The front page of the S.F Chronicle today. What’s the lead story? Something about the tinderbox in Pakistan? Afghanistan? Kenya? Iraq? Oil coasting to $100 and beyond? The rapid devaluation of the U.S. dollar? No. Here’s what we get: THE DEADLY TOLL OF WIND POWER.

A bit of a dramatic headline, don’t you think? When paired with that sinister ‘robots in the fog’ photo, it seems to scream “WIND POWER IS EVIL!”. At a time when the world needs to embrace alternative energy, the Chronicle decides to find fault with a wind farm that is easy pickings. Focusing on the wind turbines at Altamont Pass in San Joaquin Valley, California, the article discusses the continuing bird kill caused by the old-school fast-moving, low to the ground turbines. Yes, many beautiful raptors smash themselves upon the turbine blades each year. Yes, this is fucking horrible. However, now is NOT the time to give anti-alternative energy proponents even a sliver of ammunition. All over the U.S., people are fighting new wind farms out of fear of lowered property values. Believe me, this article will only help the anti-wind power advocates. The Chronicle is so darned “liberal” (as if there is anything remotely liberal about lily-white, uber-rich NIMBY San Francisco) that it attacks ‘big business’ even when that big business is doing the right thing. What, may I ask, is the incentive for businesses to move toward a sustainable platform? When doing the right thing=making money = incurring the wrath of the mouthpiece of Hypocrisy City?

What of the birds killed each year by cars and trucks? Why isn’t that front page news? After all, news is a numbers game, right? The more killed in a suicide bombing, the closer the article gets to A1, right? Over 4000 birds were killed in 2004 by the Altamont turbines. How many birds were killed by U.S. drivers? BETWEEN 50 AND 100 MILLION. How many animals have YOU hit while driving? Unless you can say zero, or unless you’ve vowed to stop driving, you’ve no right to point fingers.

James Walker, president-elect of the industry-backed American Wind Energy Association, said the wind companies also want to save birds and are helping to fund the study of the problem. He also said wind power helps save bird lives by combatting global warming, which the National Audubon Society acknowledges as a threat to many bird species.
A bit tough to argue, don’t you think?

Also: Alameda County Supervisor Gail Steele…said both the wind industry and the birds need to be protected.“All environmentalists should support both things,” she said.

Amen, Gail.
The entire article is here.

birds, san francisco, wind power

Today is a red-letter day in Tod Brilliant land. The world may be rushing madly toward oblivion, but my first political piece has been posted on eleven-time Webby-winning, Nobel-nominated, New York Times-featured, Brad Pitt-supported, Cesar Chavez-founded website BACK ALLEY TABERNACLE.

Here’s a teaser of “How Charlton Heston Snapped Me Back into Circle Jerk ‘08″:

This past weekend, my honeybaby lovedoodle and I were poking around in a junk shop on the NorCal coast when I stumbled across something of a holy relic: A VHS copy of “Planet of the Apes.” No, not the recent retread by the overrated (it kills me to say that, but I have to finally admit the truth) Tim Burton. No, the real movie; the 1968 classic starring the Omega man himself, Charlton Heston. At the time of purchase, I had no idea the cinematic powerhouse was to shortly shatter a vow of willful ignorance I had maintained with great diligence for much of the year.

Let me explain. About eight months ago, I swore off all media. This is a big deal for me, as I’ve been known to those who can stand my presence as “Mr. Read Everything in the World about Current Events and Politics” for the better part of two decades. Yet, I realized that with an election cycle upon us, there’s no better time to shut it down. Eighteen months of empty promises and bullshit campaigning I thought I could do without. Until, that is, Heston the lost and ever virile astronaut (as Heston plays only Heston, character names are trivial formality) reminded me of my duties as an American citizen. By the time Chuck planted Old Glory in the soil of the alien world, I was itching to get my hands on a Gallup poll, any Gallup poll.

I never knew that Planet of the Apes was a prophetic film, but behold (READ THE STUNNING CONCLUSION AT B.A.T.)

++

See this? Do you really? It’s called a big smile on my face. I’ve finally arrived!

To celebrate, the Police have offered up this obvious gem: “Omega Man.” [audio:omega man.mp3]

A provocative new study by UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture and Research department suggests that buying local food may not be such a slam dunk for the environment after all. Rather than summarize the info, I’ll point you to the New York Times, whose writers do a little better job than yours truly: IF IT’S FRESH AND LOCAL, IS IS ALWAYS GREENER?

