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Tag Archives: kurt cobb
Politics in a full world
Politics in a full world When Scientific American published Herman Daly’s “Economics in a Full World” in September 2005, few people knew what lay ahead: oil climbing to $147 a barrel, the relentless rise in global temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions, the food riots of 2008 sparked by rising food prices, the economic crash that followed, and the […]
‘Occupied’ Norway a window into our fossil fuel addiction
‘Occupied’ Norway a window into our fossil fuel addiction Okay, I admit that the premise of Norwegian television’s new political thriller series “Occupied” is far-fetched. But that premise is a window on just how addicted to fossil fuels we are. In “Occupied” Norway’s Green Party wins parliamentary elections and makes good on its (not-altogether-fictional) promise to shut […]
Volatility, oil and stock markets
Volatility, oil and stock markets “Down” is such a downer word. That’s why when prices fall for practically anything Wall Street wants to sell you, Wall Streeters talk about volatility instead. Volatility allows for the possibility that prices will recover soon and go to new highs. Any setback is just temporary. The market turbulence, it […]
The great condensate con: Is the oil glut just about oil?
The great condensate con: Is the oil glut just about oil? My favorite Texas oilman Jeffrey Brown is at it again. In a recent email he’s pointing out to everyone who will listen that the supposed oversupply of crude oil isn’t quite what it seems. Yes, there is a large overhang of excess oil in […]
Five energy surprises for 2016: The possible and the improbable
Five energy surprises for 2016: The possible and the improbable Many energy analysts like to make predictions at the end of the year for the coming year. Instead, I’ll point to five possible surprises in energy–surprises because few people expect them to happen. I am not predicting that any of the following will happen, only […]
The zombie apocalypse in oil: Why it’s a bad sign for all of us
The zombie apocalypse in oil: Why it’s a bad sign for all of us The dramatic drop in oil prices has created what are called “zombie” companies, oil companies which can still afford to pay interest on huge debts, but little else. If oil prices stay low, the problem is likely to spread and become an […]
Climate change is our grand narrative now
Climate change is our grand narrative now There is the story of our personal lives: our family, our friends, our jobs, our hobbies. There is the story of our communities: our civic, religious, business, artistic and recreational lives. There is the story of our nations: their internal political struggles and their struggles with each other. […]
Genetically engineered salmon: What could possibly go wrong?
Genetically engineered salmon: What could possibly go wrong? As U.S. regulators cleared genetically engineered salmon for sale in the United States last week, they opened the door to what many scientists already feel is inevitable: The escape and reproduction of GE salmon in the wild and the possible destruction of competing wild species. Under the U.S. […]
Getting it wrong on recycling
Getting it wrong on recycling Let’s see what those disparaging America’s rate of recycling as “too high” either get completely wrong or fail to understand. You can read recent commentary suggesting that the recycling rate is too high here, here and here. The number one complaint is that it costs more to recycle some categories of waste than to […]
Exxon: We knew climate change was a real threat (but we didn’t want you to)
Exxon: We knew climate change was a real threat (but we didn’t want you to) One of the big complaints about climate change deniers is that they don’t fund any genuine primary scientific research into climate change. We are used to deniers extracting out-of-context passages from existing legitimate climate research and pretending those passages support […]
Public health, endocrine disruption and the precautionary principle
Public health, endocrine disruption and the precautionary principle Several years ago over lunch a medical researcher I know told me that industrial chemicals were disrupting the human endocrine system leading to widespread obesity and diabetes. He said his research had revealed an important cause–the decline in the production of testosterone in both men and women (yes, women […]
Goldilocks and the three prices of oil
Goldilocks and the three prices of oil We all know Goldilocks from the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which the young maiden wanders into the home of the bears and samples some porridge that happens to be sitting on the dinner table. The first bowl is too hot, the second is too cold and […]
‘Blood & Oil’, North Dakota, and dreams not exactly fulfilled
‘Blood & Oil’, North Dakota, and dreams not exactly fulfilled Last week a new television series set amidst the North Dakota oil boom debuted. Blood & Oil tells the story of locals and newcomers striking it rich in The Bakken, an oil formation that has been heralded as containing more oil than Saudi Arabia–a wildly misleading* but understandably […]
