternatives to oil have to be found. Unfortunately, those alternatives take food from our mouths and put it into the fuel tanks of our cars. The competition for food between food and fuel producers puts the price of food up.
Fuel is used to produce food. From growing, to harvesting, to processing and transportation. Up goes the price of food again. The transport we use to get to the supermarket becomes more expensive. So does the fuel we use to keep our homes warm in the winter time.
Peak oil and its effects are here. Oil is past $100 a barrel and may never fall below that value. It is more likely to head for $150. There is no viable alternative to oil. The only alternative is to radically change the way we live.
When animal lovers go bad
There is a story in the UK news about a puppy with rabies biting three people at a quarantine centre. Dig deeper and you see the less sane side of animal lovers.
Apparently, these dogs had come from Sri Lanka. No, they were not owned by someone who had gone on holiday to Sri Lanka and was returning with them. These dogs were "rescued" from Sri Lanka and flown to the UK at great cost (in money and carbon) so that someone could adopt them.
Aren't there enough homeless dogs in the UK? Of course there are, too many. Another case of mentally ill middle-class people losing it? You bet!
BBC - Nutjob talks of rabies bite
Apparently, these dogs had come from Sri Lanka. No, they were not owned by someone who had gone on holiday to Sri Lanka and was returning with them. These dogs were "rescued" from Sri Lanka and flown to the UK at great cost (in money and carbon) so that someone could adopt them.
Aren't there enough homeless dogs in the UK? Of course there are, too many. Another case of mentally ill middle-class people losing it? You bet!
BBC - Nutjob talks of rabies bite
Going Microsoft free with Ubuntu 8.04
There are those who have always been hostile towards Microsoft and Bill Gates. I have never seen the point. After all, most of us buy things from companies like Microsoft.
There is the issue of Microsoft's apparent monopolising core PC software, namely operating system, office and web browser but then PCs are a monopoly in themselves. It's not like the early days of home computing when my ZX Spectrum couldn't run BBC, Atari or Commodore software and there was a competitive market to cater for everyone.
My need for an alternative to Microsoft is simply because I cannot afford to keep upgrading to the latest Microsoft product when they stop supporting older operating systems and software. The growing size of Microsoft software and the need to upgrade hardware to cope with bloatware is also a problem.
There have always been alternatives to Microsoft. You can buy an expensive image massaging Apple system or there is Linux, a free operating system produced by volunteers, with free open source software to run on top of it.
The problem with Linux was that you always had to be an IT worker or computer scientist to get Linux to work properly. More often than not, Linux would have a problem with a piece of your hardware. Your graphics card wasn't fully supported or no sound was heard from your speakers.
Having a degree in computing, Linux was never a problem. However, it would be for others using my computer. The incompatibility problems and searching high and low for a driver that someone produced in their bedroom were rather tedious.
Things are rather different now. There is Ubuntu, a Linux distribution that claims to be easy to install and an alternative to XP or Vista that anyone can use. Well, last night I tried the latest distribution of Ubuntu 8.04, which can be installed alongside Windows for you to trial before deciding whether or not it is for you.
I downloaded the Ubuntu installation and copied its image to a CD. I then rebooted my laptop and was then asked which OS I wanted to run. I chose Ubuntu and was soon greeted by the Ubuntu desktop. I waggled my mouse and the pointer moved.
Firefox for Linux was pre-installed and ran as soon as I clicked it. I entered the name of a website and it was uploaded, Ubuntu had recognised my broadband connection without any configuration by me.
I clicked on a video, sound and vision were perfect. I clicked on the hard drive icon and was able to access all my Windows directories. I was able to view photos in my Windows folders with a Linux viewer.
There was absolutely nothing to configure. Well, there was one thing I had to do. I started up Pidgin, an open source instant messaging program that had no idea what my MSN account was. Well, how could it? I entered my username and password and was soon chatting away, extolling the virtues of Ubuntu to a friend.
I shall be installing Ubuntu for general computer usage. I will keep a legacy Windows XP for running Paintshop Pro but at least I will not be upgrading it or the machine. At least now, when I want to look at something on the Internet, I don't have to wait 15 minutes whilst XP boots up or wait 5 minutes for it to close down.
Ubuntu - www.ubuntu.com
There is the issue of Microsoft's apparent monopolising core PC software, namely operating system, office and web browser but then PCs are a monopoly in themselves. It's not like the early days of home computing when my ZX Spectrum couldn't run BBC, Atari or Commodore software and there was a competitive market to cater for everyone.
My need for an alternative to Microsoft is simply because I cannot afford to keep upgrading to the latest Microsoft product when they stop supporting older operating systems and software. The growing size of Microsoft software and the need to upgrade hardware to cope with bloatware is also a problem.
There have always been alternatives to Microsoft. You can buy an expensive image massaging Apple system or there is Linux, a free operating system produced by volunteers, with free open source software to run on top of it.
The problem with Linux was that you always had to be an IT worker or computer scientist to get Linux to work properly. More often than not, Linux would have a problem with a piece of your hardware. Your graphics card wasn't fully supported or no sound was heard from your speakers.
Having a degree in computing, Linux was never a problem. However, it would be for others using my computer. The incompatibility problems and searching high and low for a driver that someone produced in their bedroom were rather tedious.
Things are rather different now. There is Ubuntu, a Linux distribution that claims to be easy to install and an alternative to XP or Vista that anyone can use. Well, last night I tried the latest distribution of Ubuntu 8.04, which can be installed alongside Windows for you to trial before deciding whether or not it is for you.
I downloaded the Ubuntu installation and copied its image to a CD. I then rebooted my laptop and was then asked which OS I wanted to run. I chose Ubuntu and was soon greeted by the Ubuntu desktop. I waggled my mouse and the pointer moved.
Firefox for Linux was pre-installed and ran as soon as I clicked it. I entered the name of a website and it was uploaded, Ubuntu had recognised my broadband connection without any configuration by me.
I clicked on a video, sound and vision were perfect. I clicked on the hard drive icon and was able to access all my Windows directories. I was able to view photos in my Windows folders with a Linux viewer.
There was absolutely nothing to configure. Well, there was one thing I had to do. I started up Pidgin, an open source instant messaging program that had no idea what my MSN account was. Well, how could it? I entered my username and password and was soon chatting away, extolling the virtues of Ubuntu to a friend.
