Peak Oil & Related Topics

This is a visionary book for applying permaculture principles to help the world develop sustainable practices and more. By “going beyond sustainability,” it looks at ways to restore the Earth while providing commerce, shelter, and sustenance for humankind. There has been plenty of environmental degradation over the past century, and Holgrem proposes changing the way the world works so we do more than just tread water, but actually start healing the planet and reversing the damage that we’ve done. Holmgren, along with Bill Mollison, are the co-originators of the concept and principles of permaculture. This is not a “how to grow a permaculture garden in your backyard” kind of book. For that, you should look to the references in Chapter 6.

Many public policy makers have banked the future of clean, low carbon emission (as compared to coal) electrical power generation on the use of natural gas. What Julian Darley points out is that natural gas production in the United States peaked in the 1970’s, just a few years behind the peak in U.S. oil production, and globally will peak a only a decade or so behind the peak in the world’s oil production. High Noon for Natural Gas is about far more than just the impending peak in global natural gas production, it is also about the peak in fossil fuels in general and the geopolitics of the energy business. This is an excellent complement to the Heinberg and Kunstler books, and will fill in some of the gaps in those publications. Highly recommended!

Amory Lovins, physicist, ecologist, technical innovator and founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, has coauthored a clear practical blueprint for weaning America from our oil addiction while jump starting the economy and regaining our position as the world’s leader in sustainable technology and innovation. The Rocky Mountain Institute has been hired by numerous governments and large corporations, including Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense, to study their systems and make recommendations for improving materials, process and energy efficiencies. If you are a person who is technically oriented and likes details, facts and figures, then this is the book for you. Lovins, who invented the term “negawatts” and has been a pioneer in the sustainability movement, clearly shows us that we can thrive while beating peak oil if we would just do the right things on a national and global scale. Highly recommended!

The Party’s Over, and Kunstler’s The Long Emergency, are still my two favorite comprehensive introductions to the topic of Peak Oil. Of these two books, The Party’s Over is a bit more rigorous and scholarly in its orientation (more details, graphs and figures) whereas The Long Emergency is a bit more sharp and witty in its writing style. Both books are very readable, very educational, and make an excellent start point for learning about Peak Oil and its ramifications both for our immediate and our long-term future. Highly recommended!

Since we have now officially passed the peak on global oil production, we will soon be dealing with the geopolitical and economic consequences of having a world economy that is fueled by oil, when there is not enough oil to meet the demands of this economy. The world’s leaders may choose to proactively, and peacefully, manage the transition to a new reduced oil economy, or we will slide into oil wars, anarchy, and survival of the meanest. Richard’s simple plan, based on work by Collin Campbell (one of the world’s leading petroleum industry consultants), is a blue print for how the world’s governments can work together to peacefully manage this period of massive change and challenge.

Concerned about food and how a world economy fueled by oil will continue to feed more than 6.5 billion people when the oil squeeze comes? I suggest you read this book. Pfeiffer, a geologist and science journalist who has been intimately involved with peak oil issues for more than ten years, provides profound insight with his analysis of how the impending peak in oil production will affect global food production. He goes into the details of how the different choices that Cuba and North Korea made, while dealing with the nearly instantaneous loss of their oil supplies when the Soviet Union broke up, radically affected the quality of life for their citizens. In the case of North Korea, their economy was shattered and millions of people died of starvation and disease. In the case of Cuba, people lost weight and made do with less, but a shift to sustainable agriculture and natural healing averted catastrophe. Cuba provides us with a glimpse of a possible future that avoids violent collapse, and provides a reasonable quality of life, in spite of having to live while consuming less energy and buying less stuff.

The Party’s Over, and Kunstler’s The Long Emergency, are still my two favorite comprehensive introductions to the topic of Peak Oil. This book is a wake up call for America to snap out of our business-as-usual mode and realize that if we do not quickly change the energy base of our economy, and our way of doing business in general, then the same oil based economy that fueled America’s rise to its position as the greatest super power on the planet will also be our downfall. I personally believe that a more positive future than Kunstler predicts is within our grasp, but only if we wake up and rapidly implement a new “Plan B” similar to the way we used the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and Japan after WWII. Highly recommended!