Those Who Control Oil and Water Will Control The World
History may not repeat itself, but, as Mark Twain observed, it can sometimes rhyme. The crises and conflicts of the past recur, recognisably similar even when altered by new conditions. At present, a race for the world’s resources is underway that resembles the Great Game that was played in the decades leading up to the First World War. Now, as then, the most coveted prize is oil and the risk is that as the contest heats up it will not always be peaceful. But this is no simple rerun of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, there are powerful new players and it is not only oil that is at stake.
It was Rudyard Kipling who brought the idea of the Great Game into the public mind in Kim, his cloak-and-dagger novel of espionage and imperial geopolitics in the time of the Raj. Then, the main players were Britain and Russia and the object of the game was control of central Asia’s oil. Now, Britain hardly matters and India and China, which were subjugated countries during the last round of the game, have emerged as key players. The struggle is no longer focused mainly on central Asian oil. It stretches from the Persian Gulf to Africa, Latin America, even the polar caps, and it is also a struggle for water and depleting supplies of vital minerals. Above all, global warming is increasing the scarcity of natural resources. The Great Game that is afoot today is more intractable and more dangerous than the last.
The biggest new player in the game is China and it is there that the emerging pattern is clearest. China’s rulers have staked everything on economic growth. Without improving living standards, there would be large-scale unrest, which could pose a threat to their power. Moreover, China is in the middle of the largest and fastest move from the countryside to the city in history, a process that cannot be stopped.
There is no alternative to continuing growth, but it comes with deadly side-effects. Overused in industry and agriculture, and under threat from the retreat of the Himalayan glaciers, water is becoming a non-renewable resource. Two-thirds of China’s cities face shortages, while deserts are eating up arable land. Breakneck industrialisation is worsening this environmental breakdown, as many more power plants are being built and run on high-polluting coal that accelerates global warming. There is a vicious circle at work here and not only in China. Because ongoing growth requires massive inputs of energy and minerals, Chinese companies are scouring the world for supplies. The result is unstoppable rising demand for resources that are unalterably finite.
Although oil reserves may not have peaked in any literal sense, the days when conventional oil was cheap have gone forever. Countries are reacting by trying to secure the remaining reserves, not least those that are being opened up by climate change. Canada is building bases to counter Russian claims on the melting Arctic icecap, parts of which are also claimed by Norway, Denmark and the US. Britain is staking out claims on areas around the South Pole.
The scramble for energy is shaping many of the conflicts we can expect in the present century. The danger is not just another oil shock that impacts on industrial production, but a threat of famine. Without a drip feed of petroleum to highly mechanised farms, many of the food shelves in the supermarkets would be empty. Far from the world weaning itself off oil, it is more addicted to the stuff than ever. It is hardly surprising that powerful states are gearing up to seize their share.
This new round of the Great Game did not start yesterday. It began with the last big conflict of the 20th century, which was an oil war and nothing else. No one pretended the first Gulf War was fought to combat terrorism or spread democracy. As George Bush Snr and John Major admitted at the time, it was aimed at securing global oil supplies, pure and simple. Despite the denials of a less honest generation of politicians, there can be no doubt that controlling the country’s oil was one of the objectives of the later invasion of Iraq.
Oil remains at the heart of the game and, if anything, it is even more important than before. With their complex logistics and heavy reliance on air power, high-tech armies are extremely energy-intensive. According to a Pentagon report, the amount of petroleum needed for each soldier each day increased four times between the Second World War and the Gulf War and quadrupled again when the US invaded Iraq. Recent estimates suggest the amount used per soldier has jumped again in the five years since the invasion.
Whereas Western countries dominated the last round of the Great Game, this time they rely on increasingly self-assertive producer countries. Mr Putin’s well-honed contempt for world opinion might grate on European ears, but Europe is heavily dependent on his energy. Hugo Chávez might be an object of hate for George W Bush, but Venezuela still supplies around 10 per cent of America’s imported oil. President Ahmadinejad is seen by some as the devil incarnate, but with oil at more than a $100 a barrel, any Western attempt to topple him would be horrendously risky.
