CF / Deadly Pursuit of Extreme Oil
Raping the Planet: Strip mining at Fort McMurray. Greenpeace / Colin O'Connor
The end of easy oil is over. From now on, all the oil we use will be difficult to obtain. So, since renewable fuels are available to us, it follows that we should be working hard to get off fossil fuels. Instead we are cleaning up the mess that more oil has created and planning to get even more difficult-to-obtain oil. This is not just unnecessary — it’s dangerous and stupid.
This is a recording of a very interesting and timely presentation that puts our use of oil in perspective, by expert, author and Hampshire College professor Michael Klare. He talks about the follies and dangers of our unwavering pursuit of extreme energy and describes the geopolitics of the energy crisis.
Oil is now actually “extreme energy” and unconventional rather than normal, because we are now getting it out of shale, from under miles of ocean water, and from tar sands in Canada, for example. It’s become “extreme oil”. We have passed peak oil, so oil is no longer readily available except by these extreme measures of extraction that push the very edges of what is possible. And while they are pushing those edges, some of the very nastiest environmental degradation and pollution is taking place. As a result, the Gulf of Mexico may have a permanent “dead zone” far bigger than anything imagined in the past, and it may not be cleaned up for a century. Is this really what we want to do to our planet for a little bit of energy that we will burn tomorrow and then it’s gone forever? It’s time to say No to fossil fuels and move on to something that makes more sense. Pursuit of extreme oil is a terrible government strategy.
Michael Klare’s entire talk can be downloaded here. Watch, if you want to see the slides, from here.
Klare’s latest book is Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet.
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Climate Files 67/ Corporate Oil Terrorism
Gulf Stream Currents -- from NOAA
The Gulf Oil spill is nothing short of catastrophic. It will take months to clean up the oil and that’s only possible if the oil stops gushing from the 3 mile-deep oil well leaks! There is a lot of blame to go around — first of all BP and the operators of the oil rig who tried to save money and not install adequate safety equipment. Also blame the Bush administration and Dick Cheney and their anti-environmental energy policy. Finally, blame Halliburton because they did not install the safety checks that could have possibly prevented this horrendous leak. This is corporatist greed, forming our energy policy, taking what they want of our natural resources and leaving the environment decimated. It’s a form of terrorism. But even these entities are not the real culprit. The final blame should lie on the American people and our insatiable, endless taste for oil.
This episode of Climate Files contains some news on the spill, some background on past BP spills, an interview with one of the survivors of the oil rig explosion last month, and a clip of Mike Papantonio from the Mike Malloy radio show.
Skytruth is an activist blog that lobbies against offshore drilling. Their website is blog.skytruth.org
Just five months ago, SkyTruth’s President testified to Congress about the risks posed by offshore drilling. SkyTruth testified at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on November 19. You can read the entire testimony by John Amos here (pdf download). The general subject of the hearing was Federal stewardship of offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters.
If anyone has any doubt who is determining our energy policy, watch this video from the Energy and Natural Resources hearing last November 2009. It’s clear that the American people are not the people Congress is representing on energy policy. There was a similar blowout in Australia that was a bit smaller and still took 10 weeks to control.
Ring of Fire’s website is here.
Two additional ProPublica.com stories about further leaks and more chemical spills is here.
BP Ready to Pay “Legitimate” Oil Spill Claims, says their ‘generous’ CEO. “BP is ready to pay all legitimate claims tied to the oil spill caused by the accident at its Gulf of Mexico undersea well, Chief Executive Tony Hayward told National Public Radio on Monday.” This is after they tried to get away with limiting all claims to $5,000!
The interview with the oil rig worker is from Drillingahead.com, a site that is not environmentally aware or sympathetic.
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Climate Files 60 Special / The Gates Equation
This is a special edition of Climate Files of a highly anticipated talk by Bill Gates, who has come up with an equation you see in this graphic. He presented this at the latest TED conference during a short talk on February 12th. This was followed by a short Q&A at TED and on livestream.com. Gates says he’s happy to get Twitter questions, so visit his website and fire off some questions to him.
Gates discussed energy, his “equation”, and his goal in life at the TED conference — getting us to zero carbon by 2050. He feels this is doable in a variety of ways. (These are his ideas and are not necessarily endorsed by myself or by Climate Files, but they are interesting.) He is getting a large amount of criticism from some environmentalists for saying that we need an “energy miracle” and lots of tech development to solve the climate problem. As he defines “miracle”, I mostly agree with his ideas on climate change. (Read an article discussing this here.) He is promoting nuclear power and not just any nuclear power but specifically, a “traveling wave” type of nuclear power, which is being developed by a company called TerraPower.
Is Gates just another T. Boone Pickens trying to cash in? Nope, Gates actually does understand and believe in the importance of climate change and is really seeking zero carbon solutions, unlike Pickens.
