About the International Energy Agency's 2008 "World Energy Outlook" report --
an authoritative report on oil depletion statistics -

Richard Heinberg -
"IEA: Everyone Gets to Be Right"

George Monbiot  -
"At Last, A Date"

Andy Rowell at the Oil Change blog -
"It’s Official: Oil Will Peak by 2020"

Two posts at the Post-Carbon Cities site -

"Hamilton, Ont. creates task force to study city's energy vulnerabilities"
"The City Council of Hamilton, Ontario approved $35,000 for the creation of a Community Energy Collaborative to explore the city's energy supply vulnerabilities. The task force will look at economic, social and environmental sustainability and urban planning"

"Hamilton, Ont. report and recommendation regarding Peak Oil study"
"This report and recommendation were submitted to the City Council of Hamilton, Ontario on November 18, 2008. It details the steps Hamilton has taken to date on the issue of peak oil, and recommends the creation of a volunteer peak oil task force based on the model of Portland, Oregon. The council approved funding for the task force on December 8, 2008."

(By Erland Howden)

---

From Mark Hertsgaard's article
"Our Polar Bears, Ourselves" -

"What's missing from most discussions about endangered species is that preserving other species is not an act of charity; it is essential to our own survival. 'Endangered species issues are usually seen as humans versus nature--we act in favor of one or the other--and that's just not the case,' says Aaron Bernstein, a fellow at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard and an editor (with Eric Chivian) of Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity. 'Polar bears hold tremendous value to medicine, for example," explains Bernstein. 'There is something about the metabolism of female polar bears that allows them to put on tremendous amounts of fat before winter but not become Type 2 diabetic. We don't understand how they do it yet, but this research is hugely important for the tens of millions of people who suffer from Type 2 diabetes.'

But human dependence on other species is even broader. 'We need [ants] to survive, but they don't need us at all,' notes naturalist E.O. Wilson in a quote Bernstein and Chivian include in Sustaining Life. Without ants (and countless other underground species that will never be the subject of impassioned environmental appeals) to ventilate the soil, the earth would rot, halting food production. Without trees and other elements of a healthy forest, water supplies would shrink. Take away coral reefs and you destroy the bottom of the marine food chain. Global warming is on track to make as much as one-quarter of all plant and animal species on earth extinct by 2040, threatening general ecosystem collapse. To study the natural world is to realize, in the words of the environmental axiom, that everything is connected. What we do to the polar bears, we do to ourselves."

---

I addressed similar issues and imagery in this post -
"Endangered species"

---

(Photo by Steven Lee)

---

I'm connecting these 'save humans' messages to global warming, more than other issues.

If you think this 'save the humans' message is too over-the-top, I challenge you to go through these posts -
- "More global warming"
- "While we consume fossil fuels …"
- "Global warming and other energy & carbon -related crises — as well as associated interests"

---

Another 'save humans' T-shirt design -

(Those t-shirts are sold from the "It's Getting Hot in Here" web site.)

---

'Save the humans' messages also are warranted in light of nuclear technologies --
to give another important example

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=641)

More polar bear protestors -

---

Those photos are from September, 2008; and there are more of them here.

There are videos and background information here.

An artist named Mark Jenkins was involved in this project
( -- and in another street scene that is part of this blog entry -
"Highlighting not-so-hidden homelessness")

---

---

As I've said before, I don't think it makes strategic sense to stress how global warming threatens polar bears and other arctic wildlife.

Even if we should care about those animals, how many of us ever will care (much)
about them?

And how many of us would act on those feelings?

I think it's clear that most people wouldn't do much for the sake of those animals;
so we should focus on other problems and opportunities as we confront global warming.

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=958)

 

Andy Rowell (in this post) -

"After years of growing fat on the back of profits building ever bigger cars, trucks and SUVs, the executives of Detroit’s 'Big Three' automakers – GM, Ford, and Chrysler – are expecting seriously lean times ahead. Some say they might not even survive.

[On November 6th,] with cap in hand they raveled to Washington to ask for financial aid from the federal government because of the bleak prospects for their industry. They asked for federal aid for up to $25 billion in loans, which is in addition to the $25 billion in low-interest loans to be available from the Energy Department to assist them in developing more fuel-efficient vehicles. That is $50 billion in total.

They met the [(supposedly)] Democratic big guns such as the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid. Afterwards, Pelosi issued a statement saying the group discussed 'how to protect hundreds of thousands of workers and retirees, safeguard the interests of American taxpayers, and use cutting-edge technology to transform blue-collar jobs to green-collar jobs for generations to come.'

