Peak Oil Videos

Welcome to Radio Ecoshock. This week's program is about schizophrenia: the state of hoping the system will crash before it kills the planet, while counting on all the usual creature comforts of home, jobs, and a well-stocked supermarket. Yes, I know the Western world is hanging in suspension. We're waiting for the shopping to resume, for the economy to rebound, for the good life to return. Most politicians and the mainstream press promise that it will all go back to the normal process of chewing up and spitting out the last of the planet's goodness. Meanwhile we go to movies like 2012, slurping up scenes of the destruction of everything. Part of our secret selves hopes it all goes down in flames, or floods. Even while we worry about our children having a decent life. You see how it goes? I know you are worried about the economy. Maybe even your own job or home is at risk. Despite the propaganda, we'd be crazy not to worry about it. I've been told the general formula for every speech and radio program goes as follows: we paint the grim picture, but always, always end on a positive note. Give humans solutions, or they'll just go numb and do nothing. Sorry. This week we violate the rules. Lately Radio Ecoshock has run a series about greening our cities. A couple of listeners have written back, saying cities can never be sustainable, as Derrick Jensen says. Have I fallen into the camp of false good cheer? We'll start out with one of the most promising solutions I've heard about lately - a dream of new economics coming from a British government advisor, Professor Tim Jackson. He's got a new book out "Prosperity Without Growth". Then we'll head into more pessimistic territory with Dave Cohen, an analyst for ASPO, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas. Having written the American Empire is now obviously in decline, Cohen asks "Now What?" We talk more about the economic crisis, Wall Street bull (and bears) - and the energy crisis. Along with James Howard Kuntsler, and our recent guest Richard Heinberg, Cohen says normal consumption is never coming back. We might as well prepare ourselves for very hard times. We'll trash smug Canadians a bit, since real estate north of the border is just as stupidly over-leveraged as the American market. Then we'll notice Australia melting in the heat, while they push even more coal. A big Canadian company has just bought into the dirty Aussie coal market. Aren't we proud? In the end, I wonder, is hope just getting in the way of dealing with the limits of reality? This show is peppered with audio clips, including shorties from Max Keiser, Jeff Buckley's song "The Sky Is A Landfill", Bob Holman's "We Are the Dinosaur", and of course ending with the show title "Dinosaurs Will Die" from NOFX. We open with "Times Is Hard" by Loudon Wainwright III. READ MORE

The new 2009 World Energy Report shows a decline in oil, but did the U.S. interfere in the final report to avoid a panic in the markets?  The IEA denies the pressure. Many experts think Saudi Arabia and other countries are inflating the numbers reflecting what oil they have left. This was NaPodPoMo episode 11 of the [...]

Michael Ruppert is a former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, and he gained some credibility after predicting the financial meltdown that most politicians claimed no one had seen coming. Ruppert has plenty of other apocalyptic theories, from peak oil to drugs to, yes, 9/11. In the new film Collapse, filmmaker Chris Smith follows Ruppert and looks into his theories. Is he a genius, or just paranoid? The film allows you to make your own judgments, while showing the risks and rewards of having--and publishing--unpopular opinions. Smith joined Laura in the studio to discuss his film and whether or not he believes Ruppert.

Peak Moment 136: Independent financial consultant Jim Hansen runs every investment through the "peak oil test". In this presentation from the ASPO-USA 2008 conference, he explores traditional energy investments; opportunities in renewables, rail, and electrifying the transportation system; areas to avoid like airlines and trucking; and what to watch, like electric cars and the unwinding of globalization.In this interview, ecologist and professor Charlie Hall looks at energy return on energy invested. Whether it's a cheetah chasing antelope, or humans making ethanol -- the energy we get back has to exceed the energy we put in, or the story is over. He compares oil's energy return in the 1930's (1 calorie invested returned 100 calories of energy) with the current situation (1:12) and still declining.Presenters respond to the final question in the Q&A session at the close of ASPO-USA's 2008 conference: how do we better harness the intellect, energy and commitment at this conference, and what one thing would you have people ask an elected official to do about peak oil?Video access courtesy of ASPO-USA's 2008 conference, Sacramento, California (www.aspo-usa.com.) DVDs of the entire conference can be ordered through ASPO-USA at www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=662327

Soil Not Oil and "Reclaim Love" Featured in this weeks show is the new must-read book by Vandana Shiva, she brilliantly reveals what connects humanity s most urgent crises food insecurity, peak oil and climate change! We were there to cover the book launch, and then in a complete juxtaposition, we attended the "Reclaim Love" event, under the Eros statue in London's busy Piccadilly!

Josh Cohen of Tilzy.TV talks with Tay Zonday about peak oil and recessions on the Red Carpet at the 2008 Webby Awards.