The life-expectancy of Industrial Civilization is horridly short according to Richard C. Duncan and his Olduvai theory. Like all of these weird theories it can be found on the outer fringes of the Internet. Duncan's theory kind of tracks the Hubbert Curve model of petroleum depletion that has been posted before on this site. As Isaac Asimov has stated "Indeed, the ability to control energy, whether it be making wood fires or building power plants, is a prerequisite for civilization." Only time will tell if Duncan was on to something we should have paid attention to.
posted by thedailygrowl
on Dec 22, 2002 -
20 comments
Photos and more
photos from the Nautile’s firsts dives to the
Prestige wreck, a single-hulled tanker that broke in two while it was towed to open sea after the discovery of a breach in its hull.
It has been an ecologic and economic disaster for Galicia, Spanish’ northwest coastal region famous for its seafood. But it also has been a political scandal for the PP (Partido Popular), in the government both in Galicia’s autonomic parliament and in the central government, because of its late response and efforts to hide the catastrophe manipulating the public broadcast system (and the friendly private networks). Too little, too late,
Jose Maria Aznar.
While politicians throw shit to each other, a quarter of the 20.5 million gallons of fuel oil already spilled are now spreading through the coastline covering everything with what locals call “chapapote”, a sticky mix of sea water, fuel oil and sand. The Prestige sits now at 3.500 meters of depth, slowly leaking fuel oil to the surface. The Nautile, one of the few mini submarine that has been used to record and take pictures from the
Titanic wreck, it’s being hired by the Spanish government to
asses the situation (Spanish language link) and try to stop the leakage.
Popular action in the form of a white tide of volunteers has been phenomenal, forcing the government to act and assume responsibilities. But the issue at hand is much larger:
will the European Union effectively ban single-hulled tankers? Why the rules that govern the seas permit flag of convenience ships that can elude so easily its responsibility?See more
images (slideshow).
posted by samelborp
on Dec 19, 2002 -
12 comments
Is it all about oil? Daniel Yergin (
The Prize) discusses Iraq's oil after Saddam. I found it highly informative and somewhat surprising. He emphasizes the small role that Iraq will play in the oil market. By the time production ramps up in five years, Iraq will still be a second tier producer, grouped with Norway and Mexico. Not exactly the petro bonanza some predict. There are more predictions by this veteran oil-watcher.
posted by ednopantz
on Dec 8, 2002 -
63 comments
Is it all about oil? Iraq war protesters insist a war wil be about oil. Others say no. Here the writer argues that it is both--it is not all about oil but we will control the oil should we take control.
posted by Postroad
on Oct 16, 2002 -
51 comments
Yemen, France Probe Tanker Blast Although Yemen claims the oil spill to be an accident, French autorities and others (DEBKA) believe this may be part of terror network acting up in oil route, driving up prices and fears.
posted by Postroad
on Oct 7, 2002 -
13 comments
This may not make as effective a sales pitch as "weapons of mass destruction," but with two oil men in office, it can't be ignored as a possible ulterior motive to war in Iraq. Am I a cynic or should we be asking if this "preemptive" war is really about what they are saying it's about?
posted by karlcleveland
on Sep 23, 2002 -
7 comments
War Could Unshackle Oil in Iraq ..
All five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- have international oil companies with major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad. Okay, everybody say it with me now...
It's about the OIL!
posted by bas67
on Sep 14, 2002 -
38 comments
Canadian Prime Minister surprises with pledge to put Kyoto accord to Parliament. Until now, with resistance from the oil-rich western provinces, Canada has been luke-warm on Kyoto. PM Jean Chretien surprised all of us (a pleasant surprise, for many) by making the announcement today at the Summit in South Africa. The PM recently announced that he'll be leaving office in 18 months - leaving him with a lot of power and little accountability - possibly working on his own legacy rather than for the good of his country. So far so good.
posted by stevengarrity
on Sep 2, 2002 -
15 comments
"The myth of oil prosperity runs wide and deep". "Petroleum-led development strategies have delivered nation after nation into a spiral of debt and dependency. And yet, governments, corporations, and international financial institutions continue to reinvest in the growing, global oil economy". Consider
Nigeria, the point of focus of attention of environmentalists, human rights activists and fair trade advocates around the world. With its
annual debt service obligation at over $4 bn, more than a third of its export income, Nigeria has in recent years pegged its annual budget allocation for actual debt servicing at $2 bn. Lower export earnings forced it to cut this to $1.5 bn in the 1999 budget. Who's to blame? Theftocracies, the IMF, World Bank, oil companies, foreign governments? Since it is clear that debt restructuring harms more than helps, will there be more
debt relief, and finally, who ends up paying the banks when loans are written off?
posted by Mack Twain
on Aug 13, 2002 -
6 comments
Back from a vigorous and exhausting vacation of petty but life sustaining activities, I find
this overview of our larger reality, without the noisy claptrap of narrowly self serving ideologies, yet worrisome enough to shake the world's boat I'm travelling in with some comfort and some reasonable concern spiced with anxiety. (NYT)
posted by semmi
on Jul 31, 2002 -
5 comments
The best even-handed treatment I've seen of the ANWR controversy appeared in the May 13th issue of
Sports Illustrated (Sorry, no link to the article, but my summary and other helpful links inside).