I shall be installing Ubuntu for general computer usage. I will keep a legacy Windows XP for running Paintshop Pro but at least I will not be upgrading it or the machine. At least now, when I want to look at something on the Internet, I don't have to wait 15 minutes whilst XP boots up or wait 5 minutes for it to close down.
Ubuntu - www.ubuntu.com
Is World War 3 going to start?
That is what my novita asked when I sent her a text message this morning after returning home with a 22kg sack of rice and 6kg of pasta.
Today I went on a fact finding mission. I visited all the cheap as chips supermarkets (Lidl, Aldi and Netto) to compare prices. Unlike the big supermarkets, the cheaper ones hate each other and don't run a price a cartel amongst themselves.
However, there was no bulk rice to be had so I popped into the Bismillah (we Queen fans just love that word) Halal supermarket and staggered out with a 22kg sack of rice plus one kilo bags of garam masala and chile powder. That was a bit of an ordeal as the proprietor spoke little English and couldn't get his calculator to work. I worked out the total on paper and also got to use the card reader from start to finish as he wasn't upto speed on that either. I could have been a naughty Hector and entered a lower total but didn't.
At the supermarkets I found that Netto can't be beaten on penne pasta by a long margin. Lidl can't be beaten on tinned tomatoes. Buy whole plumb tomatoes and chop them up yourself rather than paying extra for ready chopped tomatoes.
On the way home I went into a petrol station and topped up the tank. I had also brought a couple of jerry cans and filled them up too. There is a refinery strike starting soon.
Although the refinery is in Scotland you can be sure that there will be a knock on effect in the rest of the UK as Scottish petrol stations compete with English ones for petrol supplies. Regardless of that, with oil nudging $120 a barrel it is wise to get as much petrol as you can before the price of petrol rises yet again.
World War Three? Humanity is always at war with Mother Nature. I know who my money is on.
Today I went on a fact finding mission. I visited all the cheap as chips supermarkets (Lidl, Aldi and Netto) to compare prices. Unlike the big supermarkets, the cheaper ones hate each other and don't run a price a cartel amongst themselves.
However, there was no bulk rice to be had so I popped into the Bismillah (we Queen fans just love that word) Halal supermarket and staggered out with a 22kg sack of rice plus one kilo bags of garam masala and chile powder. That was a bit of an ordeal as the proprietor spoke little English and couldn't get his calculator to work. I worked out the total on paper and also got to use the card reader from start to finish as he wasn't upto speed on that either. I could have been a naughty Hector and entered a lower total but didn't.
At the supermarkets I found that Netto can't be beaten on penne pasta by a long margin. Lidl can't be beaten on tinned tomatoes. Buy whole plumb tomatoes and chop them up yourself rather than paying extra for ready chopped tomatoes.
On the way home I went into a petrol station and topped up the tank. I had also brought a couple of jerry cans and filled them up too. There is a refinery strike starting soon.
Although the refinery is in Scotland you can be sure that there will be a knock on effect in the rest of the UK as Scottish petrol stations compete with English ones for petrol supplies. Regardless of that, with oil nudging $120 a barrel it is wise to get as much petrol as you can before the price of petrol rises yet again.
World War Three? Humanity is always at war with Mother Nature. I know who my money is on.
Now staples are scarce here too
My local Asda has run out of bulk sacks of rice. Just a few smaller packets. I went to my local no-frills supermarket, Netto, and bought the cheapest pasta I could find. Penne pasta is the cheapest and is good at soaking up my sauces. Asda's cheap brand penne is the same cost at 19p per 500g but is not as good as the Italian penne in Netto because it is 50/50 durum wheat and semolina.
Netto's rice is cheaper than Asda's but only comes in 1 kilo packets. There were no sacks of rice available. I have always eaten Basmati rice and don't like the bland taste of US long grain. However, at almost half the price I will probably turn to US long grain and spice it up. Either Chinese style, egg fried or Mexican style with tomato sauce and chile.
I've cut down on my starch eating. Mostly to eat less calories. A semi-sedentary lifestyle waiting for summer before moving to Spain means calories go to waste. A cup of rice lasts me three days. The first day is curry, the second day the rice is re-heated for the remainder of the curry. On the third day, the rice is stir fried with egg and some chorizo with a dash of soy.
I eat a lot less meat. Today I am cooking curry. I have just one fillet of chicken. That will be bulked out with onion, tinned tomatoes, some garam masala and chile powder. Naan bread and rice with the curry will see it last two days.
At present I'm feeding myself on £15 per week. I still have a bulk bag of pasta fusili and 3 kilos of rice in a sack, which keeps my current spending down. My weekly meat purchases total 1 fillet of chicken, 1 packet of sliced chorizo and a packet of minced turkey. Most foods are cooked from basic ingredients. Herbs and spices to improve what would otherwise be bland food. The rest of my money goes on bread, salad greens and cheese. I can't wait for the greens I recently planted to start growing so I can eat them instead.
To drink, I mostly have water with the occasional orange juice. My waist and sanity are glad to have given up coca cola. I was never into tea or coffee but if someone buys me a cappuccino then I'll drink it. I may brew another batch of cider but I'll have to get some more yeast from a homebrew shop in the next town. A gallon of cider will cost me £2.20p in apple juice and a few pence worth of yeast. Cider will ferment at room temperature so there are no heating bills.
Netto's rice is cheaper than Asda's but only comes in 1 kilo packets. There were no sacks of rice available. I have always eaten Basmati rice and don't like the bland taste of US long grain. However, at almost half the price I will probably turn to US long grain and spice it up. Either Chinese style, egg fried or Mexican style with tomato sauce and chile.
I've cut down on my starch eating. Mostly to eat less calories. A semi-sedentary lifestyle waiting for summer before moving to Spain means calories go to waste. A cup of rice lasts me three days. The first day is curry, the second day the rice is re-heated for the remainder of the curry. On the third day, the rice is stir fried with egg and some chorizo with a dash of soy.
I eat a lot less meat. Today I am cooking curry. I have just one fillet of chicken. That will be bulked out with onion, tinned tomatoes, some garam masala and chile powder. Naan bread and rice with the curry will see it last two days.