If you are wondering what Gates is up to besides caring what happens to the atmosphere, you should know that he is personally investing his own money into these ideas. He is spending quite a bit of thought and some of his great wealth on thinking about not just seeds and malaria, but also zero-carbon energy. Check out another article from last Monday for more on what Gates is doing to promote zero carbon energy. “When we talk about zero climate emissions, we sound crazy. When Bill Gates does it, bankers pick up the phone,” from Alternet.
(This episode of Climate Files is sans commentary from yours truly because I’m on a working break, and the plan is that this podcast will still return to weekly or bi-monthly episodes at some point.)
Download this episode here — it’s a short one — or listen here or subscribe on the right. For an interesting graphic I found of Bill Gates after he left Microsoft, click on more. I wanted to include it for the cover art for the podcast but it needed the equation on it to make sense!
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Climate Files 55 / Drop the Nuke Bias
Being antinuclear is like a religion to many environmentalists. But solving climate change will be a compromise of what is possible and needed. We are not going to get a green utopian world to emerge and solve climate change with windmills. Even environmentalists want to be able to charge their cell phones and laptops. Should we throw it all away, or find out a realistic way to power it all once the coal plants are gone? We should be supporting nuclear plants over CCS any day. The last thing we want to do is spend billions locking in coal for another 50 years, something that could kill us all.
The Clean Air Act is under attack by Republicans with new legislation trying to block EPA again again. You can help save it by contacting your Reps. here.
Some news discussed in this episode includes information on and quotes from the books Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hansen and the Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. Hansen’s letter to Obama is here (PDF). The UK must raise its CO2 emissions target to a 42% cut, says a new report. Read why our endless consumerism needs to be replaced with sustainable living here. The story about Bell Labs greening the internet by 2015 is here. There is a lot more in this episode including an audio description of what a thorium reactor is and how it works.
Read another interview with Stewart Brand, whose interview is played in this episode, here at e360.
More info on thorium reactors:
- How a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) works
- Energy from Thorium blog
- Uranium is so Last Century
Contact CF using the contact form at the top or email CF at news @ climatefilesradio (dot) com
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Music at end: Nuclear Power Plant by Zen Eyes
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Climate Files 45 / Peak Oil and IEA Report
The new 2009 World Energy Report shows a decline in oil, but did the U.S. interfere in the final report to avoid a panic in the markets? The IEA denies the pressure.
Many experts think Saudi Arabia and other countries are inflating the numbers reflecting what oil they have left.
This was NaPodPoMo episode 11 of the November podcast marathon. (FN is now ending its involvement in NaPodPoMo.)
Many energy experts also think we have started peak oil already, and everything from here on is a decline. Worse, the US doesn’t want anyone else to know this, and has pressured the IEA to soften its language on peak oil and oil decline to prevent panic.
The November 10 IEA press release is here. Story about U.S. pressure on the IEA from The Guardian is here. The IEA has denied the claims that appeared in the Guardian from the anonymous whistleblowers. You can read what they said here.
The IEA book site is here, and here are the available downloads of the World Energy Report 2009.
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Climate Files 26 / The Ugliest Resource
Alberta Tar Sands
The tar sands of Canada are the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet so far and they are invested in by T. Boone Pickens. So — why is he a part of developing our new renewable clean energy plans?
Over the last several years Mr. Pickens has acquired a reputation as a green energy promoter, a man behind renewable energy, or at least clean energy. What I found out recently is quite the opposite. He actually invests in companies such as Massey Energy and Suncor, which is responsible for oil from the Alberta tar sands, the ugliest, dirtiest oil on the planet. He also invests in numerous oil and gas companies and is actively exploring for more oil. Does that sound like green renewable energy?
Neither does his natural gas, which adds to our greenhouse gas emissions, from the drilling process through burning it. Then there is the horrible tar sands in Canada, coming to us through various pipelines, including the Alberta Clipper pipeline. You can also read about the pipelines from the tar sands and still send a message to the State Dept. here.
This episode includes clips of Boone Pickens, and Al Gore from the National Clean Energy Summit, and from last year’s Netroots conference. Also clips from Current, a production of CBC, and Macdonald Stainsby, of Oil Sands Truth.
Here is a small graphic of the pipeline from the Tar Sands in Alberta.
Click here to download Climate Terrorism, the Tar Sands (pdf).
Here are a few more websites where you can read about the Canada tar sands.
- Tar Sands Podcast
- H2O Podcast / Earth First Podcast
- Oil Sands Truth
- Dirty Oil Sands
- Stop Tar Sands
Download this episode here or subscribe on the right. Spread the word about the tar sands, and the investment in the dirtiest fossil fuels, by T. Boone Pickens. Too many people think he really wants green energy to help the planet.