But the industry has to take some blame for this: they have been busily building bigger cars and SUVs on which they make more money. Go to any car show and yes there would have been a couple of token green concept cars, but the main show was still built around sex, speed and power."

---

Saul Landau (in this article) -

" 'A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of [the U.S.] economy and the livelihood of the automobile work force,' wrote [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. (NY Times, November 8, 2008)"

"In the global warming age, to juxtapose the words 'automobile' and 'health' as they do in their letter seems incongruous."

---

Dan La Botz (in this article) -

"The Big Three [U.S. auto. company] boards and CEOs have shown us, over the last 30 years since the Chrysler bailout of 1979, that they are only capable of running these companies into the ground. They failed to respond to the challenge of producing fuel-efficient vehicles. They failed to respond to the environmental crisis that has now become global warming. They failed to produce a humane work environment for their employees. And when the industry went into crisis, they began to take away workers' health and pension benefits, to attack union contracts, and generally to take out their problems on the workers."

---

Julian Darley (in this post) -

"A contracting auto industry is likely to mean less cars on the road, less petroleum used, and less GHG emissions, all of which has been predicted and all of which will help the climate, the environment, and in theory could lead to a much better world for humans. The trouble is this contraction is happening amidst more or less blind ignorance" (generally speaking).

---

Joseph Romm (in this article) -

"When you bail someone out of jail, there is no guarantee [they] won't jump bail, and even less of a guarantee [they] won't ultimately end up back in jail anyway. And when you bail out water from a leaky boat, everyone still sinks until you plug all of the leaks."

"In the past quarter-century, G.M. has spent millions of dollars lobbying to stop [the U.S.] Congress from increasing fuel economy standards -- standards that might have forced them to build the kind of cars people actually want when oil prices are high. And despite the recent temporary drop in oil prices, there's little doubt we will be above $4 gasoline in a few years, headed for $6 and higher within the decade.

Also, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avert catastrophic climate change requires cutting automobile oil consumption." "Yet [U.S. auto. companies have] been waging a four-year legal battle against efforts by [the California government] and other states to regulate tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases.

In other words, [U.S. auto. companies have] not only been suicidally lobbying against [their] own inescapable future, but [they] has been lobbying against the future of all Americans who want to end our oil addiction, and against the future of all humans who want to preserve the health and well-being of our planet for future generations.

And for this they are to be rewarded with billions in taxpayer money?"

"The potential risks the bankruptcy of Detroit poses pale in comparison with the all-but-certain risks of continuing on our path of ever greater oil consumption and ever greater greenhouse gas emission."

---

Richard Littlemore (in this blog post) -

"The Detroit auto industry has spent the last decade lying to its audience and, apparently, to itself. People like GM's Bob (climate change is a 'total crock of shit') Lutz have told auto dealers and auto buyers across [North America] that oil would remain forever cheap, that climate change was an unproven theory of no concern, and that trucks and SUVs were the only safe conveyance for American families.

Ford backed think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which were busy misleading the public about the nature and danger of climate change. And having paid the think tanks to say stupid, self-serving things, the automakers apparently bought into their blather, making no plans for a world in which the F150 truck was [rejected as] a hugely and unnecessarily wasteful version of the personal automobile."

"Propping up businesses that have been incompetent and disingenuous - that have endangered themselves, their shareholders, their employees and the world environment; well, that seems like a fabulously bad idea."

---

P. Sainath (in this article) -

"It's unfair to call the US auto industry dinosaurs, as some now do. It's certainly unfair to the dinosaurs. The 'Terrible Lizards' did not lay the basis for their own extinction or that of myriad other species. The original dinosaurs (who scientists now tell us were neither all that terrible nor lizards), were great examples of success and adaptation, good enough to rule the planet for 150 million years. The US auto industry is the opposite. It's not just that the Terrible Metal Lizards opposed fuel efficiency standards. Of course, they did. They also promoted gas-guzzling SUVs as a lifestyle must. They cranked out cars many did not want to buy. They wielded heavy clout in Congress, and were able to sponge off [state] funds in the name of saving jobs as they have yet again. Having received $ 25 billion earlier, their hats are in their outstretched hands again."

"The Metal Dinosaurs of Detroit"'s "asteroid hit will impact on far more than the nearly quarter of a million workers directly stranded on their turf. There are also more than a million retirees and dependents in trouble."