Much of the questions raised are ones that I’ve leveled at my local beef-eating eco-friends in the past. Nothing new there. Two great items I’d failed to consider are:

1. If you drive to the store/farmer’s market multiple times per week for fresh, local food, you’re negating your eco-gains through wasted gas. Yes, even if you’re driving a Prius.

2. Buying from a farmer’s market stall whose farmer drove in a handful of produce in a beat up old truck means your per-calorie carbon footprint is vastly greater than if you’d purchased items from thousands of miles away that arrived in a container, as the per-item carbon count is vastly reduced for bulk shipped items.

Interesting questions that need to be asked. Interesting ideas to ponder. Great article. One thing it will accomplish, hopefully, will be to reduce, even just a little, that look of smugness found all too often on the “Whole Foods/Prius” crowd (I’m generalizing of course. I don’t support Whole Foods, but I’d drive a Prius if someone gifted it to me. However, Toyota is a very eco-unfriendly company, on the whole - which is why I drive a Volvo, a company dedicated to the goal of a 100% recyclable auto). This smugness does as much damage to the movement toward a sustainable future than an army of Bush/Cheney lawyers.

Friends of the Earth Europe is conducting an amazing campaign at present to draw attention to and then STOP worldwide illegal logging.

For years governments and politicians have discussed the problem of illegal logging. Now there’s an opportunity to do something about it. In early 2008 the European Commission will do a proposal to combat trade in illegally logged wood. Friends of the Earth believes environmental legislation should require all wood and wood products placed on the European market to be legally logged. Your support is crucial! Therefore sign the appeal to European Commissioners.

Find out more and sign the appeal at STOP STEALING OUR FORESTS.COM

While you’re there, check out the great video footage of ‘urban commandos’ in Amsterdam and Brussels as they plant trees right in the heart of these cities. Ask yourself, is it unethical to plant a tree?
BTW, I tried to post the videos, but YouTube is acting like a cranky bitch as present.

Thanks, Peter.

“We don’t want the dollar to collapse instead of doing something good for Opec”. - Saudi Prince Saud Al-Faisal. See below. This kind of thing has to make you nervous if you have any savings in the dollar or U.S. stocks. I’m telling you, it’s not that hard to open a Swiss bank account (or so I’m told-if anyone out there wants to open one for me, go right ahead.)
SOURCE

Saudi minister warns of dollar collapseSaturday, 17th November 2007

The dollar could collapse if Opec officially admits considering changing the pricing of oil into alternative currencies such as the euro, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister has warned.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal was overheard ruling out a proposal from Iran and Venezuela to discuss pricing crude in a private meeting at the oil cartel’s conference.

In an embarrassing blunder at the meeting in Riyadh, ministers’ microphones were not cut off during a key closed meeting, and Prince Al-Faisal was heard saying: “My feeling is that the mere mention that the Opec countries are studying the issue of the dollar is itself going to have an impact that endangers the interests of the countries. “There will be journalists who will seize on this point and we don’t want the dollar to collapse instead of doing something good for Opec.”

After around 40 minutes press officials cut off the feed, which had been accidentally broadcast to the press room.

Prince Al-Faisal added: “This is not new. We have done this in the past: decide to study something without putting down on paper that we are going to study it so that we avoid any implication that will bring adverse effects on our countries’ finances.”

Iran and Venezuela have argued that the meeting’s final communique should voice concern about the level of the dollar, which has recently fallen to new record lows against the euro. They are pushing for oil to be denominated against a basket of currencies.

The greenback also weakened slightly against the pound, although sterling’s own recent weakness has pushed it down from $2.10 to $2.0457 during the week.

Nigerian finance minister Shamsuddeen Usman said that Opec could declare in the communique that: “While underlining our concern for the continued depreciation of the dollar and its adverse impact on our revenues, we instruct our finance ministers to study the issue exhaustively and advise us on ways to safeguard the purchasing power of our revenues, of our members’ revenues.”

Chancellor Alistair Darling will today urge his fellow finance ministers at a major G20 summit to increase investment in oil production and refinement.

***************************************************
Earth Policy Institute
Plan B Update
Embargoed for November 15, 2007, 11:00 AM EST

IS WORLD OIL PRODUCTION PEAKING?

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2007/Update67.htm

Lester R. Brown

Is world oil production peaking? Quite possibly. Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show a pronounced loss of momentum in the growth of oil production during the last few years. After climbing from 82.90 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2004 to 84.15 mb/d in 2005, output only increased to 84.80 mb/d in 2006 and then declined to 84.62 mb/d during the first 10 months of 2007.