While Western power declines, the rising powers are at odds with each other. China and India are rivals for oil and natural gas in central Asia. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia have clashed over underwater oil reserves in the South China Sea. Saudi Arabia and Iran are rivals in the Gulf, while Iran and Turkey are eyeing Iraq. Greater international co-operation seems the obvious solution, but the reality is that as the resources crunch bites more deeply, the world is becoming steadily more fragmented and divided.
We are a long way from the fantasy world of only a decade ago, when fashionable gurus were talking sagely of the knowledge economy. Then, we were told material resources did not matter any more - it was ideas that drove economic development. The business cycle had been left behind and an era of endless growth had arrived. Actually, the knowledge economy was an illusion created by cheap oil and cheap money and everlasting booms always end in tears. This is not the end of the world or of global capitalism, just history as usual.
What is different this time is climate change. Rising sea levels reduce food and fresh-water supplies, which may trigger large-scale movements of refugees from Africa and Asia into Europe. Global warming threatens energy supplies. As the fossil fuels of the past become more expensive, others, such as tar sands, are becoming more economically viable, but these alternative fuels are also dirtier than conventional oil.
In this round of the Great Game, energy shortage and global warming are reinforcing each another. The result can only be a growing risk of conflict. There were around 1.65 billion people in the world when the last round was played out. At the start of the 21st century, there are four times as many, struggling to secure their future in a world being changed out of recognition by climate change. It would be wise to plan for some more of history’s rhymes.
John Gray is author of Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, published by Allen Lane in paperback on 24 April
© 2008 The Guardian
What a silly game we humans are playing here on Earth. We deplete the resources that keep us alive, kill each other left and right in the name of each of our gods, then hope our god (the only true one) will come and save us in the end. Our self-fullfilling prophecies of annilation may come true but I’m not sure any god will save us in the end for what we did.
Rising sea levels …
This might be the most important underconsidered aspect of our dismal future.
Does it occur to people that EVERY port on the planet is built just a bit above the current sea level?
You tell me an easy solution to that after only a couple feet rise!
stop the privatization schemes of our PUBLIC resources………..
don’t sell the dams, don’t contract out local water treatment, DON’T TRUST ANYTHING the corporatists suggest……….the private sector is dominated by thieves.
truthmonger - “… I’m not sure any god will save us in the end for what we did.”
Could be the gods are all so sick of our stupidity that they’ve opted out of saving our sorry asses and are having a blast watching us destroy each other. Saves them a lot of water and other energy.
John Gray’s comparison with “the Great Game” of one hundred years ago is apt. It was merely one facet of an overall multi-tiered struggle that gave the world World War One. Considering the stakes, any conflict over oil and water has the potential to make World War Three the mother of all wars.
John Gray wrote a grim and gray picture of our future. But, he fails to mention the necessity of nuclear weapons to prevent military conflicts among nations.
North Korea has nuclear weapons and that saves it from foreign invasion. Iran has it. Russia has plenty of them.
Venezuela doesn’t have it, which makes the nation vulnerable to foreign invasion.
Every oil-rich nation needs to protect itself from foreign military invasions.
On the other hand, nuclear powered electricity can be generated instead of coal powered electricity. Oh yes, nuclear power generators have some environmental drawbacks. But, again, there’s nothing 98% safe on earth.
Electricity can be used to run automobiles instead of burning fossil fuel.
Windmills and solar energy are already in use. Therefore, our future doesn’t have to be so gray and grim!
Those who control their anger by dealing with it first and then control their desire for revenge on those who are its cause by dealing with that desire, will have the clarity of mind to deal with such circumstances as are deescribed in the article above.
” Electricity can be used to run automobiles instead of burning fossil fuel.”
Glad someone mentioned that. Neither the pundits or politicians seem to understand or are willing to discuss the potential of solar.
With the $Trillions wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan trying to subsidize American oil corporation’s hegemony over fossil fuels, we could have installed solar collectors on every home in American and begun converting to electric cars which do not contribute to global warming. Large solar “farms” could be built anywhere that the sun shines on a regular basis. The sun is the future.
The insane McCain (and others) plan to occupy Iraq for 100 years will cost about $60 Trillion and create unknown “blowback” and human suffering.
Unfortunately the MIC and Big Oil have subverted our government, constitution and democracy and have turned us into a nation of war criminals while destroying our economy and the earth.