"Meanwhile, the logic of 'too big to fail' keeps Big Auto and others of its ilk going. There is never any debate here of whether they should have been allowed to get as big as they did. President-elect Obama says he will aid the auto oligarchs who he calls 'the backbone of American manufacturing.' Sure, with that many jobs at stake, any government must worry about the consequences of letting them sink. No question about it. It's on the basis of that very fear that the Terrible Metal Lizards are able to bargain for handouts from [state] money."

"There is a good chance that more [state] money will be thrown at the auto giants, and that, without larger strategic shifts being imposed on them. Yet ... this does not mean an industry saved. They could be back soon with demands for still more. At which time, with things being even worse (quite likely) the pressure to save jobs by pouring in [state] money will be still greater. This is the United States. The money given out in the bailout so far has delighted the tuxedo dinosaurs -- CEOs and senior executives."

=====

Another post about the automobile industry -
"General Motors automobiles in Oshawa, Ontario"

Additional posts about automobiles -
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?tag=automobiles

=====

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=954)

This post is a response to hype about Obama as a supposed agent of 'change.'

(I've posted about that hope-hype here, here, here, and here.)

---

Marjorie Kelly and Paul Raskin -

"What is unfolding today is a systemic crisis, heralding the beginning of a large-scale shift at the deepest levels of [societal] organization."

"We need a new map of the world."

"Transitions announce themselves in the language of crisis. We are in a time of turbulence as old patterns give way and new ones form. The multiple crises today signal a system transformation operating at the scale of the planet."

---

Bill Vitek (who tends to focus on energy & carbon issues) -

"I see cracks and leaks growing, and ever faster. I see that the past half-century's ... blazing run on the carbon bank of coal, oil and natural gas, is sputtering out. But not before we clog our carbon sinks, particularly the atmosphere, triggering global climatic disruption that is already under way.

We want to see our current problems as part of the usual ups and downs of the business and climate cycles. But in the past three years oil [extraction] has remained steady while the price has doubled. Oil supplies will soon fail to keep up with ballooning world demand. Then the other fossil fuels will flare out too. But not before adding to atmospheric carbon dioxide already a third higher than pre-industrial levels and strongly tied to a long, abnormal rise in global temperatures.

I have come to this perspective reluctantly, but am now convinced: We are living in revolutionary times! We must change to a way of life as inconceivable to us as the invention of the modern factory or heart transplant would have seemed to a peasant or professor in medieval Europe."

" 'Well, change, yes,' you might say, 'but revolution? What about [new technologies] and efficiency? The environmental and sustainability movements? Isn't all that enough?' "

"Efficiency tweaks won't save us. Ever since England in the 1800s grew efficient with coal, only to use ever more of it, efficiency has led to higher consumption and more atmospheric carbon. Even if every car in the world were a hybrid, and every light bulb a compact fluorescent, growing demand would dwarf savings.

And though Toyota, General Electric and Wal-Mart tout their green efforts, their need to profit by increased consumption of their products is not questioned. This system can't fix the problems it has created or fit our emerging realization that Earth has limits, any more than King George could have encouraged independence-minded Colonials, or medieval scriptural authority could have embraced 17th century scientific discoveries.

Our challenge is to make a new Enlightenment, rejecting belief that we can master Earth and treat it as our unlimited supermarket, playground, laboratory and dumpster. Every human enterprise and standard needs reorientation to recognize the boundaries of our sun-powered planet.

We don't have to be violent about it. But we must be as single-minded and insistent as someone yelling 'Fire!' when there is, in fact, a fire." "That's prudent and morally required.

It's so much easier to hope for a miracle. But our best hope lies in embracing revolution."

---

Robert Jensen and Pat Younglbood -

"If being realistic has something to do with facing reality, then arguments for radical change are the most realistic. When problems are the predictable consequence of existing systems and no solutions are plausible within them, then arguing for continued capitulation to those systems isn't realistic. It's literally insane.

[Americans] live in a country that is, in fact, growing increasingly insane."

---

A couple of related posts -
- "We create the alternatives together"
- Industrial agriculture

As Stephanie McMillan notes in the cartoon in that "Industrial agriculture" blog post, "revolution" is just a word --
a word that can be imbued with conservative meanings --
much like anti-"war" messages.

Toban Black

Robert Jensen and Pat Younglbood -

"It's no longer helpful to speak about 'environmental issues,' as if we face discrete problems that have clear solutions. Without major changes to the way humans live, we face the collapse of the ecosystem's ability to sustain human life as we know it. Every basic indicator of the health of the ecosystem is cause for concern -- inadequate and dwindling supplies of clean water, chemical contamination in every part of the life cycle, continuing topsoil loss, toxic waste build-up, species loss and reduced biodiversity, and climate change."

