The John James newsletter sources information that the mainstream news deliberately ignores. The Generator checks, vets and provides sources for selected articles from John James’ feed.
Search clear Search Hot Topics 16 February 2012, 4.11pm AEST Think tank’s talking points deepen the divide over climate change The trouble with words is that you never know whose mouths they’ve been in. —– Dennis Potter Readers following the Australian news media’s coverage of climate change will probably have detected the conspiracy theories Continue Reading →
clear Hot Topics 3 January 2012, 8.14am AEST Paving our market gardens: choosing suburbs over food In 1947 the Sydney Basin produced “three quarters of the State’s lettuces, half of the spinach, a third of the cabbages and a quarter of the beans; seventy percent of the State’s poultry farms were in the [Basin] and Continue Reading →
John James
Why would the big oil giants ignore the depletion of their ultimate resource and power? Why would they not encourage government to plan for a limited supply in the future? They are intelligent, have more access than we do to information, and call the political shots in most countries.
I can only assume that the silence is deliberate. I will give my reasons in a moment, but let us first consider the immediate consequences:
• By keeping oil relatively cheap we will all continue to use it, become more addicted to it (if more were possible) and will build more of our infrastructure on the assumption that we will always have it. This sets the ground for hasty decision-making when the crunch does come some time in the next couple of years.
• The less prepared we are – lacking alternatives for transport, fertiliser and plastics – the more susceptible we will be.
• Short supply will affect transport, food supply, plastics for consumers and industry, and travel. It is too easy to forget that basic commodities like fertiliser, toys, packaging and … all come from oil.
• The entire global distribution system depends on packaged consumer goods being transported great distances. Whether by air or sea, transport relies on oil.
• Most importantly it will affect the military that will insist on first option on what’s available. What may be a small reduction in overall supply will be made worse as they insist on their normal share, if not more. A small reduction would therefore have a large initial impact.
• The rise in the price of oil adds to costs, which will lessen consumption, which will affect an already weakened financial structure. There will be less tax revenue, and less to spend on infrastructure just when it will be most needed.
• Social welfare, health and other social benefits will then be curtailed, and that will further weaken the economy.
• Within a short time there would be rationing. There will be no choice. Public transport will come into high demand, and few countries have the infrastructure to cope with this. As well, rail traffic would have to be diverted to the transport of food, and this will put additional strain on the system.
• With less food, less work and more stress, the pressures from population growth and religio-political tensions will be exacerbated. There will be more refugees and problems at state borders – requiring more spending on the military who will need more oil.
• And we have not factored in the consequences of global heating in drowned dockyards, flooded rail lines and bridges, increased bushfires and damaged agriculture. At least with less oil being used our climate forcing will be lessened, but for a world in which 2+ degrees and 8+ meter sea level rise are now inevitable, and with less money or oil to employ any of the much-publicised ‘solutions’, that inevitability cannot be changed.
Footprints 51 – Climate sceptics are on big-oil payroll
A Greenpeace investigation has identified a little-known, privately owned US oil company as the paymaster of global warming sceptics in the US and Europe.
From The Guardian www.greenpeace.org/international/news/dirty-money-climate-30032010.
Dear Friends
The environmental campaign group accuses Kansas-based Koch Industries, which owns refineries and operates oil pipelines, of funding 35 conservative and libertarian groups, as well as more than 20 congressmen and senators. Between them, Greenpeace says, these groups and individuals have spread misinformation about climate science and led a sustained assault on climate scientists and green alternatives to fossil fuels.
Greenpeace says that Koch Industries donated nearly $48m (£31.8m) to climate opposition groups between 1997-2008. From 2005-2008, it donated $25m to groups opposed to climate change, nearly three times as much as higher-profile funders that time such as oil company ExxonMobil. Koch also spent $5.7m on political campaigns and $37m on direct lobbying to support fossil fuels.
Dear Friends, I reccomend two reports that will give an overview of our current situation. They are right on track for today! If you are short on time, at least glance at the graphs. The first was written a couple of years ago by Paul Chefurka, entitled World Energy and Population Trends to 2100. Continue Reading →
Dr. John James. www.planetextinction.com
The Greenland glaciers that cover the island contain enough water to raise sea level twenty feet, or seven meters. It was once thought (and that was only six years ago) that the glaciers would be self-sustaining even in a warming world because of size and so on.
We now know that not only are the edges melting fast, but the surface melt is seeping through the ice to lubricate the junction between the glacier and the rock underneath. This is the unexpected factor that has turned scientific attention onto this escalating problem.
It appears that the Greenland ice is shot through with crevices, tunnels and faults through which the melting upper surface can penetrate right through the glacier, and threaten to break the attachment between the ice and the rock base.
When this happens much of this mountain of water will flow into the sea. Already twenty-one of the great glacial masses are moving seawards eight times faster than ten years ago and disintegrating three times faster than in the preceding five years.