The combination of world production slowing down or starting to decline while demand continues to rise rapidly is putting strong upward pressure on prices. Over the past two years, oil prices have climbed from $50 to nearly $100 a barrel. If production growth continues to lag behind the increase in demand, how high will prices go?

There are many ways of assessing the oil production prospect. One is to look at the relationship between oil discoveries and production, a technique pioneered by the legendary U.S. geologist M. King Hubbert. Given the nature of oil production, Hubbert theorized that the time lag between the peaking of new discoveries and that of production was predictable. Noting that the discovery of new reserves in the United States peaked around 1930, he predicted in 1956 that U.S. oil output would peak in 1970. He hit it right on the head.

Globally, oil discoveries peaked in the 1960s. Each year since 1984, world oil production has exceeded new oil discoveries, and by a widening gap. In 2006, the 31 billion barrels of oil extracted far exceeded the discovery of 9 billion barrels.

The aging of oil fields also tells us something about the oil prospect. The world’s 20 largest oil fields were all discovered between 1917 and 1979. (See data at http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update67_data.htm) Sadad al-Husseini, former senior Saudi oil official, reports that the annual output from the world’s aging fields is falling by 4 mb/d. Offsetting this decline with new discoveries or with more-advanced extraction technologies is becoming increasingly difficult.

Yet another way of assessing the oil prospect is to look separately at the leading oil-producing countries where production is falling, the ones where production is still rising, and those that appear to be on the verge of a downturn. Among the leading oil producers, output appears to have peaked and turned downward in a dozen or so and to still be rising in nine.

Among the post-peak countries are the United States, which peaked at 9.6 mb/d in 1970, dropping to 5.1 mb/d in 2006; Venezuela, where output also peaked in 1970; and the two North Sea oil producers, the United Kingdom and Norway, which peaked in 1999 and 2000.

The pre-peak countries are dominated by Russia, now the world’s leading oil producer, having eclipsed Saudi Arabia in 2006. Two other countries with substantial potential for increasing output are Canada, largely because of its tar sands, and Kazakhstan, which is developing the Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea, the only large find in recent decades. Other pre-peak countries include Algeria, Angola, Brazil, Nigeria, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Among the countries where production may be peaking are Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and China. The big question is Read the rest of this entry »

HEALDSBURG, CA — Eco-advisor Tod Brilliant gave his endorsement to North Carolina Senator John Edwards in his run to be the Democratic presidential nominee in next year’s elections.The internationally-recognized Brilliant said Edwards is the only candidate who has offered real plans to combat the effects of climate change and make ready not only the U.S. citizenry, but peoples of all nations, for a world that will change rapidly in the coming decades due to resource deterioration.

“John Edwards has the courage to tackle problems that other politicians simply ignore, like reducing our national carbon footprint by 80% in the near future.” Brilliant parroted. “Obama is in love with coal, while Clinton simply ignores the issue, focused as she is on becoming the nation’s next warmonger.”

Edwards has proposed capping greenhouse gases beginning in 2010 with a cap-and-trade system. While Brilliant personally derides the cap-and-trade system as “smoke and mirrors” he is confident that Edwards is merely trying to appease big industry until he takes office. Edwards also has pledged to work for a new climate treaty that includes developing countries, and opposes subsidies for new nuclear power plants in the United States.

“There are times when the right message appears at the right time. I can only urge people around the world to read Lester Brown’s “Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet in Stress & a Civilization in Trouble”. Nothing summarizes our current predicament more concisely, nor offers a more cogent plan of attack,” intoned the Count of Montezuma.
Edwards said he was honored to have the support of Brilliant, who he considers to be one of the few voices in the sustainability movement who is truly nonpartisan.

“We must work together to halt global warming and protect our natural resources to ensure our children inherit a healthy planet. Brilliant understands that partisanship on this most vital issue only dooms us to rapid failure,” Edwards might have said had he any notion of Brilliant’s existence.

This marks the second recent endorsement for Edwards from a leading ‘green’ advocate. Friends of the Earth gave their support to Edwards on October 14, noting that no other viable candidate proposes a solid environmental action plan.

The fourth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4), the most comprehensive United Nations assessment report on environment, development and human well-being was officially launched today.

You can peep it, in it’s 500+ page glory, right here: REALLY BIG REPORT THAT SAYS WE ARE ALL FUCKED NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. 

I exaggerate only slightly. You see, if you check out page 448 you’ll see a CO2 projection report. In it, in the best case scenario, we reach 475ppm by 2050. This is well above the “we will burn to a toasty crisp levels” agreed upon by most climate scientists.