They WILL control the world.
I thought they already DO control the world.
if culture on this planet has a chance of continuing, we my need to reassess a few presupposed truths by redefining what is possible. this must be achieved globally, by citizens of the North/South, East/West. all cultures have positives they can contribute to alleviate our very real crisis………….
further international cooperation till we reach the point where a functional international government is in place that is respected by all governments (imagine if the UN didn’t have permanent powers sit on the security council, a world where the legal enforcement of laws was left to the general assembly not the great powers, a world where india and brazil had equal voices)
find creative ways to generate electricity (solar, wind, geothermal, tidal power)
develop inexpensive technology that desalinates water (90% of people live w/in 100 miles of the oceans).
redefine agriculture in the developed countries, emphasizing urban agriculture that uses natural fertilizers subsidized w/ additional produce from outlaying areas close to the cities.
mandate everyone reads ernest callenbach classic book ecotopia…….
…peace….
To Poet -
Sir, I believe your post describes exactly what I see in Barak Obama!
” Electricity can be used to run automobiles instead of burning fossil fuel. With the $Trillions wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan trying to subsidize American oil corporation’s hegemony over fossil fuels, we could have installed solar collectors on every home in American and begun converting to electric cars which do not contribute to global warming. Large solar “farms” could be built anywhere that the sun shines on a regular basis. The sun is the future.”
—————————-
…yes, but you can’t run aircraft carriers and bombers on solar. One country can’t dominate the planet using solar energy, so the conversion won’t happen. A solar, wind and tide and geo-thermal powered society would require sanity and a community minded government since with such de-centralized power there is no addicted population dependent - virtually enslaved - on the pusher. This is completely unacceptable to the dominators.
Sorry i can’t even suggest a way out. The middle classes are too large, conditioned to individualized selfish pod living, and too obedient in the west to do what is required to change this situation. Frightened of any action that may dislodge their precarious hold on the rung just above the pitiable street people and addicts on display in every large city.
Don’t worry. The invisible hand of the free markets takes care of all–these slow changes that the Earth is going through will create many new opportunities for economic growth.
And now that the Bushes and Rev Moon own the Worlds Largest Aquifer in Paraguay (enough for the whole planet for 250 years), there’ll be a water cartel patterned after the oil cartel, and a new round of wars after the oil wars.
KEM — When you mention “I thought they already DO control the world,” I recalled strongly that although I am yes enmeshed into a physical body (sharing this space) - I am so much more than that beyond this physical existence.
Their avarice and control stem from the dead tree of a broken vessel never filled, but hardly from lack of trying.
Their emptiness is beyond our knowing, but nonetheless they have yet to smother out that final spark of human dignity that connects us ALL as ONE.
Pity the poor pathetic reptilian psychopaths, providence has seemingly eluded their grasping talons.
Namaste
Re:Unknown_Unknownable - good points except one small correction. Iran does not have nuclear weapons. In fact they have never even been close to acquiring nuclear weapons. The whole “prevent Iran from getting nuclear power” has been exaggerated simply because the War Party thinks Iran is ripe for the picking.
Alternatives do exist to oil but as truenorth pointed out, it doesn’t power military machines. It doesn’t power aircraft either. Can you picture an electric airliner? It won’t happen. But as Jeremy Rifkin points out in his book “The Hydrogen Economy” is a viable and inevitable solution to the fossil fuel era. Hydrogen aircraft, fuel cells and solar/wind power used to create the hydrogen (via electrolysis) are practical solutions that address finite energy and global warming simultaneously. The problem is Big Oil, utility companies and the MIC will fight any movement towards this tooth and nail.
The privatization of crucial resources is a threat to us all. Citizens in South America have shown that the T. Boone Pickens and others of his ilk can be stopped if the public elects and backs politicians who will fight it. Of course some of those citizens will likely be arrested, roughed up or killed before that happens.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and then expect a different result…America has become an open air asylum…continuing to be governed by the most psychiatric and disturbed of all the inmates…
In other words, it’s feast or famine.
And we’ve had way more than our share of the feast…
For a time I worried that the US empire would end. After all, other great empires ended, the Roman, the Ottoman, the British.
