On Life After Oil

My grandpa did tell me about this. I still remember, we were at either a beach here in Costa Rica, or Granada, Nicaragua. We were having those brilliant philosophical discussions one usually has with one's grandparents. He said to me, plain and clear, and in these exact words: "I do think that humanity will run out of petrol during your lifetime" "But when will that happen?", I replied. I was incredibly scared. "Perhaps when you're 60 years old [i.e. around 2050]".

My ohpa was an incredibly smart guy, I knew that. But my admiration for him never ceases to increase. After watching this documentary called "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash"
( http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/ ), I can now see that he was entirely right. This a jaw-dropping, mind-opening film. It provides a wide arrange of opinions on the oil crash, a crash that will occur around 2030-2050. (And yes, even a Republican talks about the oil crash and how it will happen.) It says how the oil production peaked in the US a loooong time ago in the 1930s, and how the world's oil production peaked in 2005.

It is a marvellous documentary, and everyone, including you metal-heads, needs,and should, watch it.

Oil will be nothing more than a small epoch in humankind, that's for sure. But will humankind manage to live without it after it's gone?

The answer: No.

Why? Simply look at these facts:

Current world population: 6.4 billion people.
People in a world without oil? 2 billion (at the most).

The question is, which of those billion people will live?

For more information please visit this web-site, which is filled with all the relevant data you could ever imagine on oil and how it will change the way mankind lives:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Index.html

"Are We 'Running Out'? I Thought

There Was 40 Years of the Stuff Left"

Oil will not just "run out" because all oil production follows a bell curve. This is true whether we're talking about an individual field, a country, or on the planet as a whole.

Oil is increasingly plentiful on the upslope of the bell curve, increasingly scarce and expensive on the down slope. The peak of the curve coincides with the point at which the endowment of oil has been 50 percent depleted. Once the peak is passed, oil production begins to go down while cost begins to go up.

In practical and considerably oversimplified terms, this means that if 2005 was the year of global Peak Oil, worldwide oil production in the year 2030 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2030 will be both much larger (approximately twice) and much more industrialized (oil-dependent) than it was in 1980. Consequently, worldwide demand for oil will outpace worldwide production of oil by a significant margin. As a result, the price will skyrocket, oil dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.


PS: I installed a visitor counter, hopefully it'll go up, up, up!

Fisker Automotive

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates. I have been on vacations, so the schedule change disrupted my postings. Vacations have ended, so I should continue to update the blog on (at least) a weekly basis.

There is an interesting article in the issue of Wired of this month. It is about Fisker Automotive, a new company (founded by Henrik Fisker). This is a company everyone should pay attention to because they create hybrid models that are actually quite beautiful. Want to buy a nice car, but you do not want to pollute so much? Then think Fisker.

Here's the interview from Wired.com:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/06/ff_qa_fisker_karma/

And obviously do visit:

http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/

Advice of the week: Pay Your Bills Via the Net!

Pay Your Bills Via the Net

Ask your banks (etc.) to stop sending you paper bills (if they still do), and tell them to do so through e-mail. This will not only save the trees cut in order to make the paper, but that the fuel used in order to ship all the bills will be reduced. In some cases, the use of those horribly-polluting plastic bags will be reduced. And you won't have to go to the bank! (Which is quite an ordeal around here.)

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The Cove to be aired in 日本!

If you have not watched the Oscar-winning documentary called "The Cove", what are you waiting for? Full of suspense and adventure, this documentary is about the killing of dolphins in… you guessed, 日本 (Japan).

What is interesting is that, after much struggle, the film will be finally aired in Japan itself! This is historical, for the film directly attacks the country for the killing of dolphins and the media censorship in it.




Check their official web-page:

http://www.thecovemovie.com/

Source: The Cove in Japan

What I think is amusing is that the Japanese have a strange sense of "paranoia", in that they think that foreigners are trying to invade their country. I believe this is a trauma due to the A Bombs (something that should have never happened), passed from generation to generation and through history books. However, people (Nihon-jin) must understand that it is not to "invade" their country, but to save the few whales that are left (obviously Norway and Iceland have a lot to do with this issue too).