---

Thomas Kostigen (who seems to be focusing on Americans) -

"There is more to being green than the fight to stop global warming. All of our [biosphere is] in peril because of what we do and what that does to our planet. Yet, to hear the battle cry of environmentalists these days you'd think there's only one war to be fought -- over our energy supply and its consequences.

We are facing a fresh water crisis. We are facing a food crisis. We are facing a crisis over deforestation. And we are facing crises in our oceans. While carbon emissions from fossil fuels pollute the air, so does a lot of other stuff."

"We must increase our freshwater supply by about 20 percent by the year 2025 to meet [projected] world demand, and 90 cities still dump sewage into the Great Lakes, which supply water to 10 percent of the US population."

The price of most food has doubled over the past year, forcing millions deeper into poverty and malnourishment. There is now six times as much plastic as zooplankton in parts of the Pacific Ocean, and 90 percent of the big fish on Earth have disappeared.

Meanwhile, we have an ever-increasing waste and electronic-waste burden on our hands. We each create twice as much trash per day as we did 40 years ago. The average size of our landfills has multiplied 25 times in that period as well. And our e-waste burden is so bad that we ship 80 percent of it overseas to countries with weak environmental standards. These countries in turn make products from our discards and ship them right back to us. (And we wonder how lead paint gets in toys.)

As well, up to 40 percent of global wood production is from illegal timber operations. Deforestation not only displaces people and endangers species, it is the second biggest cause of climate change. (It isn't only fossil fuels that cause global warming.)

To be sure, an alternative energy supply is needed and important. But let's not forget the importance of other environmental factors crucial to our health and well-being, not to mention the [biosphere]'s."

====

A couple of related posts -
- "Socio-environmental refugees"
- "Social and environmental problems and opportunities"

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=371)

(Photo by Abdulla Alfoudry)

====

Writing from Andy Rowell at his Oil Change blog -

---

"Climate Change Happening Faster, Stronger, Sooner"

( "Just as European leaders are faltering in their efforts to tackle climate change, a new survey of the science by WWF has found that the climate is changing much faster, stronger and sooner than even the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) forecast." ... )

---

On indications that people aren't very concerned about global warming
(in a post titled "Talk to the birds ...") -

"The uncomfortable truth for climate campaigners is that despite the increasing urgency of the issue, and despite the huge political and media coverage global warming has received over the last two years, the public is becoming LESS concerned about it. Let’s quickly look at Britain. In 2005, polling by the authoritative polling company MORI found that 44 per cent of the British were very concerned about climate change. In 2008, that figure had dropped to 30 per cent."

---

"World CO2 at Record Levels" (in May)

"The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures."

"The figures, published by NOAA confirm that CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected. From 1970 to 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year, but since 2000 the annual rise has leapt to an average 2.1ppm. Last year it was 2.14ppm.

Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tonnes of CO2 each year. Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s working group on impacts, said: 'Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse.'"

(That writing in Andy Rowell's "World CO2 at Record Levels" post all seems to be an exerpt from an article by David Adam in The Guardian.)

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=807)

An open pit coal mine
(Photo by Christopher Herwig)

---

Coal is Dirty -
"Debunking the myth of 'clean coal.'"

---

Other writing -

Patrick Barry in Science News -
"Carbon Capture and Storage Will Increase Pollution"

Stacy Feldman at SolveClimate.com -
"How Coal Is Not Cheap and Why It Never Will Be Again"
... "It’s hard to know where to start" ...

Kevin Grandia at The Huffington Post -
"Bees, Trees, Wind and Dynamite" (September 10th)
"There's a showdown in West Virginia ... pitting old dirty energy against [alternatives] -- and one side is armed with explosives." ...

---

(Photo by Stephen Strathdee)

---

Recent analysis from Richard Heinberg:
- New Coal Technologies (September 2nd)
- Coal and Climate (August 4th)
- Coal in China (June 27th)
- Coal in the United States (May 28th)

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=571)

That also applies to electric cars and air cars.

---

---

By Andy Singer

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=745)

USA Today - "More golf carts leaving greens" (July 21st)
[via Post-Carbon Cities ]

powering down blog - "my commuter cycle"
... "In this post I'd like to share my commuter cycle with readers - the bicycle I ride to work and back." ...

Lloyd Alter at the Treehugger blog -
"For bicylists, there is safety in numbers"
"The more bicyclists there are on the road, the lower the rate of accidents" ...