Now I read that the world might end–not enough water or oil or breathable air.
And I read that our only hope is the invisible hand of Capitalism with its free markets, that will bring us salvation.
So I wait for Adam Smith and his cronies to rescue me from this spiraling-down empire and its world of diminished resources. Help me, Adam! Help me Alan Greenspan!
But I see that General Petraeus and George Bush and Robert Rubin are getting on an interplanetary spaceship, ready to start a new city of God elsewhere. Oh my!
Fellow 6 billion, our leaders are gone, Adam Smith is a pipedream and we are left to….????
“but nonetheless they have yet to smother out that final spark of human dignity that connects us ALL as ONE.
Pity the poor pathetic reptilian psychopaths, providence has seemingly eluded their grasping talons.”
**sigh.
Humans cant have dignity as long as they regard themselves as superior to others–that includes members of other species.
Reptiles have dignity–they control their appetites and function as they are supposed to. The HUMANS causing trouble on this planet do so because they are HUMAN. Reptiles have nothing to do with it.
Reptiles are cool. What humans need is a sense of shame. Recognizing you are the problem is the first step to dealing with it.
On the article–China and India are truly dangerous-even though the West helped lead to the current mess. Its simply a matter of numbers.
Too many people.
In the old days we were told that the problem wasnt huge masses of people, the problem was Western lifestyle. Now we find the masses of people want a Western lifestyle. They want meat and dairy(two biggest factors in global warming and deforestation) and private automobiles even if they dont have the roads for it.
If only we could be more like reptiles.
They dont overpopulate and waste resources.
Canada has 25% of the world’s fresh water. I don’t see our relationship with the u.s. improving in the future. If we do not submit to their demands, they will be looking for any excuse to invade.
Britain not a Player? HAR!
[Britain virtually IS the US/Europe, and controls China/India pretty-well and by-extension…and no-doubt Russia, as-well (and very-certainly Iran, since 1953&1979 — the later as ‘phony/Commie-replacement, for a ‘neo-Coldish-War’ propaganda-instrument feeding the NWO/Capitalism)]
Anyway, there is MORE than enough usable/cheap-oil to extract nearly-everywhere to meet ALL the world’s-needs for the remainder of the Century (and MORE than enough-time, by then, to replace it as ‘primary-Energy, also).
[There just isn’t enough ‘profit’ in that for a few/Greedy-Westerners…]
It would be just a ‘little-bit’ expensive to re-gear for the sensible/sustainable and common-sense/cleaner-use of Carbon-energy — but that would EASILY be ‘covered-in-full’ by the wasteful/current-expenses for these stupid ‘gimme-Pigs’ military-adventures related to capturing the ‘value-added’ and so-called ‘neo-Worth’ of the dirty-ass ‘Crude’ everywhere-and-abundant (and, actually-owned by every-country’s-Citizens, and ‘worth’ only the $0.65 it takes to pump-it-up and direct it towards cheap-Refinement/cracking — IF refineries weren’t inefficient/monopolized/unnationalized).
All we’d have to do is make them eliminate ‘petrol-diesels’ (and their-filth — whilst avoiding food-based-Bio’s), scrub coal-fired-anythings (while ridding ourselves of ‘big-Grid’/AC-Utilities, and going with ‘broken-up’ and newly-competitive/community-based DC-generation), and also convert all stupidly ‘gasoline-motors’ to better/cheaper/cleaner-LPG (for about $25.-each!) — and, quit the ’so-conveniently a pretense&Hoax’ that CO2 [which cools the planet and which plants/etc.-need] is a ‘greenhouse-gas’ — like it was methane/sulfur/nitrates, or others.
C5H8 + O2 = CO2 + H2O [and little-else — like when you exhale!]
All this current-nonsense (warming/GWofT/other-Wars/Mythos/etc.) was just a Plot formulated by some wealthy-bankers who ‘funded’ JDR/JPMorgan/etc. back in the late-1800’s…
[sheesh — ‘Problems-solved’…”next-Case”!]
What do you mean by “will”? Where the hell have you been for the past 50 or 60 years?