This is taken from the Save Japan Dolphins blog:

The Cove Opens Tomorrow, but the Extremists Are Not Giving Up

by Ric O’Barry
Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins
Earth Island Institute

Last week we had some important successes in Japan -- several theater owners came forward and committed to show The Cove movie despite threats from extreme nationalists, and we also won a key injunction in a Yokohama court against the group protesting the film – an almost unheard of injunction.

Unfortunately, the extremists are again ramping up, employing their worst tactics to date.

This week they moved to the Yokohama theater owner’s home, and when that didn’t work, they moved on to his mother’s home:



As you can see from the video, the woman is elderly. She has nothing to do with the distribution of the film. This harassment with loud speakers outside her home is intimidation of the lowest order.

We have repeatedly tried to engage our critics –- inviting them to participate in open forums, but they refused. Rather than discuss the issues they employ highly aggressive bullying tactics to shut down the film. I personally believe they are being paid to protest and don’t really have a point of view. I don’t even think they care about Taiji. Their only goal is to keep people from knowing the truth, no matter what it takes. As we know, corruption is endemic on this issue, with many people making money off trafficking in live dolphins for oceanariums and selling poisoned dolphin and whale meat on the open market with no health warnings to protect the people of Japan.

To this end it is clear the extreme nationalists - and whoever is funding them - aren’t giving up, and our Japanese distributor is small with a very limited budget. Earth Island has been helping with promotion and security, but much more will be needed if we want to expand beyond these six theaters. We have 17 theaters on hold right now that want to screen the film, but are fearful of the consequences.

Borknagar

Borknagar is a Norwegian band that started as a "a-tad better" normal Norsk Svart Metal band, with themes related to nature, wilderness, etc. It's interesting to note that the band is still, I believe, very underground. Which is certainly ironic, for a lot of the most famous people of the scene have been in the band. Krystoffer Rygg? (Ulver, Arcturus.) Check. Vortex? (Emo Burger.) Check. Vintersorg? (Vintersorg, Waterclime.) Check. Asgeir Mickelson? (Ihsahn.) Check. Ivar Bjørnson? (Enslaved.) Check. Infernus —Roger Tiegs—? (Gorgoroth.) Check!

So as you can see, most Norge "super-stars" have been in Borknagar. Because of this, I though it was mandatory to include some lyrics from this band that I love so much. Let's say I include…

Abrasion Tide

We're ensnared by the fate if persistence
As the forces of nature interact
To weather slope and mountain, close and by distance
Creating expanding ventifacts

Running water conducts the erosion
Leading grains of sand in the grind
Empowered by wind,time, and oceans
To wear down soil's rind

A tide that changes primary plains
Even principles positions
A flood that runs untimely through the elements and our veins
Shifting our focus and our definitions

New perspective from a vaster reflection
Thoughts flow like water from a hillock
That's repeatedly rinsed ,achieving friction
Releasing knowledge of the rock

An archaic course across the outer core
Seasons transform while remodelling the Solum
Above the altering scenery stars soar
Watching the drama like diffuse phantoms

The land is disintegrated by a power that was ice bound
At the same time fertilized
As our forefather's feet touched a ground
That nature constantly has revised

What I love about the lyrics, and Borknagar in general, is that they combine very poetic passages ("Above the altering scenery stars soar / Watching the drama like diffuse phantoms"), with, I guess what you would call, "scientific facts" ("The land is disintegrated by a power that was ice bound/At the same time fertilized /As our forefather's feet touched a ground/That nature constantly has revised").

Borknagar is a band which, like Dark Tranquillity, does not only have intense and admirable and magnificently-composed music, but also intelligent and thought-provoking lyrics. Hence, I recommend this band to everyone that likes to "think" and loves nature.

Want more Borknagar? Check their MySpace.

PS: I will post part of an interview I did to Øystein, for some reason I only have the translated version in Spanish.