At present I'm feeding myself on £15 per week. I still have a bulk bag of pasta fusili and 3 kilos of rice in a sack, which keeps my current spending down. My weekly meat purchases total 1 fillet of chicken, 1 packet of sliced chorizo and a packet of minced turkey. Most foods are cooked from basic ingredients. Herbs and spices to improve what would otherwise be bland food. The rest of my money goes on bread, salad greens and cheese. I can't wait for the greens I recently planted to start growing so I can eat them instead.
To drink, I mostly have water with the occasional orange juice. My waist and sanity are glad to have given up coca cola. I was never into tea or coffee but if someone buys me a cappuccino then I'll drink it. I may brew another batch of cider but I'll have to get some more yeast from a homebrew shop in the next town. A gallon of cider will cost me £2.20p in apple juice and a few pence worth of yeast. Cider will ferment at room temperature so there are no heating bills.
The food crisis is not just a 3rd world problem
Take a look at Japan, a highly developed industrial nation, currently experiencing a butter shortage due to an inability to import enough grain for dairy cows.
This situation can only get worse as a projected 50% rise in the world's population will see 9 billion people chasing Earth's dwindling resources.
Yes, we can feed 9 billion but at great cost to the Earth's delicately balanced ecosystems. Covering the globe with farms is detrimental to other species that are important to our own survival.
There will certainly be a population collapse. In the meantime we have the cure for western obesity. We won't be able to afford to stuff our faces the way we have been doing so for the past 50 years.
The Age - Japan's hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations
Telegraph - Water - the under-reported resource crisis
This situation can only get worse as a projected 50% rise in the world's population will see 9 billion people chasing Earth's dwindling resources.
Yes, we can feed 9 billion but at great cost to the Earth's delicately balanced ecosystems. Covering the globe with farms is detrimental to other species that are important to our own survival.
There will certainly be a population collapse. In the meantime we have the cure for western obesity. We won't be able to afford to stuff our faces the way we have been doing so for the past 50 years.
The Age - Japan's hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations
Telegraph - Water - the under-reported resource crisis
Sale of vegetable seed outstrips flower seed
Environmental and health concerns, increasing food prices and the credit crunch mean that more people are growing their own vegetables.
Having parents that prefer to eat out of packets, there is a garden going spare. I may only be here until the summer but all the same I have planted some seed to provide me with salad greens. They will grow quickly are reduce my reliance on the supermarket.
It costs £1 for a bag of greens that will last me a day but the same £1 can provide me with seed to grow enough greens for a year. The maths is simple £1 or £365.
Guardian - Veg seed sales soar as credit crunch bites
Having parents that prefer to eat out of packets, there is a garden going spare. I may only be here until the summer but all the same I have planted some seed to provide me with salad greens. They will grow quickly are reduce my reliance on the supermarket.
It costs £1 for a bag of greens that will last me a day but the same £1 can provide me with seed to grow enough greens for a year. The maths is simple £1 or £365.
Guardian - Veg seed sales soar as credit crunch bites
Steptoe rides again
I don't like seeing things going to waste. Now that I have sold off anything of value through eBay and Amazon, I am left with that which I want for simple living and that which nobody wants. Broken items that I couldn't bring myself to throw in the bin.
With just weeks left before I'm on my way to my next life adventure, I am sorting out all the junk and seeing what can be salvaged from it and what can go to the recycling centre. Yesterday, I found an old surround sound speaker system. It suddenly stopped working sometime in the late 1990s. The controller circuit board was defective but I still didn't want to throw it away.
Last night I stripped out the board. Some of the capacitors could be reused for something. The power supply still works. The sub-woofer speaker and housing is fine and so are two speakers. I shall keep the speakers. If I find an old surround sound receiver then I won't have to buy any speakers for it.
Today, I found an old black and white flat-bed scanner in a dark corner of the attic. Nobody would want it so I stripped out anything of use before putting the rest in a box for the recycle centre. I have bolts, pulleys, springs, a motor, various integrated logic chips, capacitors, connectors and a solid stainless steel rod that might be saleable on eBay for someone running a lathe.
When I was a child my father and I used to watch Steptoe and Son (Sanford and Son was the US remake) a sitcom about a father and son scrap merchants. My father used to joke that he and I should live like them, which upset me because I would have to leave the comfort of home . Today, I would jump at the idea!
With just weeks left before I'm on my way to my next life adventure, I am sorting out all the junk and seeing what can be salvaged from it and what can go to the recycling centre. Yesterday, I found an old surround sound speaker system. It suddenly stopped working sometime in the late 1990s. The controller circuit board was defective but I still didn't want to throw it away.
Last night I stripped out the board. Some of the capacitors could be reused for something. The power supply still works. The sub-woofer speaker and housing is fine and so are two speakers. I shall keep the speakers. If I find an old surround sound receiver then I won't have to buy any speakers for it.
Today, I found an old black and white flat-bed scanner in a dark corner of the attic. Nobody would want it so I stripped out anything of use before putting the rest in a box for the recycle centre. I have bolts, pulleys, springs, a motor, various integrated logic chips, capacitors, connectors and a solid stainless steel rod that might be saleable on eBay for someone running a lathe.
When I was a child my father and I used to watch Steptoe and Son (Sanford and Son was the US remake) a sitcom about a father and son scrap merchants. My father used to joke that he and I should live like them, which upset me because I would have to leave the comfort of home . Today, I would jump at the idea!
Putting the "gross" into GDP
Whenever someone adds a comment to one of my blog posts I like to know a little more about them and if they have a link to their blog or profile then I will click on it.
I was glad I clicked on the profile of The Believer and took a look at his website because it alerted me to the existence of a video on YouTube.
If you are a regular reader of my blog then you will know that I don't hold politicians in high regard. Especially, I don't like the way politicians chant the mantra of economic growth. Anyone with the most basic mathematical knowledge realises that the desire for year on year economic growth is the equivalent of demanding infinite economic growth. Infinite growth on a finite planet just isn't possible.
The Youtube video in question contains a speech by Senator Robert Kennedy. Yes, a politician with many faults but occasionally these people will utter something erudite and pay the price of it with their own lives.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is how economists value economies. The more products and services you exchange for cash the greater your GDP is. Dwindling resources are dug out of the ground and converted into money. The GDP rises and politicians tell us how much better our lives are.