My friend Harold, who actually read much of this report, came to this conclusion: “Buy whatever car you want, drive as fast as you want, screw your neighbor’s wife, burn the churches, stockpile guns and jerky, and get ready for the End of Times.”

I don’t concur with Harold, and I’m glad I’m not his neighbor, but I understand his frustration. Our global leader are still sitting on their hands, issuing reports and wringing their hands instead of demanding real change.

[tags] united nations, co2, we’re fucked, kunstler[/tags]

It’s fascinating to watch the way the numbers jump up and down. For example, last week the Bush administration’s ‘analysts’ announced that the U.S. had unexpectedly large oil reserves. Accordingly, oil prices droppe d. Not 48 hours later, it comes out that, in reality, the U.S. reserves are smaller than expected. Oil prices went back up, but not quite as much. What’s more, the initial news helped steady the stock market while the ‘revision’ had little impact. Here’s the detailed rundown on that bit of slipperiness: LINK

TODAY, we don’t have to wait 48 hours to watch the numbers dance. Today, we can watch the fun in real time! Below are three links. I’ll intro each one. For kicks, you should open each one in a different browser tab so you can switch back and forth.

1. ONE BBC NEWS October 25 Here we have a BBC News report from 25. October which cites the U.S. Comerce Department as stating that new home sales are down 23% in September vs. one year ago and 8% vs. the prior month’s. Of course, this is great news for the environment as newly built homes are unnecessary in a nation with more than sufficient existing housing. Unless, of course, all new home construction followed George Monbiot’s absolutely achievable carbon-reduction plan. But I digress. The article is brief, mentioning that this drastic downturn could, of course, fuel a big fat recession in the U.S..

2. Bloomberg Article #1 October 25 This one went up about 8:00AM PST, I believe. Bloomberg’s writer reports that sales of new U.S. homes are probably down to the lowest level in a decade. Probably. First time I’ve ever seen that word used in a Bloomberg headline. Leaves a little room for restatement, right?

3. Bloomberg Article #2 October 25 Two hours later, the ‘real’ numbers are out, and guess what? The U.S. Commerce Department NOW says new home sales went UP in September by almost 5%!!! Hoorah! BOOM BAM! No recession! No worries! What the fuck do those Brits know, anyway? Sales down 23%??? No sir. That was a computer glitch. No, they’re actually up. Oh, and by the way, we’ve revised the sales data for the August DOWNWARD, but who cares about August, baby? It’s September we’re talking about and September was nothing but roses!Go figure. The Dow is still off on rising oil prices, but just imagine if the Commerce Department had BAD news. We’d be in for a rough day on Wall Street. I’m going to state, very clearly and right now, that at some point in the coming months, September 2007 new home sales numbers will be revised and will show a less rosy outlook. However, at that point, nobody will care. Our government is fudging numbers left and right and up and down. It’s called delaying the inevitable meltdown. Until after we hit Iran. Until after October 2008, if possible (unlikely). Before you come to the conclusion that I’m bashing Republicans only, I’m fully aware that Democrats can call bullshit on this at any time. But they’re keeping their mouths zipped, for a whole lot of what should be obvious reasons.

In other news, it’s my son Justice’s birthday! He’s FIVE! Hoorah!! I love, love, love that boy.

Perhaps the most blunt statement that Peak Oil has finally arrived (more accurately, arrived last year) arrives in today’s Guardian Unlimited.

READ THE ARTICLE: Steep Decline in Oil Production Brings Risk of War & Unrest

For those of you unfamiliar with Peak Oil, or why the scenario it encapsulates will devastate society as we know it, here’s the Wiki primer. I do suggest you familiarize yourself with the concept, especially if you have children. It’s exciting to learn about the cause of the end of the Age of Hubris, how it’s linked with water and food scarcity, and how we’re all pretty much fucked if we don’t wake up and prioritize accordingly. We need global leadership NOW. Alas, we’ve not a single global leader to inspire and instruct the masses.
Excerpted from the article:

“World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.

The German-based Energy Watch Group will release its study in London today saying that global oil production peaked in 2006 - much earlier than most experts had expected. The report, which predicts that production will now fall by 7% a year, comes after oil prices set new records almost every day last week, on Friday hitting more than $90 (£44) a barrel.”

You can find out more about Energy Watch Group at their WEBSITE. And next time you see Hillary, ask her what her plan is for dealing with peak oil and climate change. The beauty of it all? She has none. She’s running to become the President of the U.S.A. and she has NO viable plan, nor deep knowledge of, the most pressing issues to face humanity. And you’re thinking of handing her your vote why? The old ‘lesser of two evils’ argument again? Spare me. Spare your kids.