The global economic slump that has curbed energy demand and pushed oil prices down in recent months may provide only a short-lived respite for consumers, according to the world’s top energy forecaster.

The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized nations on energy policy, warned on Thursday that the supply shortfalls that pushed oil prices into triple-digit territory this year are far from resolved, and could lead to a new period of high prices. Read the complete Post.

Planning for climate change and rising ocean levels.

The Maldives, a tenuous chain of 1,200 islets southwest of Sri Lanka best known for its spectacular reef-rimmed lagoons, is considered one of the world’s most vulnerable countries in the face of rising sea levels in a warming world. I have a short article in today’s paper on how the Maldives, under its first democratically elected president, will establish what amounts to a global warming relocation fund using revenue from tourism. The idea would be to buy land elsewhere as a new home for the country’s 400,000 citizens should the worst-case scenarios play out.

Some of the atolls in the Maldives. (Credit: NASA/ GSFC
/METI /ERSDAC /JAROS)

For the moment, it relies on sea walls, built with money from Japan, to protect its one-square-mile capital, Malé, which constitutes the world’s most densely populated island. Population growth — taking the Maldives from 200,000 to nearly 400,000 people in just 20 years — is make the real estate problem worse.

The Maldive islanders’ long-term investment in a relocation fund seems smart given the nature of the climate problem. While the near-term rate of sea-level rise remains uncertain, the long-term picture of rising seas in a warming world is crystal clear. The plan reminds me of Abu Dhabi’s investment in a center for energy research — the cornerstone of a nonpolluting car-free “city” in the desert — as a means of building its post-oil economy, even as oil still flows from the ground.

It still seems rare for human societies to invest for the long term, plan for the worst case while hoping for the best, and favor resiliency over last-minute response (any relationship to the financial collapse here?).

NY Times Nov. 11, 2008

The November Meetup is now going on a field trip to:

TAR SANDS: THE DARK SIDE OF THE BOOM
BC Wide Speaking Tour on the Impacts of the Tar Sands on Communities in Alberta and BC.

Vancouver - Tuesday, November 25th
Heritage Hall
3102 Main St.
Vancouver, BC
Event to start 7 pm

Speakers on the Panel include:

>> MIKE MERCREDI - Member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation will be speaking about the front line struggles of the indigenous community in Fort Chipewyan against the tar sands industry, including a plague of tar sands related cancer.

>> JESSIE KALMAN - Tar Sands Campaigner with the Polaris Institute will speak on the social & environmental impacts of the tar sands.

>> WILL HORTER - Executive Director of Dogwood Initiative will speak about the little known support that infrastructure based and proposed in BC provides to current and future tar-sands development. (Speaking in Vancouver, Victoria, Comox and Nanaimo)

Please join us for a very important panel about the largest industrial project in history that has been devastating the environment and communities in Alberta and is now extending to communities within BC.

This Tour is being organized, endorsed and supported by the Council of Canadians, the Polaris Institute, Canadian Union of Public Employees BC, the Seirra Club, the Dogwood Initiative, Greenpeace, Check-Your Head, Institute for Citizen Journalism, Tar Sands Free BC, North Coast Enviro Watch, Western Wilderness Committee.

The organizers of the Vancouver Peak Oil Group apologize for this late diversion, however we could not, in good faith, hold a meetup at the same time as this important event. Thank you for your cooperation.

-Neil Westlake

Room 7000 (Earl and Jennie Lohn Policy Room)

By Rick Balfour, VPO

Plan B Questions are mandatory for all civic, provincial and federal politiicans.

Poor answers or no answers deserve no votes; we need leaders with both guts and vision.

We need action, not more talk. We have little time to change.

1. How high is your own concsciousness, relative to Global run away impacts on our communities, about Peak Oil, Global Warming and the inevitable shift in job markets and mass migration from difficult areas to highly preferred areas. Is it higher than most, are you ahead enough in the issues to lead and be proactive?

Take a page or ten minutes. No excuses, no glib answers.
Read the complete Post.

Will PEAK OIL devour Vancouver’s Politicians?
Or, will our politicians battle INERTIA and defeat the monstrous status quo?

Wed. Oct. 15, 2008, 7 - 9:30 PM
BCIT Downtown Campus
555 Seymour St., Vancouver

WATCH WITH FASCINATION as our panelists reveal their plans for addressing these critical issues!

• Is the Lower Mainland ready for a LOW-ENERGY FUTURE?

• Is GATEWAY a solution to our future transportation needs, and – if not – what is?

• Is there a plan to make sure we’ll all have enough FOOD to eat next year and 20 years from now?

• How do we reshape our pattern of community for a world with less and LESS OIL?

• How do we ensure an adequate ENERGY SUPPLY for the Lower Mainland?

Before you cast a vote in the next city election…
FIND OUT what these candidates plan to do.

Introducing Mayoral Candidates:
Gregor ROBERTSON - candidate Mayor Vision Party
Councillor Peter LADNER - candidate Mayor NPA
Betty KRAWCZYK - candidate Mayor Work Less Party

With:
Councillor Suzanne ANTON - candidate Vancouver City Council
Mayor Derek CORRIGAN - candidate Mayor Burnaby
Council Candidate Andrea REIMER – candidate Vancouver City Council

JOIN US for a rousing panel discussion and SEE FOR YOURSELF how some of the Lower Mainland’s top politicians PERSONALLY plan to address the many problems posed by PEAK OIL.

YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS.

Wednesday October 15, 2008
7 - 9:30 PM
BCIT Downtown Campus
555 Seymour St., Vancouver
(a few blocks up from Waterfront station)
Tickets $7 in advance, $10 at the door.

Advanced Tickets:

http://vancouverpeakoil.org
Brought to you by Vancouver Peak Oil and The Great Bear Pub, and sponsored by:
The Cooperative Auto Network

Investors are currently asking: So, how is it that as the U.S. debt increases, bankrupt corporations get bailed out for billions, U.S. credit rating falls, growth declines, unemployment increases, and yet the U.S. dollar rises steadily?

We’ve been asking our Investment friends this question, and In simplest
terms, this is the answer we’re getting:

“It’s all manipulated.”

“Normally” in this environment of shrinking global growth, recession-level
numbers, and US bankruptcies, the US dollar would be sliding, and gold,
silver and commodity prices could be expected to rise dramatically, as they
were in the spring.

Meanwhile, global oil production remains flat, U.S. strategic reserves
shrink as the U.S. dips into this stash of oil, the Saudi’s just announced a
flow reduction, and with even 3.5% global economic growth and China still
attempting 10% growth, oil prices should be rising.

None of this is happening. Why?

Again, when we ask experienced day traders we hear simply: “A U.S.
election.” Read the complete Post.

Interior employees accused in sex, gift scandal
By DINA CAPPIELLO – 12 hours ago
Original article

Favorite VPO quote ever - “Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government brokers responsible for collecting billions of dollars in federal oil royalties operated in a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” that included having sex with energy company employees, accepting lavish gifts and rigging contracts to favored firms, investigators said Wednesday.

The alleged transgressions involve 13 former and current Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include influencing contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants and having sexual relationships with — and accepting golf and ski trips, snowboarding lessons and concert tickets from — oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department’s inspector general.

The investigations expose a small group of individuals “wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical standards,” wrote Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, whose office spent more than two years and $5.3 million on the investigation. Read the complete Post.

During an interview with Thomas Friedman David Letterman launched into a rant about global warming and the lack of leadership needed to take action. Funny and earnest.

“We are dead meat,” said David Letterman last night in the midst of a lengthy rant on global warming. He blamed a lack of leadership over the last several decades. He also said he didn’t think that little steps like reusing party toothpicks or turning lawn clippings into mulch could possibly help.”

WATCH the clip: David Letterman on Huffington Post

Commodity Online
2008-08-20 17:50:00
By Rex Weyler
Original article

As the era of cheap liquid fuels draws to an end, everything about modern consumer society will change. Likewise, developing societies pursuing the benefits of globalization will struggle to grow economies in an era of scarce liquid fuels. The most localized, self-reliant communities will experience the least disruption.

Oil is a fixed asset of the planet, representing stored sunlight accumulated over a billion years as early marine algae, and other marine organisms (not dinosaurs) captured solar energy, formed carbon bonds, gathered nutrients, died, sank to the ocean floors, and lay buried under eons of sediment. Like any fixed non-renewable resource, oil is limited, and its consumption will rise, peak, and decline.

World oil production increased for 150 years until the spring of 2005, when world crude oil production reached about 74.3 million barrels per day (mb/d), and total liquid fuels, including tar sands, liquefied gas, and biofuels reached about 85 mb/d. In spite of the efforts since, and tales of “trillions of barrels” of oil in undiscovered fields, liquid fuel production has remained at about 85.5 mb/d for three years, the longest sustained plateau in modern petroleum history. Discoveries of new fields peaked 40 years ago. Read the complete Post.

Original article

DAYTON, Ohio, August 29, 2008 (ENS) - U.S. Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice president. His choice puts the twin issues of energy and environment at the center of the 2008 election campaign.

“Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president,” McCain said today in Dayton.

“Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources,” said McCain. “She leads a state that matters to every one of us - Alaska has significant energy resources - and she has been a leader in the fight to make America energy independent.”

Palin said she would not abandon her responsibilities as governor during the presidential race. “As the mother of five, I know how to multi-task, and I will continue to promote the path of reform that we set out on together in the state of Alaska,” she said.

Virtually unknown to the American public, Palin in the role of the Republican vice presidential nominee came as a shock to Jim di Peso, policy director of the advocacy group Republicans for Environmental Protection, or REP America.

“I was bowled over when I heard the news - what a surprise,” he told ENS in an interview. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming. I thought Pawlenty, Romney, possibly Lieberman. Obviously, we support McCain, we’re going to support his choice of running mate. We’re trying to figure out what it all means.”

“Any elected leader in Alaska is in favor of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling,” said di Peso. “That’s just part of the furniture in Alaska politics.”

But McCain is opposed to drilling in the refuge, and now Palin “will have to abide by his wishes,” said di Peso. “The ensign doesn’t get to tell the admiral what to do.” Read the complete Post.