As Robert Kennedy stated in his speech, GDP includes money spent on weapons, war, crime, policing, security products, advertising, drug abuse, violent films and television programmes. There is so much included in a country's GDP, the so-called measure of how "good" life is, which has a negative effect on life.
Clearly, GDP is not an accurate measure of how good life is but only of how much money there is sloshing around the world. Most of this money is in the hands of a small elite who don't care about the majority of people who don't have money. A majority who are victims of war, crime, hunger and poverty.
When our politicians talk of economic growth they are telling us to be happy that we are enslaved to enrich the elite. Don't complain, just continue watching the television. Watch those celebrities and sportsmen on television. You could be fabulously wealthy like them if only you were a better person than you are. If you have no talent then make yourself feel better by going to the shops and buy things you don't really need.
How should we better judge a life? By money? Often a GDP for a country is divided by the population size to give a GDP per capita. This reflects a perceived average person. Again you don't have to be a genius at maths to understand that it only takes one billionaire to swallow up the GDP per capita of many penniless people.
The GDP per capita for an average westerner is in the range of £20-25,000 (about $40-50,000 or 50-62,000 euros). Divide that into $1 billion dollars and you account for over 20,000 penniless people. With over 140 billionaires and thousands of multi-millionaires in the world it is plain to see that GDP per capita is not a measure that the majority of us can relate to.
A person's livelihood should be based not on money but on the quality of their life. Do they have affordable accommodation, enough food, water and transportation? Do they have a peaceful life? Not a secure life like a billionaire in a mansion surrounded by a high wall and CCTV but a truly peaceful life that doesn't need intervention.
A good life doesn't really require money. On a sustainably run planet with just the right population size we could all be equals. Without competition there is no scramble for resources with people trying to outbid each other with money. Our overpopulated and under resourced world demands fiat money based economies with armies to back them up. Too many chasing too little, using money and weapons to corner what little remains before it all runs out and the last battle for survival begins.
YouTube - Robert F. Kennedy challenges Gross Domestic Product
Glaser Progress Foundation - Measuring Progress
I was glad I clicked on the profile of The Believer and took a look at his website because it alerted me to the existence of a video on YouTube.
If you are a regular reader of my blog then you will know that I don't hold politicians in high regard. Especially, I don't like the way politicians chant the mantra of economic growth. Anyone with the most basic mathematical knowledge realises that the desire for year on year economic growth is the equivalent of demanding infinite economic growth. Infinite growth on a finite planet just isn't possible.
The Youtube video in question contains a speech by Senator Robert Kennedy. Yes, a politician with many faults but occasionally these people will utter something erudite and pay the price of it with their own lives.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is how economists value economies. The more products and services you exchange for cash the greater your GDP is. Dwindling resources are dug out of the ground and converted into money. The GDP rises and politicians tell us how much better our lives are.
As Robert Kennedy stated in his speech, GDP includes money spent on weapons, war, crime, policing, security products, advertising, drug abuse, violent films and television programmes. There is so much included in a country's GDP, the so-called measure of how "good" life is, which has a negative effect on life.
Clearly, GDP is not an accurate measure of how good life is but only of how much money there is sloshing around the world. Most of this money is in the hands of a small elite who don't care about the majority of people who don't have money. A majority who are victims of war, crime, hunger and poverty.
When our politicians talk of economic growth they are telling us to be happy that we are enslaved to enrich the elite. Don't complain, just continue watching the television. Watch those celebrities and sportsmen on television. You could be fabulously wealthy like them if only you were a better person than you are. If you have no talent then make yourself feel better by going to the shops and buy things you don't really need.
How should we better judge a life? By money? Often a GDP for a country is divided by the population size to give a GDP per capita. This reflects a perceived average person. Again you don't have to be a genius at maths to understand that it only takes one billionaire to swallow up the GDP per capita of many penniless people.
The GDP per capita for an average westerner is in the range of £20-25,000 (about $40-50,000 or 50-62,000 euros). Divide that into $1 billion dollars and you account for over 20,000 penniless people. With over 140 billionaires and thousands of multi-millionaires in the world it is plain to see that GDP per capita is not a measure that the majority of us can relate to.
A person's livelihood should be based not on money but on the quality of their life. Do they have affordable accommodation, enough food, water and transportation? Do they have a peaceful life? Not a secure life like a billionaire in a mansion surrounded by a high wall and CCTV but a truly peaceful life that doesn't need intervention.
A good life doesn't really require money. On a sustainably run planet with just the right population size we could all be equals. Without competition there is no scramble for resources with people trying to outbid each other with money. Our overpopulated and under resourced world demands fiat money based economies with armies to back them up. Too many chasing too little, using money and weapons to corner what little remains before it all runs out and the last battle for survival begins.
YouTube - Robert F. Kennedy challenges Gross Domestic Product
Glaser Progress Foundation - Measuring Progress
The perfect storm of disasters
During idle conversation you might mention global warming. Your friend might either agree and shrug their shoulders or laugh at you whilst telling you of the latest debunking theory.
Maybe you have talked about overpopulation, mass migration, the credit crunch or peak oil. Each one of these problems is serious in itself but are usually regarded as "Not my problem", "They'll think of something" or "It's a lie!"
The truth is that the world faces many of these problems all at the same time. Let me clarify that. Humanity faces many problems. Mother Earth says, "Not my problem" and rightly so. For she will survive any disaster that mankind inflicts upon itself. Only Sister Sun can extinguish Mother Earth.
Some like to call it "The Perfect Storm" of disasters. Here is a list of what awaits us.
Climate Change - Global warming is here regardless of it being cyclic or man-made. History tells us of upheavals during climate change.
Peak Oil - Nothing does like oil does. Wind and solar power will not help us.
Soil Degradation - Years of industrialised agriculture leaves soil dependent on chemicals that the petrochemical industry now struggles to provide.
Water Shortages - Overpopulation, bad farming practice, industrial pollution and global warming have resulted in this shortage. Some parts of the world haven't seen water for years. Crops are failing, which is causing global food shortages.