“Canada has 25% of the world’s fresh water. I don’t see our relationship with the u.s. improving in the future. If we do not submit to their demands, they will be looking for any excuse to invade.”
25%? When 70% (and growing-rapidly!) is locked-up in the now-cooling Antarctic?
Oh well (and either-way) — Michigan has 90+% of all the fresh-water in the US…so they’ll no-doubt invade us, firstly…! That will be your Clue to ‘poison-your-wells’, or sell it to China, or-something…?
AND THOSE WHO CONTROL THE OIL AND VINEGAR WILL CONTROL THE SALAD…
The USA has already bought up most of Canada’a oil, and now states that oil reserve in the annual US Oil Reserve report as US oil…..and they have been trying to buy Canada’s water for years…and our greedy Stephen Harper NEOCON wannabees are selling the country our from under us.
KELMER — I meant no disrespect for any “balanced” life-forms, and should’ve clarified the use of definitions 2 & 3 ONLY.
Rep·til·i·an
Namaste
A world where no one is left out:
That is the only dream worth dreaming and the only reality that stands any chance of surviving.
The elites are very ignorant and stupid for believing that they can still afford to play the “game” as though we are still in the 19th century. The whole sorry spectacle is hopelessly unsustainable. We are living in a historical bubble courtesy of industry and fossil fuels. The bubble is bursting and there is nothing left to sustain us. We’ve burned it all the way through. Once the bubble pops we are bereft. Utterly bereft, because we have eaten through our principal and created a world that now cries out in hunger and thirst. Disaster capitalism. It turns out the whole of Western history is predicated on disaster capitalism. And the disaster will arrive, is arriving, on waves of meaningless violence and chronic meanness among the populace.
The inevitability of friction and social degeneration as we become more tightly packed on a spherical surface with finite resources is very nearly a physical law. It begins to have less to do with human selfishness and stupidity (although that too is a reality) as with the pure mechanics of survival. If you lock one America and one Russian and one Chinese guy into a room with a single pork chop, two of them would soon be dead. If I were the American, I can’t say I would somehow rise above the wish to be the survivor. The world is approaching the exhaustion point of niceness as our numbers and appetites burgeon beyond sustainability, and whereas the oceans may rise faster than currently predicted, social deterioration will occur extremely quickly and very soon as prices rise and competition intensifies. There is of course a solution within reach of humankind, though it is unlikely we will realize it in time. There are simply too damned many of us. Fewer people equals more food equals more niceness, more fairness, more order. China has begun to understand the physics of human population, and has mandated reproductive limits.
My granddaddy was a midwestern doctor who was active in the American eugenics movement. I have a speech he gave to a bunch of enlightened Darwinist notables, arguing for putting reproductive rights in the “benign hands of the state.” I have always thought his ideas were a bit monstrous, and indeed his movement was emulated and put partially into practice by the Nazis, who had some firm ideas about what color the humans of the future should be. Nevertheless I now wonder whether some form of mandatory birth control might not be the least evil of our current options. Because if we can not embrace the goal of negative growth, war and disease will do it for us.
Malthus: “Population increases geometrically while subsistence increases arithmetically. Weren’t you people listening?”
Could someone please invent a solar panel garage that charges the electric car inside itself. Or a machine that uses tidal power to desalinate sea water and pump it ashore. Do I have to do everything!
What a shame that one of the few posts to mention the water crisis cites the drivel that the Bushes “own” the “world’s largest aquifer” in Paraguay. If you’re tempted to believe this, google “bush paraguay aquifer” and you’ll find a load of sources that disprove the claim. Just a check of a map of the Guarani (the name of the aquifer) and the location of Bush’s rumored land deal is enough to debunk it.
On the other hand, what do you suppose explains China’s intense interest in Tibet, lately in the news? Might it be that the headwaters of Asia’s five great rivers are all in the Tibetan Himalayas? And only one of them (the Yangtse) flows toward China.
The scramble for energy is shaping many of the conflicts we can expect in the present century.
Leftists propose that people secure their individual/local energy independence, permanently.
Other leftists ignore such proposals and instead cry foul at the capitalist abusing the people’s ignorance and dependence.
Have these leftists forgotten the stories of previously independent communities that became dependent on the capitalist only to meet catastrophe when the capitalist abandoned them for “greener pastures”??