Michael Graham Richard at the Treehugger blog -
"D.C. bike-sharing program launches today, first in the USA" (August 13th)

Diamond-Cut Life blog - "How to save money on gas"
"The way we drive has a huge impact on our fuel consumption" ...

No Impact Man blog - "A bike races a car and wins"
... "Once a year, Transportation Alternatives, which advocates taking the New York City streets from the cars and giving them to the people, runs its commuter challenge--bike vs. car vs. transit." ...

A Youtube video -
Bicycle train to Amsterdam from Berlin

Lloyd Alter at the Treehugger blog -
"Slow freight joins the slow movement"
... Certain "wine sellers are keen to display the ‘Carried by sailing ship’ label on bottles" ...

---

A related post -
Versatile bicycle parts

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=739)

(A photo taken by "Idiolector")

---

Arrol Gellner on why we shouldn't take automobiles for granted -

"Cars in their present form are no more a permanent fixture of our built environment than were the oxcart, the chariot, or the horse and buggy. We happen to live in the historical apogee of the internal-combustion automobile, but even the smallest degree of historical perspective makes plain that it's merely a temporary visitor -- and an increasingly troublesome one -- on planet Earth."

"History has a way of casually demolishing institutions that seem impregnable, and the internal combustion automobile is surely one of these. Something better, simpler and kinder to the earth is no doubt on the way, assuming that we're smart enough to welcome it."

---

Here on the Relocalization Network, Shelby Tay has posted about how to "curb spending on gas and all the related costs of car ownership while still getting around."

(... "some examples of community activities that help us make the transition towards reducing and replacing the ol' automobile." ...)

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=728)

In downtown Oshawa, Ontario (in August)

With the exception of that last image, all of these photos were taken outside of a bus terminal. The first four murals are beside a busy road -- that is, a road which lot of car drivers use. If you look closely you'll see cars reflected in windows in those photos.

(On the map on Flickr, the photos were taken around here.)

---

These murals celebrate automobiles in general, and General Motors automobiles in particular. They're a form of advertising.

Did the city government pay to have them put up?

Regardless of where the money came from, I think the presence of these murals downtown is telling; it's an indication of how entrenched the automobile industry is in the city.

The headquarters of General Motors Canada is in Oshawa, where there is also a General Motors plant -- and various related business operations (including at least one automobile inspection company).

(Decades ago, there were two General Motors plants in Oshawa. However, over the past 20 years, one of these plants was sold off and then eventually shut down.)

Oshawa and Windsor (another city in Ontario -- near Detroit) are the main centres of automobile production in Canada. Oshawa sometimes has been called a "Motor City." (Was that the official slogan for the city at one time? I think it might have been) (Now the city is marketed with the slogan "Prepare to be amazed"!)

There's a car museum in Oshawa.

Here's some information about the history of the automobile industry in Oshawa -
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Canada
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaughlin_automobile
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_McLaughlin

The McLaughlin mansion is a major local tourist site. In Oshawa, the main library branch and one of the high schools also are called "McLaughlin"; the only local art gallery (in a city of almost 150,000 people) is "The Robert McLaughlin Gallery"; there is a "McLaughlin" armoury; and there now is a large "McLaughlin" cancer centre in Oshawa. However, in my experience, people there don't see those connections; it seems that they don't notice those links with General Motors.

I grew up in Oshawa, where I lived for over 20 years. Now I often criticize automobiles, while promoting alternative forms of transportation.
Here are some relevant blog posts - http://tobanblack.net/blog/?tag=transportation

---

A post about General Motors -
GM - ‘We need cars that are a little greener’

General Motors and Oshawa also were mentioned in this post -
Gas prices!

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=658)

 

A letter to the municipal goverment in London, Ontario
from the Post-Carbon London steering committee:
(regarding issues that you can learn more about here and — if you dig through recent posts at the following site — here).

--------

London Councillors and City Staff:

The proposed big box retail complex -- far from core areas of London, at 168 Meadowlily Road South -- would further increase our dependency on automobiles and fossil fuels, while leading to further destruction of local farmlands and carbon sinks. This proposal is completely unacceptable, given how it is increasing clear that global warming and fossil fuel depletion (including worldwide "peak oil") are realities that we must face. The sooner our city recognizes these facts and begins taking major steps toward embracing this reality, the better off we will be. While we proactively face fossil fuel depletion and global warming challenges, we also can confront smog, oil spills, and various other social and environmental problems associated with the consumption, distribution, and extraction of fossil fuels.