Monoculture - Slash and burn of life sustaining forests. Replacing rain forests with single variety crops resulting in soil degradation and species collapse. It takes more than a single species and its favourite foods to make a self-sustaining world.
Overpopulation - The word that liberals never utter for fear of offending others. Until this overriding problem is solved then nothing else can be done to save humanity.
Global Hunger - Food crisis, a consequence of overpopulation and the clinging to bankrupt western lifestyles dependent on oil and finding a replacement for it in the form of bio-fuels.
Epidemics - Bird flu, man made viruses, evolution of drug resistant pathogens.
Mass Migration - Food crisis, sea level rising, globalisation robbing people of jobs, climate change, water shortage, resource wars. You name it and millions more hit the road.
Globalisation - With everything sold to the highest bidder all that is left to sell is our souls. Globalisation commoditises human beings, forcing them to scatter their homes and culture to the four winds whilst trying to feed their families. Communities destroyed so that the ruling élite can continue to live their bankrupt lifestyle.
Credit Crunch - The result of a bankrupt financial system inventing fraudulent financial instruments because there is nothing else left to sell.
Cost of Living - Energy and food resource inflation above and beyond wage increases. Too many people chasing too few resources. Oil production can't keep up with demand. Meat and bio-fuel production compete with hungry people for food staples, pushing prices to record breaking levels.
Try mentioning that lot in idle conversation. Overload is not the word for it. A Perfect Storm is about right. It's coming our way and there is nothing that can be done about it.
A simpler way of discussing this with a friend is to keep it personal. Talk about the effects this is having on day to day life. Things are more expensive or harder to get because of many of the aforementioned. Talk about self-reliance so that you don't have to pay others with your hard-earned money. Do away with what you don't really need. Live a simpler life that is more resistant to the global changes that are just around the corner.
Maybe you have talked about overpopulation, mass migration, the credit crunch or peak oil. Each one of these problems is serious in itself but are usually regarded as "Not my problem", "They'll think of something" or "It's a lie!"
The truth is that the world faces many of these problems all at the same time. Let me clarify that. Humanity faces many problems. Mother Earth says, "Not my problem" and rightly so. For she will survive any disaster that mankind inflicts upon itself. Only Sister Sun can extinguish Mother Earth.
Some like to call it "The Perfect Storm" of disasters. Here is a list of what awaits us.
Climate Change - Global warming is here regardless of it being cyclic or man-made. History tells us of upheavals during climate change.
Peak Oil - Nothing does like oil does. Wind and solar power will not help us.
Soil Degradation - Years of industrialised agriculture leaves soil dependent on chemicals that the petrochemical industry now struggles to provide.
Water Shortages - Overpopulation, bad farming practice, industrial pollution and global warming have resulted in this shortage. Some parts of the world haven't seen water for years. Crops are failing, which is causing global food shortages.
Monoculture - Slash and burn of life sustaining forests. Replacing rain forests with single variety crops resulting in soil degradation and species collapse. It takes more than a single species and its favourite foods to make a self-sustaining world.
Overpopulation - The word that liberals never utter for fear of offending others. Until this overriding problem is solved then nothing else can be done to save humanity.
Global Hunger - Food crisis, a consequence of overpopulation and the clinging to bankrupt western lifestyles dependent on oil and finding a replacement for it in the form of bio-fuels.
Epidemics - Bird flu, man made viruses, evolution of drug resistant pathogens.
Mass Migration - Food crisis, sea level rising, globalisation robbing people of jobs, climate change, water shortage, resource wars. You name it and millions more hit the road.
Globalisation - With everything sold to the highest bidder all that is left to sell is our souls. Globalisation commoditises human beings, forcing them to scatter their homes and culture to the four winds whilst trying to feed their families. Communities destroyed so that the ruling élite can continue to live their bankrupt lifestyle.
Credit Crunch - The result of a bankrupt financial system inventing fraudulent financial instruments because there is nothing else left to sell.
Cost of Living - Energy and food resource inflation above and beyond wage increases. Too many people chasing too few resources. Oil production can't keep up with demand. Meat and bio-fuel production compete with hungry people for food staples, pushing prices to record breaking levels.
Try mentioning that lot in idle conversation. Overload is not the word for it. A Perfect Storm is about right. It's coming our way and there is nothing that can be done about it.
A simpler way of discussing this with a friend is to keep it personal. Talk about the effects this is having on day to day life. Things are more expensive or harder to get because of many of the aforementioned. Talk about self-reliance so that you don't have to pay others with your hard-earned money. Do away with what you don't really need. Live a simpler life that is more resistant to the global changes that are just around the corner.
£1.50 petrol on its way
Less than a year after buying my first car, the price of oil is at yet another record and some are predicting petrol to hit £1.50 sometime this year. My American readership might think that is too high a price. After all, it's a 1 followed by a point something. How bad can that be? Well, let's convert that into dollars per US gallon.
1 US gallon = 3.79 litres
So, we have 3.79 * £1.50 = £5.685
And now let's convert those pounds into dollars.
£1 = $1.97
So, 1 US gallon of petrol in the UK might, in the near future, cost £5.685 * $1.97 = $11.20
Scraped yourself off the floor yet?
I am now at the stage where I walk rather than motor to the supermarket a mile away. On Friday I will take a train to London and will walk to the station five miles away. All journeys by car are first justified as being too far to walk or I am carrying or collecting a load that can't be carried hand. I can walk about 10 miles before my feet give in and I can carry plenty in two bags. My petrol money will instead go on visits to the cobbler for shoe repairs.
I remember, as a child, when OPEC stopped sending oil in 1973 and my father queueing for petrol and giving lifts to those who were unlucky in queues. This time round there will be plenty of petrol in the stations but nobody will be able to afford it.
This week, I have to take some things to the recycling centre, buy a week's worth of food, post an item to an eBayer and buy some components with which to build a short wave antenna. I will wait until I am out of food before taking the car on a single journey to achieve all the above tasks and then back into the garage the car goes until I can justify taking it out again. You can forget pleasure trips. I'll visit somewhere on the Internet instead.
"Peak oil? Of course not! They'll think of something."
Guardian - Petrol heads for £1.50 a litre
1 US gallon = 3.79 litres
So, we have 3.79 * £1.50 = £5.685
And now let's convert those pounds into dollars.