Music: We are All Made of Stars, by Moby and in the intro by Ed Alleyne-Johnson.
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Climate Files 14 / Nuclear Power Potential
This episode presents four scientists and environmentalists making the case for the use of nuclear power.
It’s believed by some people that environmentalists should be against nuclear power — I completely disagree. We are trying to find ways to solve and stop climate change, not fight the possibilities and the ideas for doing that. Nuclear power has improved a lot since the 1970′s, and it’s a strong source of nearly CO2-free power. Nuclear energy is not a political issue, it’s just a form of energy, and for the near future at least, a necessary one. There are many environmentalists who are for the development of new nuclear power, Generation IV or IFR — Integral Fast Reactors. This episode discusses nuclear power, why it may be necessary, why new power plants are safer, and why it might be a good source of heavy-duty power for many years to come.
Read chapter 4 on nuclear power from the new book Prescription for the Planet, — “Newclear Power” – by downloading it here. Author Tom Blees has generously decided to put this chapter (pg 117 — 139) on the web to allow a more rapid dissemination of the basic facts about IFR to everyone you know (family, friends, fellow environmentalists, politicians, the media) — so please do pass on the link: http://tinyurl.com/cwvn8n
Also visit the site for the book and download chapter 1. This notification came from a very good spot online for energy information: Brave New Climate.
More on the The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) project here.
Also interesting: George Monbiot does not reject nuclear power. Neither does climate scientist James Hansen, or UK scientist James Lovelock. Neither does Energy Secretary Steven Chu. If nuclear will be a necessary power source for the future, when can we start building them?
Nuclear Energy Must Power Our Future — an Intelligence Squared debate, and two viewpoints on nuclear energy are in this episode.
The graphic for this episode is from the COP15 logo. You can sign up and submit your thoughts to the UN’s “Climate Thoughts”. A very cool globe of thoughts from all over the world.
Music: Afro Celt Sound System “Dark Moon, High Tide”
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Climate Files 13 / Busta Myth
Busting the myths of the cost of changing energy and capping emissions. But is the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 cap and trade bill right for right now or is it a waste of time? I gaze into my cloudy crystal ball and find — the answer is not so clear. It’s tough to predict the future.
The cap and trade bill is rushing through Congress yet it provides huge giveaways for polluters and focuses an awful lot on coal funding and the myth of clean coal. Will carbon capture and sequestration ever work? Steven Chu is betting 2.4 billion that it will. Many scientists say it’s just not feasible. There is no such thing as clean coal!
Read about the new superfund lawyer here.
Disturbing news about the EPA approving 42 out of 48 permits for mountain top removal in Appalachia and their response, which is lame.
Two interviews are played in this episode; one with John Berger of Standard Renewable Energy, and the other with Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, during the Energy Efficiency Global Forum. You can find more news and interviews at E&ETV. You will also hear from Kevin Knoblach, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
There are a lot of myths about what is happening in the rest of the world — one myth is that the EU’s emissions trading is not working and it is (reportedly) working. And yes, China is doing a lot on climate change. China is in the process of greening up their country, and spending a lot on doing it too. Spending more than the U.S. in fact. China and India should not be used as an excuse for the U.S. to not act aggressively on climate change!
Various news stories on the climate bill that might be of interest. An analysis of the cap and trade bill from the Wall Street Journal article that I discussed is here: “Panel Adds Free Permits to CO2 Bill”
This cap and trade bill does not go far enough on emissions and it makes too many allowances, especially for coal. Why? The top 3-takers of coal money, are Democrats — Dingell, Boucher, & Hoyer. Follow the coal money.
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FN08 — Earth the Sequel
Highlights from the Discovery Channel’s presentation of Earth the Sequel, a “documentary” based on the book by Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn. I don’t agree with everything in this show, but it’s a good introduction to some real alternative energy sources that are being worked on and implemented today. Some of them are very good ideas. Others, not so much.
Biofuels are not something I think we should be pursuing unless we are burning waste, because often the biofuels come from sugar cane or waste planted on land where a forest or rainforest once stood. That works against fighting climate change, so it’s really not helping.
Cap and trade markets are discussed as though they would be a good thing, and they would not be a good thing, but they may be the only way Congress can sell emissions caps to the public. Pursuing renewable energy needs a boost for everyone because unfortunately, it has become a political issue. We have a uber-capitalistic culture and that thing itself is the cause of the climate change problem. Let’s see if we can restore some bravery in the U.S. Congress in the next two years. So far, their political will is very weak.
Otherwise it’s an interesting look, if a very capitalistic one, at where renewable energy is moving towards in the U.S. The book is better because it’s not so super-capitalistic and focuses more on climate change, but obviously this “documentary” is meant to sell these ideas to the public in general.
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