posted by Sean Meade
on May 14, 2002 -
11 comments
Revelations regarding Venezualen Coup Greg Palast, who's been at the front of this story ever since predicting it, gives enlightening details behind the events of Apil. It barely had anything to do with the protests and riots - Chavez was tipped off by an OPEC minister days before the coup was launched. He hid loyal soldiers in the Presidential palace and once Carmona was installed he became as much a hostage as Chavez. Chavez also says he has photos, videos and the names of American officers who entered the coup plotters' headquarters.
posted by raaka
on May 13, 2002 -
30 comments
Saddam's oil scam ....and other tidbits of interest about Iraq versus US. oops. I almost said "and the world," but the world seems indifferent or annoyed at the American threat to Iraq.
posted by Postroad
on May 9, 2002 -
24 comments
The Saudis are about to deliver an ultimatum to Bush In a bleak assessment, he [Prince Abdullah] said there was talk within the Saudi royal family and in Arab capitals of using the "oil weapon" against the United States, and demanding that the United States leave strategic military bases in the region. Such measures, he said, would be a "strategic debacle for the United States." How should Bush respond?
posted by Rastafari
on Apr 25, 2002 -
58 comments
Oil makes the world go round. The Senate yesterday defeated an effort to increase fuel efficiency standards for cars, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks by 50 percent over 13 years, voting instead for a measure backed by the auto industry.
posted by semmi
on Mar 14, 2002 -
39 comments
Oil pipeline? What oil pipeline? It appears we have been snookered. We fought this war for Unocal, and now they don't want the place! (Or perhaps the motivations for current events are more complex than convenient slogans -- or less complex than elaborate conspiracy theories.)
posted by dhartung
on Jan 15, 2002 -
28 comments
Taliban Defeat Revives Talk of Trans-Afghan Oil Pipeline. What are the real objectives of the war in Afghanistan? Could they include a
Trans-Afghan Oil Pipeline? The new U.S. envoy to Kabul (and broker of the new Afghan government accord),
Zalmay Khalilzad, was a former consultant to
Unocal (and liaison to the Taliban, among others) when they wanted to build a pipeline through Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Could the U.S. be taming wild territory for the construction of "the new Silk Road," as the multi-billion-dollar pipeline is allegedly called?
posted by busbyism
on Dec 22, 2001 -
11 comments
Covering for our "oil buddies" It seems there were some choice statements about Saudi support for Osama's terrorism that were removed from last week's "party tape". Wouldn't want to mess with Bush/Cheney's oil pals, now would we?
posted by owillis
on Dec 20, 2001 -
27 comments
According to this editorial, the Russians have outmaneuvered the US oil interests by encouraging the Northern Alliance to take Kabul. "The alliance is now Afghanistan's dominant force and, heedless of multi-party
political talks in Germany going on this week, styles itself as the new "lawful"
government, a claim fully backed by Moscow."
posted by electro
on Nov 28, 2001 -
14 comments
Why am I and
a few others the only ones interested in this angle of the war story. I have been doing
research about our
disappearing VP and have
found lots
more than I can link
here. No implied conspiracy theory, just more of those things that make you say Hmmmm.
See if you can connect the dots!
posted by bas67
on Oct 15, 2001 -
27 comments
Do internal memos reveal oil refineries engaged in price-fixing? From Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points memo; links to a Paul Krugman NYT op-ed, but far more intriguingly to Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-OR)
webpage, where on June 14th he released his report on alleged price fixing by varied oil refineries based on internal memos and documents of these companies. These types of allegations have been made before, but there is some rather damning language from those internal memos...
posted by hincandenza
on Jun 28, 2001 -
4 comments
Exxon "helped torture in Indonesia." The Aceh uprising brings up the point--how far do we allow multi-nationals to go to "protect their interests"? Would you sanction torture to keep the price of gas and other petroleum products low?
posted by aflakete
on Jun 22, 2001 -
10 comments
Taliban say they underminded the US economy by halting opium production. ``It's known in select circles.. that opium is more influential than oil in terms of its economic role in America in particular and the West as a whole,''
posted by stbalbach
on Jun 16, 2001 -
7 comments
Grand Old Petroleum. GOP. Get it? The DNC really cracks me up sometimes. This is, however, an interesting development in politics. Is every issue going to have its own clever webpage in the future? The mind boggles.
posted by CRS
on May 17, 2001 -
17 comments
"You don't have to burn books now," says Thomas. "You just press the delete key." Two unabashedly
partisan reports of the Bush administration's clandestine campaign to "tighten up" anything from online government sources dealing with the development of Alaskan mineral resources.
We've done the debate on Alaska, but what about the ability to amend online records? The old administration's sites are meant to be preserved by law, but plenty appears to have been deleted in the name of "polishing":
"We changed value-laden words like 'destroy' to 'impact.'"
Newspeak in action? Should government-run sites be required to carry a Changelog?
posted by holgate
on Apr 14, 2001 -
7 comments
Bush's bumbling last press conference You'll have to scroll down, but when asked by "Major" (I don't know who he reports for) what the president's thoughts were on the division within Bush's own party about oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bush rambled around with his typical ignorance and "just-so" explanations. Also head on over to
Cspan and watch it for yourself (The portion starts about 16:50). Thing that got me was his skirting of actually calling it The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, instead choosing numerous times to call it the benign and popularly meaningless "ANWR".
posted by crasspastor
on Mar 30, 2001 -
25 comments