£1 = $1.97
So, 1 US gallon of petrol in the UK might, in the near future, cost £5.685 * $1.97 = $11.20
Scraped yourself off the floor yet?
I am now at the stage where I walk rather than motor to the supermarket a mile away. On Friday I will take a train to London and will walk to the station five miles away. All journeys by car are first justified as being too far to walk or I am carrying or collecting a load that can't be carried hand. I can walk about 10 miles before my feet give in and I can carry plenty in two bags. My petrol money will instead go on visits to the cobbler for shoe repairs.
I remember, as a child, when OPEC stopped sending oil in 1973 and my father queueing for petrol and giving lifts to those who were unlucky in queues. This time round there will be plenty of petrol in the stations but nobody will be able to afford it.
This week, I have to take some things to the recycling centre, buy a week's worth of food, post an item to an eBayer and buy some components with which to build a short wave antenna. I will wait until I am out of food before taking the car on a single journey to achieve all the above tasks and then back into the garage the car goes until I can justify taking it out again. You can forget pleasure trips. I'll visit somewhere on the Internet instead.
"Peak oil? Of course not! They'll think of something."
Guardian - Petrol heads for £1.50 a litre
The not so silent majority
Ever wondered what most people in the world are doing whilst you idly wander along the aisles of your local supermarket? Well, here are some photos for you to look at.
What is the answer to the food crisis? Grow more food? Where? Yes, there is plenty of uncultivated land but the ever-increasing population needs to be housed, cars need bio-fuels, other species (remember them?) need their space too and on top of that we need more food.
Something has to give. As you walk through your supermarket you will have noticed that prices are a lot higher these days. European laws are now in place, requiring car fuels have to have at least some bio content. Europe isn't self-sufficient in food and fuel so other parts of the globe has to be coerced into providing for us. In those photos you can see the consequences of our greed.
I seldom drive to avoid buying any kind of fuel, fossil or bio. I have cut down on meat eating. I grow my own vegetables when I can. Will it do any good? No. I think we are past the tipping point. Peak humanity, if you will. But at least my self-reliance puts me in good stead to take care of myself whilst others try to cling on to bankrupt system.
Our politicians are talking of finding solutions to the problem. Don't forget, these people are liberals, they think they are super human and can mount any hurdle Mother Earth puts in their way. The time is up. Everyone for themselves.
Guardian - World food crisis
BBC - Petrol must now include biofuels
Guardian - Fields of gold
What is the answer to the food crisis? Grow more food? Where? Yes, there is plenty of uncultivated land but the ever-increasing population needs to be housed, cars need bio-fuels, other species (remember them?) need their space too and on top of that we need more food.
Something has to give. As you walk through your supermarket you will have noticed that prices are a lot higher these days. European laws are now in place, requiring car fuels have to have at least some bio content. Europe isn't self-sufficient in food and fuel so other parts of the globe has to be coerced into providing for us. In those photos you can see the consequences of our greed.
I seldom drive to avoid buying any kind of fuel, fossil or bio. I have cut down on meat eating. I grow my own vegetables when I can. Will it do any good? No. I think we are past the tipping point. Peak humanity, if you will. But at least my self-reliance puts me in good stead to take care of myself whilst others try to cling on to bankrupt system.
Our politicians are talking of finding solutions to the problem. Don't forget, these people are liberals, they think they are super human and can mount any hurdle Mother Earth puts in their way. The time is up. Everyone for themselves.
Guardian - World food crisis
BBC - Petrol must now include biofuels
Guardian - Fields of gold
Turning off bottles and turning on the tap
Britons bought 9% less bottled water in the year to March. It is a start and, of course, the aim is a 100% reduction. I heard a bottle water supplier give a very lame excuse a few weeks ago. He said that his company understood environmental concerns but that people still wanted "water on the go". My reply to that is, buy a food grade bottle, fill it with tap water and take that on your travels.
Guardian - Britons begin to lose thirst for bottled water
Guardian - Britons begin to lose thirst for bottled water
Politicians realise that we are right about bio-fuels
In the dash for infinite economic growth our governments threw their weight behind bio-fuels. Peak oil has seen a tripling of the price of crude oil. Couple peak oil with a desire to stem global warming from fossil fuel use, and avoid oil imports from unstable countries, our governments insisted on a percentage of our transport fuels being bio derived.
We told them that bio-fuels are not sustainable. That we could not grow enough feed stock to fulfil even a 5% addition of bio-fuel to our fossil fuel. That we would need to use land from developing countries to grow food for our cars rather than the starving people of the developing world. The result is plain to see. Food shortages and food staples more than doubling in price.
Governments are beginning to see the error of their ways. We can either feed our cars in the west or risk hundreds of millions of starving people heading to the west. It is a case of driving less or driving the starving masses in our direction and destabilising the world.
Guardian - Darling calls for urgent review of biofuel policies
BBC - IMF head gives food price warning
We told them that bio-fuels are not sustainable. That we could not grow enough feed stock to fulfil even a 5% addition of bio-fuel to our fossil fuel. That we would need to use land from developing countries to grow food for our cars rather than the starving people of the developing world. The result is plain to see. Food shortages and food staples more than doubling in price.
Governments are beginning to see the error of their ways. We can either feed our cars in the west or risk hundreds of millions of starving people heading to the west. It is a case of driving less or driving the starving masses in our direction and destabilising the world.
Guardian - Darling calls for urgent review of biofuel policies
BBC - IMF head gives food price warning
The plastic peril
When I think back to my childhood there wasn't as much plastic as there is now. Some of my toys were beginning to incorporate plastic but the majority of my toys were made of metal, wood and cloth. If I was given some sweets then it was wrapped in wax paper. Meat was wrapped in paper and delivered by the butcher's boy on a bike. Milk was delivered in glass bottles. Then the plastic revolution started.
The day I was given a Mars Bar with a plastic wrapper it took a considerable length of time to work out how to get at the chocolate. In the days of waxed paper you could attack a bar of chocolate from any direction to get at it. Now, not only are you polluting the planet but you have to learn exactly how each product is wrapped so you can get at it. Even today, some 20 years after the invention of the CD, it can take a while to get into the jewel case of a CD or DVD.
