A Year Without the Colorado River, as Seen by Economists
Imagine if each tap that delivered water from the Colorado River – whether to a farm, a factory, or a home – suddenly went dry for a year. What would happen to the West’s economy? That’s pretty much the...
Our Renewable Future
Or, What I’ve Learned in 12 Years Writing about Energy (7000 words, about 25 minutes reading time) See also Richard’s subsequent book, Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path for One Hundred Percent Clean Energy (Island Press, 2016). Folks who...
Economics of the Anthropocene
Post Carbon Fellow Joshua Farley was one of 45 leading scholars, authors and activists who convened at The Great Hall of Cooper Union, New York City, on October 25-26, 2014, for the public presentation: “Techno-Utopianism and the Fate of...
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
This article initially appeared on Nov 19, 2014 and was only available to Peak Prosperity’s enrolled users. Many of them thought it important enough that it should be made available to the general public, which we are now doing...
The Peak Oil Crisis (Dec. 31, 2014)
I know that it is getting harder all the time to believe that there really is a “peak oil crisis” lurking out there waiting to engulf our civilization and create all sorts of havoc. Nearly every day now oil...
Why should we even bother?
Let’s be honest, if you’re aware — at any meaningful level — of the full nature of the human (un)sustainability crisis, you’ve probably asked: Why bother? After all, the problems are so big and intractable–a climate march, Keystone XL...
Fracking Fracas: The Trouble with Optimistic Shale Gas Projections by the U.S. Department of Energy
On December 3, 2014, Nature published “Natural Gas: The Fracking Fallacy”, which suggested that the forecasts of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) for four major U.S. shale gas plays were wildly optimistic, based on a comparison to forecasts for...
With Water, Life Returns to the Colorado River Delta
Seeds of a riverbank willow wait to be released by the wind along the Colorado River. An experimental pulse of water during the spring of 2014 was designed to regenerate habitat in the Colorado Delta. Cheryl Zook/National Geographic Last...
Going nontoxic—and staying in business
By Chuck Collins, Polly Hoppin, originally published by Yes! Magazine In 1996, Guatemalan immigrant Myra Vargas and her Venezuelan husband Ernesto bought J&P Cleaners, a neighborhood dry cleaner in Boston. But something always smelled funny. “The chemicals we used—we...
The Oil Price Crash of 2014
Oil prices have fallen by half since late June. This is a significant development for the oil industry and for the global economy, though no one knows exactly how either the industry or the economy will respond in the...