The problem of problems seems to be this disconnect between leftists, unable to unite sharing the wisdom of the ages. What kind of catastrophe do they need to wake them up?
Something more shattering than public enslavement to war without end, massive gluttony/plunder for profit, climate catastrophe looming, loss of the rule of law, democracy, and human/civil rights, and loss of a meaningful, productive, sustainable industrial base?
JConrad, maybe we should leave out the “trillions of dollars” and invest instead the human resource into renewable energy options. There is a subset that is relatively low-tech, having been in development for over a century, relying on relatively common materials which are relatively easy to recycle, with most of the production at the local level in small craftsman shops.
Wind, solar thermal, lead/acid battery, turbo-diesel and biodiesel using permaculture methods are the methods that best balance efficiency, simplicity and sustainability for local energy independence. There is minimal dependence on concentrated capital, e.g. power semiconductor switches. Mishandled lead poses environmental/health risk and materials are vulnerable to market forces but those may be treated like air, land and water, mass entitlements.
Braindead capitalist speculation is causing price runs on materials that are being dumped in landfills. Most materials can simply be collected from the waste stream. Stability/sustainability of the local energy enterprise is assured by the convergence of material and human resource volumes and the biosphere’s recycling capability. This means energy for necessity, not gluttony.
They who control new energy technology will control the world, and that means solar and wind and in the future maybe fusion or something else, the same goes for water, Europe is leading in all these areas for the moment because the new technologies will come from social capitalism, if America wants to play part in the future the people better get with it and elect Obama for starters. America used to be more social than Europe now Europe is more social than America that is how they took the lead, even China and India will be more social than the USA soon if we keep electing Republicans.
And while this nonsense discussion keeps going except for those who bring up the need for renewable energy alternatives, may I remind you people that for the past 70 years, America has lead the way for more wars for oil? We could shut the hell up and make ourselves a true role model by first getting rid of that phoney ban on Cannibas and stop badmouthing it. With 26000 industrial uses of hemp, why the f*** are we begging for oil in the Middle East? We could grow hemp and put the farmers as well as the rest of the working class in a win-win situation. In addition, since hemp can completely replace fossil fuels (crude oil, coal, natural gas) and is much safer than nuclear, we can generate fuel from hemp and use that to empower wind turbines and build high quality solar panels. Let’s be all that we can be for the better and the rest will follow. Now who’s ready to be a winner?
drwu, Adam Smith wrote of markets free from central command/control but still governed by a society-wide respect for the public interest.
The difference between Alan Greenspan and Adam Smith is that Greenspan chucked the public interest. The fact that Greenspan refuses to acknowledge this says a lot.
Electric automobiles are frequently mentioned as part of the answer of energy shortages. That could turn out somewhat the way ethanol has, where it takes almost as much energy to produce as the gain it makes.
Millions of electric cars would put a severe drain on the power systems which are loaded now, and much of our power is generated by fossil fuels, so that could be a problem also.
This weekend I began what will end up being a 72 hour Permaculture course. If there is one near you.. I HIGHLY recommend taking it. IT is worth the money and knowledge.
WE are all going to have to take back out power and learn how to live sustainabley once again. It doesn’t have to be about violence and suffering…
We could make the needed changes… if we make the choice to do so.
Peace
Here is the Wiki definition.
(the guy that is teaching our class in Cincinnati wanted to at one point be a CAR designer.. he went into Urban Planning and decided this was the way to go.. He has studied directly under both Holmgren and Bill Mollison).
WHAT IS PERMACULTURE?
The word permaculture, coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren during the 1970s, is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture as well it is was permanent culture. Through a series of publications, Mollison, Holmgren and their associates documented an approach to designing human settlements, in particular the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationship found in natural ecologies.
Permaculture design principles extend from the position that “The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children” (Mollison, 1990). The intent was that, by rapidly training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals could become designers of their own environments and able to build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society’s reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying the earth’s ecosystems.