Although we are implored to recycle plastic, very little of it is recycled. We hear of turtles in the Pacific Ocean choking to death on plastic bags because they think it is their staple diet of jellyfish. Plastic bottles are dashed upon the rocks and made into a fine powder smaller than grains of sand. This plastic dust is ingested by fish and shellfish and from their into our digestive systems.
Plastic that ends up on landfills degrades and leaches toxins into the water table from where it ends up inside us. The sell-by date on a bottle of water does not denote that the water will go off but that the plastic will start to poison the water it holds.
A new world of consumer goods, fresh food and ready meals may have been created by plastic packaging but slowly this plastic is poisoning the planet and us. It makes me wonder if I should buy anything at all with plastic content. A gadget freak in the past, I just have the bare essentials now.
Religiously I check stuff for throwing out and make sure it is recycled but is it good enough with so many plastic wrappers that cannot be recycled. These wrappers end up on landfills and then begin poisoning us. Only humans could invent things to make life more convenient (and profitable) and yet kill us at the same time.
The day I was given a Mars Bar with a plastic wrapper it took a considerable length of time to work out how to get at the chocolate. In the days of waxed paper you could attack a bar of chocolate from any direction to get at it. Now, not only are you polluting the planet but you have to learn exactly how each product is wrapped so you can get at it. Even today, some 20 years after the invention of the CD, it can take a while to get into the jewel case of a CD or DVD.
Although we are implored to recycle plastic, very little of it is recycled. We hear of turtles in the Pacific Ocean choking to death on plastic bags because they think it is their staple diet of jellyfish. Plastic bottles are dashed upon the rocks and made into a fine powder smaller than grains of sand. This plastic dust is ingested by fish and shellfish and from their into our digestive systems.
Plastic that ends up on landfills degrades and leaches toxins into the water table from where it ends up inside us. The sell-by date on a bottle of water does not denote that the water will go off but that the plastic will start to poison the water it holds.
A new world of consumer goods, fresh food and ready meals may have been created by plastic packaging but slowly this plastic is poisoning the planet and us. It makes me wonder if I should buy anything at all with plastic content. A gadget freak in the past, I just have the bare essentials now.
Religiously I check stuff for throwing out and make sure it is recycled but is it good enough with so many plastic wrappers that cannot be recycled. These wrappers end up on landfills and then begin poisoning us. Only humans could invent things to make life more convenient (and profitable) and yet kill us at the same time.
All hail the Corporate... I mean Olympic torch
Shameful goings on in London.
Watching the Olympic torch being carried around the world is like watching pilgrims adoring a holy relic. Only this Olympic relic is to the glorification of globalism.
Today the Holy Relic of Corporate Excess is in the UK and on the news you can see a middle-aged man trying to put out the torch whilst twenty or more UK Thought Police jump upon him. The torch itself was surrounded by Chinese security guards rather than UK ones.
In the summer we will see Prime Minister Gordon Brown travel to the temple of corporatism in Beijing where he will bow to his masters and beg for more cheap junk to be containerised and shipped to the salivating celebrity and junk obsessed masses back in the UK.
The Olympics is a celebration of what? Advertising, celebrity and drug abuse. It is no longer a celebration of athleticism but of winning at all costs, cheating, advertising contracts and propaganda. Have a look at the original Rollerball movie and see where sport is heading and, in many cases, has reached.
Watching the Olympic torch being carried around the world is like watching pilgrims adoring a holy relic. Only this Olympic relic is to the glorification of globalism.
Today the Holy Relic of Corporate Excess is in the UK and on the news you can see a middle-aged man trying to put out the torch whilst twenty or more UK Thought Police jump upon him. The torch itself was surrounded by Chinese security guards rather than UK ones.
In the summer we will see Prime Minister Gordon Brown travel to the temple of corporatism in Beijing where he will bow to his masters and beg for more cheap junk to be containerised and shipped to the salivating celebrity and junk obsessed masses back in the UK.
The Olympics is a celebration of what? Advertising, celebrity and drug abuse. It is no longer a celebration of athleticism but of winning at all costs, cheating, advertising contracts and propaganda. Have a look at the original Rollerball movie and see where sport is heading and, in many cases, has reached.
How not to get a new gas boiler
A rant in E minor
Personally, I would prefer to heat my water with a solid fuel boiler or solar water heater. My parents, who live in "1950s House", are different in that respect. Fossil fuel is what they have always used and being Old Irish that is what they will always use.
When Mr Gazprom in Moscow decides to close the gas taps then my parents will either sit in the living room and resolutely freeze to death, change to an oil boiler or resort to burning babies. Until then, gas it is.
Why have my parents decided to get a new gas boiler? Is the old one broken? No. Does it look old and maybe has a bit of paint chipped off one corner but you wouldn't notice it? Yes.
So, my parents decided to get a new boiler. How did they go about getting a new one? Did they call many companies to offer quotes so they may chose the best one? No. Did they call one person and listen to half an hour of Blarney? Yes.
The result is that next week John Wayne and other assorted cowboys will be installing a new boiler for £4000. Yes, you read that correctly. That was not a typo. I did not hit the '0' key too many times.
My parents will listen to financial advisers who consistently under perform chimpanzees in the investment markets. They will buy the contents of the neighbour's rubbish bin if a door to door salesmen picks it out of the bin and sells it to them. They have that Old Irish habit of forelock tugging to their perceived betters. However, when it comes to listening to their university educated son who turned down the opportunity to join Mensa then it is, "We are your parents and we are older and wiser than you." I think not.
Personally, I would prefer to heat my water with a solid fuel boiler or solar water heater. My parents, who live in "1950s House", are different in that respect. Fossil fuel is what they have always used and being Old Irish that is what they will always use.
When Mr Gazprom in Moscow decides to close the gas taps then my parents will either sit in the living room and resolutely freeze to death, change to an oil boiler or resort to burning babies. Until then, gas it is.
Why have my parents decided to get a new gas boiler? Is the old one broken? No. Does it look old and maybe has a bit of paint chipped off one corner but you wouldn't notice it? Yes.
So, my parents decided to get a new boiler. How did they go about getting a new one? Did they call many companies to offer quotes so they may chose the best one? No. Did they call one person and listen to half an hour of Blarney? Yes.