We must refuse to accept development projects that continue to contribute to global warming. A retail complex far from the core of the city is at odds with these important goals, as consumers will tend to reach such retail outlets in cars -- an inefficient mode of transportation.

In addition, the infrastructure required to support this new retail shopping plaza will be an enormous waste. Although proponents will say that these up front costs will be paid for with development fees and taxes, London will be on the hook for all the maintenance and surrounding upgrades required. In an energy constrained future, the cost of attempting to maintain this infrastructure will be an unnecessary burden on Londoners.

Moreover, we should be preserving precious local farmlands toward the outskirts of inhabited areas of the city -- with the Meadowlily woods, and surrounding carbon sinks. Yet, another heavily trafficked big box retail complex would be a magnet for further construction -- over what presently are important farmlands and carbon sinks that we still can preserve.

Important changes can happen at the local and community level. Our city hall should be a centre of proactive change to help residents to deal with looming energy constraints, while -- at the same time -- mitigating ongoing global warming. This means that our mode of business as usual needs to change; but London does not have to be anti-business to make these changes. Instead, we should support businesses which are suited to a lower carbon and lower energy future. We should not be making choices that clearly are a holdover from a past when we did not understand global warming and energy constraints.

Given the aforementioned grounds for grave concerns about this proposal, London city planners and councillors should stand firm by rejecting this submission, which promotes further steps away from sustainability. Approving this development proposal would be an enormous mistake.

Sincerely,
Post-Carbon London

-------

The Post-Carbon London steering committee co-wrote the above statement (and I don't mean to suggest otherwise by posting it on this blog).

Tonight I was the one from the group who presented a nearly identical version of this letter to the London municipal planning committee at a public participation meeting (which followed an earlier rally to oppose the big box retail development discussed in the above letter).

"I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can't drill our way out of our problem."

Sarah Palin (quoted in this article)
on the future of the United States

---

On oil consumption and dependencies in the United States (in particular) -

by Andy Wahl

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=699)

"WIN $50 IN FREE SHELL GAS EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT!."

A contest at a bar in London, Ontario. (I took the photo.)

---

Blood for oil

"The American Red Cross [ran] a summer contest where blood donors are eligible to win a year’s supply of fuel."
- Phoebe Chin at Upickreviews (in July)

"Blood banks recognize the rising prices of gas as an opportunity to pull in more donors and leveraging that in their marketing. 'Donate plasma for gas money,' is plastered across a banner outside Las Cruces Biological, in Las Cruces, N.M. [They're] not actually giving out gas, just money but they have been seeing sharp increases of donors since March and lab workers claim the new donors are not the typical drug addicts looking for some quick cash, they are regular Joes and Janes looking for some extra gas money… quick cash. 'Blood for Gas' is a strange appeal, but it appears to be working."
- Matt at greenUPGRADER (in July)

---

Sex for oil

"Some resourceful people have turned to bartering for gas, but generally speaking you have to have some kind of skill to offer in exchange. This didn’t stop Angela Eversole who traded sex for a $100 gas card." " Unfortunately rather than getting a full tank she got a prostitution rap.

This is the second 'Sex for Gas' incident in just a few months." ...

- Matt at greenUPGRADER (in July)

---

Praying for oil

Jenny (in August) on the "Praying at the Pump" movement

---

An oil-fuelled missionary drive

"At St. Ann’s Parish in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, $50 gas cards are given out in [draw competitions] at Sunday masses"
- Phoebe Chin at Upickreviews (in July)

---

"The Prize" -- the title of this post -- is a reference to the book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, which a video series with the same titled also was based on.

In the context of this post, that title ("The Prize") is meant to be a joke about the ways that oil is pursued in the cases mentioned above.

(As for the book and the videos with that title, I found the latter worthwhile, but I haven't read the book. People have suggested to me that the author recently has been speaking on behalf of oil industry interests, but I couldn't begin to confirm or question those claims.)

====

A post about more constructive approaches to rising oil and gasoline costs -
"Reducing oil prices"

Giving blood for oil or sex for oil, on the other hand, entails an extremely shallow and present-minded perspective. Those approaches barely scratch the surface of rising gas prices as symptoms of much wider problems.

---

A previous post in which I joked about oil depletion issues -
"Lightening the loss of crude"

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=409)

 

[via The Global Sociology Blog]

This video is an excellent overview, but it isn't flawless, and it doesn't cover everything. For instance, it's oversimplistic -- to say the least -- when the creator(s) suggest that there are only two future scenarios for us to choose between.