While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following of individuals who have received training through intensive two week long ‘permaculture design courses’. This ‘permaculture community’ continues to expand on the original teachings of Mollison and his associates, integrating a range of alternative cultural ideas, through a network of training, publications, permaculture gardens, and internet forums. In this way permaculture has become both a design system as well as a loosely defined philosophy or lifestyle ethic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
Not to worry, Bush bought the land in Paraguay…99,000 acres that sits on one of the world’s largest aquafers….you just know he will share that water with all his human rights leanings.
With the oceans rising, perhaps it is time to put in more de-salinization plants…
Oil and water don’t mix, unless you are a neocon.
“Don’t worry. The invisible hand of the free markets takes care of all–these slow changes that the Earth is going through will create many new opportunities for economic growth.” This comment by joneden, is the most ridiculous comment I have ever read and that’s saying something. joneden is obviously an ostrich!
This whole doomsday scenario has been created by greed-driven capitalism. Its proponents are the bastards who are driving us towards destruction so they can grow fabulously wealthy. They care nothing for the world’s people and future generations, only themselves.
It’s time we, the people, rose up and threw them out. What’s on earth should be shared among all the world’s people, not seized by those who have the biggest armies. We, the people, physically, cannot be dominated by a handful of greedy crazies. There are six billion of us!
All we need to do is to get together, to find a common focus, a unifying slogan.
www.dangerouscreation.com
The Forbidden Fuel
Alcohol Can Be a Gas by Dave Blume, published by the
International Institute for Ecological Agriculture, 2007, 630 pages, $59 hardcover.
In the forward written for this book in 1983, when the project was first started, R. Buckminster Fuller writes that it is possible to harvest enough energy to sustainably meet humanity’s needs through solar sources while completely phasing out all fossil fuels and atomic energy. Many know Bucky Fuller for his work on geodesic domes. Few are aware that he was also in charge of alternative energy research for the U.S. military during WWII, and held ethanol fuel in great esteem. The author was inspired and mentored by Fuller in the 1980’s, and it could be said that this book is the culmination of Fuller’s work in this field.
The intent of the 600+ pages of Alcohol Can Be a Gas is to act as a complete tool kit to revolutionize our transportation fuel system, from the grassroots up. It combines sweeping vision with intricate ecological and mechanical detail, starting with a thorough history of the use of alcohol as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
The Model T car was designed as a flex-fuel vehicle, and got 34 MPG on alcohol until prohibition put an end to small-scale ethanol production. “There’s a lot that goes on in the world of energy that you never see on the 11 o’clock news” writes the author. “The control of a country’s energy is the ultimate control of its people.”
Blume has seen his share of the dark underbelly of the big energy conglomerates in his 25+ years working in this field, and carries the scars to prove it. There are six big sections to this tome, each of which could be a book in its own right, comprising 29 chapters. Section I gives the sweeping vision of ethanol set within the context of an ecologically renewed agriculture. The great promise of alternative energy development under President Carter during the first energy crisis is summarized, and what the author dubs ‘MegaOilron’s’ success at squashing it.
Blume dives quickly into the controversies swirling around ethanol as a fuel with a chapter entitled ‘Busting The Myths.’ These myths include: ‘Ethanol’s net energy is negative’ (studies from Brazil show ethanol has a positive net energy ratio of 9.0 when using sugarcane); ‘There isn’t enough land to grow the crops for ethanol’ (highway medians could grow enough ethanol crops to supply 40% of America’s gasoline); Ethanol is an ecological nightmare’ (a permaculture ethanol system vastly improves soil fertility); ‘It’s food vs. fuel’ (cattails grown in wastewater show tremendous promise); and ‘Ethanol fuel does not address global warming’ (the growing of plants, especially if organic, ties up much more CO2 than goes into the ethanol).
Part of the beauty of this book is its ecological sensibility. Blume is an organic farmer and brings 20+ years of bioregional wisdom to his writing. Two chapters contrast the nightmare of America continuing on its present energy course vs. retooling the way we do agriculture and energy along the regenerative principles of Permaculture design. There are sidebars on the restoration of degraded prairie farmland using highly complex fuel crop polycultures, and the practice of swale contour farming to replenish groundwater and topsoil.
His vision for a grassroots ethanol revolution is ambitious but conceivable: “A nationwide switch to organic farming is in order, but it can’t work if we maintain a monoculture-based system, with its present emphasis on corn farming.”
