The Peak Oil Crisis: Parsing 2014
Some 15 years ago when the current concept of peak oil was posited, it was all going to be simple. Somewhere in the early part of the 21st century oil production was going to reach a peak and...
Gila River Diversion Would Be a Costly Failure
As the December deadline approaches for New Mexico to decide whether or not it will proceed with a controversial diversion of the Gila River, a former director of the state’s Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) testified on April 30 to the ISC...
What to Do While Waiting (for the Crash)
http://www.ecoshock.info/2014/05/what-to-do-while-waiting-for-crash.html”>Radio Ecoshock There’s a movie "What to Do in Denver When You are Dead". Now we know this carbon-based civilization is dead-ending in bankruptcy and climate chaos. What are we supposed to do while we wait for collapse? It’s...
Supply or demand? Peak oil with Richard Heinberg and James Hamilton
For our interviews today, we look at peak oil theory with Richard Heinberg and James Hamilton. Heinberg argues that we have reached peak oil supply and that will have major economic consequences for our future prospects of economic growth....
An Innovative Conservation Fund for the Colorado River
The four largest cities that get their drinking water from the Colorado River are gearing up to pilot an innovative conservation scheme that pays farmers, industries and municipalities to reduce their use of the river’s water. The main aim...
What would a Transition hospital look like?
Our theme for May is ‘Transition and Health’. This month we’ll be looking at how public health professionals are already responding to challenges of climate change and resource depletion and at how a more Transition-inspired approach might help to deepen...
Locally Invested
The Extraenvironmentalist On Extraenvironmentalist #77 we talk about developing an investment paradigm for the future that’s rooted in local business and healthy food, first with Michael Shuman of Cutting Edge Capital and author of Local Dollars, Local Sense: How...
Wildfires in the Western U.S. Are on the Rise, Posing Threats to Drinking Water
When the Las Conchas Fire scorched some 151,000 acres of northern New Mexico in 2011, it wasn’t just the direct fire damage that was cause for worry. Striking as it did in the midst of a persistent drought, but just before...
The Energy Independence Illusion
Adapted and expanded from a presentation on “Energy Independence and Foreign Policy” to the World Affairs Council of Oregon, 3/28/14. BACKGROUND The roots of energy independence lie in the energy crises of the 1970s. US oil production peaked in...
Michael Shuman: “I would say that we are winning”
We last spoke to Michael Shuman just over three years ago. He is author of several books on local economic development, the most recent being Local Dollars, Local Sense. He is an attorney, an economist, and his current job...