The result is that next week John Wayne and other assorted cowboys will be installing a new boiler for £4000. Yes, you read that correctly. That was not a typo. I did not hit the '0' key too many times.
My parents will listen to financial advisers who consistently under perform chimpanzees in the investment markets. They will buy the contents of the neighbour's rubbish bin if a door to door salesmen picks it out of the bin and sells it to them. They have that Old Irish habit of forelock tugging to their perceived betters. However, when it comes to listening to their university educated son who turned down the opportunity to join Mensa then it is, "We are your parents and we are older and wiser than you." I think not.
One for the climate change sceptics
Any astronomer (and I trained to be one before changing to AI) would have told you that solar variation was a non-starter for climate change. If the Sun was that misbehaved there would not have been life in the first place.
Other scientists have caught up and have published a report dismissing the crank solar variation theory.
Scientists can sometimes be like contrarian stockmarket investors. One will break away from the herd every now and again in the hope of greater fame an fortune. Reality decides whether they are right or, as in this case, wrong.
BBC - 'No Sun link' to climate change
Other scientists have caught up and have published a report dismissing the crank solar variation theory.
Scientists can sometimes be like contrarian stockmarket investors. One will break away from the herd every now and again in the hope of greater fame an fortune. Reality decides whether they are right or, as in this case, wrong.
BBC - 'No Sun link' to climate change
Almost ready
I have discovered a few more things to sell on eBay. When I was a teenager, I and a few friends were dedicated wargamers. I had thousands of miniature figurines in white metal from almost every part of history.
Last week, I sold a few hundred Napoleonic figures for just over £150. Now, I have reached the bottom of my storage box and am selling off some fantasy figures. Not Claudia Schiffer or Monica Cruz (the hotter sister of Penelope) but elves, dwarves and giant spiders.
I still have plenty of books listed on Amazon. They are specialist computing and finance books and have kept their value because they are no longer published.
Today, I will be sorting out the remainder of my belongings into three groups. Things that will be immediately needed in Spain when I go in my car to secure a rental home, the next time I go there. Things like the bulk of my tools that will go over to Spain in a removal truck once a farm has been secured. And things that will never go to Spain and are not worth selling. I will either Freecycle or recycle this remainder pile.
I am sure my parents will be glad to have more space and I will be glad to be thoroughly downsized. Not to mention out of "1950s House" where energy, food and water is cheap and thoroughly wasted.
My wardrobe has always been downsized. I was never into fashion or looking good. Blending into the background and appearing invisible has always been my preferred mode. Yesterday, I bought a new pair of trousers to replace my only other pair of trousers.
I do have two other pairs of trousers but they are little used. One pair is part of a black suit, which I only keep because I am approaching the age where funerals will come thick and fast. The other pair are a swanky pair of tailor made linen trousers from my city days when money was no object.
Other than that sartorial profligacy, I own a lot of freebie t-shirts, and plenty of socks and underpants given as Christmas or birthday gifts. I have three jumpers for those odd days in the winter when I feel cold. Then there is a lonely leather jacket that gets little use other than to hide wads of cash when going to and from banks. I have one pair of shoes, one pair of off-road trainers, a pair of fishing waders and some Wellington boots for farming in.
I shall load my car with a single suitcase for my clothes and a supermarket bag for my footwear. A bow saw and chainsaw for processing firewood. My wood gas stove. Some kitchen utensils. A toolbox with some general tools. Then off to Spain! That will probably be in July. Just in time to get a full dose of Extremadura summertime. If I can take it then a year there will be no problem.
Last week, I sold a few hundred Napoleonic figures for just over £150. Now, I have reached the bottom of my storage box and am selling off some fantasy figures. Not Claudia Schiffer or Monica Cruz (the hotter sister of Penelope) but elves, dwarves and giant spiders.
I still have plenty of books listed on Amazon. They are specialist computing and finance books and have kept their value because they are no longer published.
Today, I will be sorting out the remainder of my belongings into three groups. Things that will be immediately needed in Spain when I go in my car to secure a rental home, the next time I go there. Things like the bulk of my tools that will go over to Spain in a removal truck once a farm has been secured. And things that will never go to Spain and are not worth selling. I will either Freecycle or recycle this remainder pile.
I am sure my parents will be glad to have more space and I will be glad to be thoroughly downsized. Not to mention out of "1950s House" where energy, food and water is cheap and thoroughly wasted.
My wardrobe has always been downsized. I was never into fashion or looking good. Blending into the background and appearing invisible has always been my preferred mode. Yesterday, I bought a new pair of trousers to replace my only other pair of trousers.
I do have two other pairs of trousers but they are little used. One pair is part of a black suit, which I only keep because I am approaching the age where funerals will come thick and fast. The other pair are a swanky pair of tailor made linen trousers from my city days when money was no object.
Other than that sartorial profligacy, I own a lot of freebie t-shirts, and plenty of socks and underpants given as Christmas or birthday gifts. I have three jumpers for those odd days in the winter when I feel cold. Then there is a lonely leather jacket that gets little use other than to hide wads of cash when going to and from banks. I have one pair of shoes, one pair of off-road trainers, a pair of fishing waders and some Wellington boots for farming in.
I shall load my car with a single suitcase for my clothes and a supermarket bag for my footwear. A bow saw and chainsaw for processing firewood. My wood gas stove. Some kitchen utensils. A toolbox with some general tools. Then off to Spain! That will probably be in July. Just in time to get a full dose of Extremadura summertime. If I can take it then a year there will be no problem.
Another nail in the coffin for bio-fuels
It's bad enough that bio-fuel competes with food for farmland, resulting in higher food prices and sending millions below the breadline or worse, into starvation. Now we hear of US bio-fuel companies importing European bio-fuel, topping it up with their home-grown and subsidised fuel and selling it back to Europe for a profit.
It doesn't take a genius at mathematics to realise how much fuel is wasted to transport European bio-fuel on a round trip to our cars via the US.
Guardian - Demands for crackdown on biofuels scam
It doesn't take a genius at mathematics to realise how much fuel is wasted to transport European bio-fuel on a round trip to our cars via the US.
Guardian - Demands for crackdown on biofuels scam
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