For a much more comprehensive overview of where we might end up in the future, see Heinberg's book PowerDown. (I highly recommend that book -- and others that Heinberg has written in recent years -- but I don't mean to suggest that all of the answers can be found there, or in any other set of books or videos for that matter.)

---

Related writing from Richard Heinberg -
"The Dress Rehearsal Is Over"

"As oil crosses $100 on its way south, not even a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and a statement from OPEC that the cartel will cut production by over 500,000 barrels per day seems capable of halting the bloodletting"...

... "Wasn’t the price of oil supposed to rise endlessly? Wasn’t the world supposed to end by now? What happened? What does it all mean?" ...

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=638)

 

A speech that I read at a September 6th rally against Wal-Mart. (I since have touched it up a little).

-----

Hello everyone.
I’m Toban. I’m an organizer in Post-Carbon London, and I’m a Phd student (which I only say so that you might take me a little more seriously).

There are many important grounds to “roll” “back” Wal-Mart and other companies like Wal-Mart (because of unacceptable and even outrageous exploitation of workers, and many other problems), but today I’ll be raising issues surrounding fossil fuel consumption that we focus on in Post-Carbon London.

Basically, we promote alternatives to fossil fuel usage and dependencies --
through alternative energy sources (such as solar power), through improved energy efficiencies (in home appliances, in some cases), and -- most importantly -- through changes to our way of life. Rejecting big box stores and big box shopping is one way to challenge the fossil fuel consumption in our lives today.

Above all, Post-Carbon London raises fossil fuel issues in response to global warming and oil & gas depletion (including world “peak oil”); this oil peak -- this present or soon-to-come challenge of worldwide peak oil -- will entail skyrocketing gasoline and natural gas prices, and many other related problems (including rising electricity costs, and increasing poverty). Given smog, given ongoing oil spills, and given the incredibly unjust distribution of fossil fuel profits in and around state and commercial enterprises -- as well as numerous other grounds for concern about fossil fuel consumption -- we must cut our ties to these carbon fuels.

Yet, Wal-Mart and companies like Wal-Mart have been driving up the fossil fuel consumption in various ways as their operations have been expanding.

Wal-Mart is a leading importer of overseas products. Over two-thirds of Wal-Mart’s inventory is imported from China -- where factories are fuelled by coal (and dirtier coal at that) -- far more than other energy sources. These products then are shipped to Canada and other countries in oil-fuelled vehicles.

Yet, all of these fossil fuels are burned to sell poor quality ‘goods’ which are considered to be relatively disposable. When these items are replaced, more fossil fuels are burned up, and further pollution is spewed out.

And shoppers usually reach stores like Wal-Mart by car (or van, or truck) -- because these stores are on the outskirts of cities (and other areas where people live), and because of the one-stop-shopping at these stores (where customers buy clothing, appliances, and a wide range of other items during separate trips). Buses and other alternatives to cars also are inadequate and otherwise discouraged. In Post-Carbon London we aren’t completely opposed to cars (or vans, or trucks), but we do object to fossil fuelled automobiles -- that is, the gasoline-fuelled vehicles that generally are driven today. (We also object to electric cars, air cars, and hydrogen cars, in a society that is a long, long, long way from generating adequate electricity, air, or hydrogen for car drivers without significantly relying on coal and other fossil fuels –- which we may prove to be necessary to fuel so many vehicles.) The cars on the road also are not as efficient as they could be, and drivers usually are very wasteful (as cars are driven with one or two people in them, for instance).

Given various forms of fossil fuel consumption behind companies like Wal-Mart, these big box stores are driving us toward more rapid global warming, and toward even more rapid depletion of the more affordable and accessible oil & gas supplies.

In these and other ways, Wal-Mart has been leading a lowering of standards. But we shouldn’t settle “for less” -- which is what Wal-Mart is selling.

So let’s take a stand. Let’s “roll” “back” and “roll” away Wal-Mart and other big box stores.

---

(At the White Oaks mall Wal-Mart in London, Ontario)

---

From this page you can reach a poem and two more speeches that were read at the rally -
http://londonontario.indymedia.org/?q=node/684

---

I'm planning to post a longer version of the above writing.

---

Here are two other relevant rally speeches I've written and presented over the past year -
- "Social and environmental problems and opportunities"
- "Imperialism and fossil fuels"

The "Social and environmental"... speech was on behalf of Post-Carbon London, but the other one was not; and I brought a lot of my own personal perspective to the "Social and environmental"... speech.

(Believe it or not, I'm still planning to post an extended version of the "Imperialism"... piece.)

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=594)

 

At a September 6th rally against Wal-Mart -

---

On Facebook, Teresa T. also has posted other rally photos.

If you have a Facebook account, you can get to one of those photos here -
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4199102&o=a...

From there, clicking "next" (at the top-right of the picture) will take you to Teresa's other rally photos.

---

Note:
London, Ontario is often called "the Forest City" -- a name that some consider to be very inappropriate

---

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=586)

 

See no evil; Hear no evil; Speak no evil

Protestors questioning the mainstream Albertan approach to tar sands 'development'

---

A blog post at Oil Change - "Welcome to Mordor"

"Oil Change’s Kenny Bruno has just visited the region as part of a delegation of environmental groups. Here is his first dispatch, which is the first of three posts from Kenny..

Kenny writes: 'As we approached the tar sands area in a small plane coming from the First Nation community of Fort Chipewyan in Northern Alberta, an experienced visitor tried to scare me: 'You Are Entering Mordor.'

For those unfamiliar with the Dark Lord Sauron’s dwelling place in The Lord of the Rings series, imagine the landscape He Who Shall Not Be Named might choose if he could vanquish Harry Potter and retire to Brobdingnag. Or just think of Hell.

'There are a lot of polluted places on this planet, but the nightmare vision presented by Athabasca tar sands is unique, because the area is a complex of three types of polluting facilities, all on colossal scale.'

There are the monstrous open pit mines, where the 'overburden' (aka forest, plants and soil) has been removed to get at the bitumen underneath. Nearby are the 'upgrader' plants, which look and smell similar to giant refineries you see in New Jersey, Louisiana, and Texas, though the material they process is much thicker. Finally, the 'tailings ponds' which might be better thought of as Tailings Seas, since they are veritable oceans of toxic glop.

All in all, the tar sands cover an area the size of Florida, which is therefore the area proposed for sacrifice by the Alberta government and the oil companies investing $100 billion in the 'dirtiest project on earth.'"

---

"Mordor" in a Google images search -
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=mordor...

(As for the above reference to hell in the Harry Potter series, that meant next to nothing to me. I assume that it will resonate with others out there though.)

---

Kenny Bruno's follow-up posts about the Albertan tar sands -

“I Wouldn’t Dare Do That Now”
This post is mainly about what Kenny learned from Steve Courtoreille, a Cree councillor

The “You’ve Got To Be Kidding” Department
Some of the post is about public relations greenwash

---

At Joanne's Marginal Notes there are responses to the
'See no evil; Hear no evil; Speak no evil'
photo at the top of this post

(I left comments on the post at Marginal Notes, but I doubt you'll find them to be worth reading.)

---

Portions of the documentary The Refugees of the Blue Planet (which I highly recommend) address poisonous sour gas 'development' in Alberta. These fossil fuels are a form of natural gas that some describe as gas from hell.

The Refugees of the Blue Planet was brought up in this previous blog post -
Socio-environmental refugees --
almost all of which was lifted from Joanne's blog

---

Another relevant post at my main blog -
U.S. protestors; Canadian oil and tar sands?

---

Toban Black
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=526

(Digitally edited image)

The logo for Bike Salute .com is on that sign. That web site has a collection of photos of people "salute"ing by holding bikes in the air in that way.

---

Here are similar photos that I've come across -

I've posted that last one here already.

The photographer -- Grant Neufeld -- has posted more bike lift photos here -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grantneufeld/tags/bikelift/

---

"70,000 wheels in the air: Bikelifting after the Hungarian Critical Mass, Budapest, September 22, 2007."
(From the Wikipedia critical mass page) -

---

This image may be from the same critical mass bike rally -

I don't know how I came across that photo, and I haven't managed to find any text about it, but that image may have been in a September, 2007 issue of Time magazine.

---

Toban Black
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=406

Selections from a set of photos of stencils about bicycling -

Those photos were taken by Martin Reis.

Janet lives in Toronto.

---

There are more of Janet's stencils at these Flickr pages -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/janetbikegirl/

---

Here's another one -

---

Toban Black
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=466

(Click to enlarge)

---

I haven't seen this, but I'd like to.

Here's the beginning of the synopsis -
"a documentary ... looking at how cyclists are building critical mass in Vancouver, Canada, and changing the face of the city. It is the story of how a social movement grows and the people behind it."

And here's the trailer -
http://www.youneverbikealone.com/trailer

---

A couple of photos from the image galleries -

---

The Wikipedia page on critical mass bike rallies -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass

---

A related post at my blog -
Driving in isolation, in big machines, and on a lot of pavement

---

Toban Black
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=439