The second big section of Alcohol Can Be a Gas has five chapters laying out the How To’s of alcohol production for fuel, including chapters on feedstocks (everything from algae to buffalo gourd), fermentation technology, distillation, and plant design.
Section III deals with saleable or otherwise useful ‘co-products’ from alcohol production — from livestock and aquaculture feeds to yeast, methane, protein and propagation material for mushroom production. Sections IV, V & VI address the mechanics, regulations and subsidies for using alcohol in engines: “We can put 85% alcohol in our cars now! Really!”
Included are chapters on the business of alcohol, its economic, regulatory and legal considerations and a practical vision of small-scale production that Blume dubs “Community Supported Energy.” Six case studies depict the type of grassroots on-farm ethanol production the author envisions in his revolution.
One of the few criticisms I have of Alcohol Can Be a Gas is that Blume is unabashedly caustic towards the large energy corporations. The book will likely alienate middle Americans who are uninformed about the politics of energy. Instead, it is tailor written for activists who want to put their shoulders to the millstone and do something. Despite its narrow-minded focus on ethanol as The solution to our looming energy crises, this book has the feel of a resource one does not want to be without — the depth of a Whole Earth Catalog hybridized with the humor of a Humanure Handbook.
Those people working on biofuel development would be well advised to study the history of ethanol cooperatives described in this book — honesty, integrity and setting a high ethical standard seem to be crucial to success.
More here: http://www.alcoholcanbeagas.com/?bid=2&aid=CD1&opt=
Money-Food(and Water)-Energy-Free Trade are the essential ingredients for global control by peaceful means. Unfortunately, the military is used to force those who resist into submission
Much of our worlds history of the last 150 years has been in seeking the means for global domination.
The British Empires free trade policies in the late 1900’s were atempts to make nations dependent on trade so they could control them. The WTO, NAFTA, etc are the modern version of the British Free trade policies which don’t do much good for the citizens of the British or American Empire, but sure gives us control over other nations which are forced to accept our goods, which are created by cartels in return for their cheap goods from cheap labour, or resources we get control of as a result of foreclosing on their resources when they can not pay back their loans.
The Bankers were able to control London by controlling the money from 1694, which they did with the Bank of England, and the government had to get money by borrowing it from the banks. The Federal Reserve System is the BOE’s counterpart. As Rothschild said “Give me control of a nation’s money
and I care not who makes her laws”. Most Americans do not know the Revolution was prompted by the colonies issuing their own money, and the BOE was not happy, so the British passed a law preventing the colonies from issuing it’s own money and forced the colonists to borrow their money from the BOE, which ruined the economy. It was not a war over the taxes without representation, Ben Franklin was quoted as saying we would have gladly paid the tax for it was not much, but the revolution was needed to free them from the clutches of the money manipulators. We need to eliminate the Fed today, but nobody dares.
The civil war was fought for the same reason. The BOE and the Rothschilds wanted a BOE type bank in the US which was resisted, and so they sought to divide and rule us and create a civil war by financing the Souths secession from the North. The South was unhappy with the North over unfair trade policies, and was happy to do so, and each state set up it’s own BOE type bank. When Lincoln went to his banks for loans to fight the war, they offered loans at 30% interest since they also wanted to force a BOE type system, he told them to go to hell, and issued his own money. He paid the price.
Oil became important once Industrialization took off. America dominated this in the late 19th century with Rockefellers Standard Oil. But then the Russians started competing for the export market, so Rockefeller and the bankers joined forces, and financed a regime change by bringing in the Communists and kicking out the Czar. In return, the Bolsheviks set up a BOE type bank owned and operated by British and American bankers, and Rockefeller got a piece of the Russian oil market. Rumour has it he kept his piece even through the Cold War.
And so it continued, wars over oil and for the NWO, and then the big fear we were running out of oil in the 50’s. Nuclear Power would save the day and so it was developed, By the 70’s we discovered that the world was awash in oil (google Thomas Gold), but this was a time the plan to create a global corporation as the one world government was set to go into high gear. They recognized the need to keep energy in short supply and expensive. So a crisis (Anwar Sadat was a good puppet) was manufactured to drive prices up. OPEC was formed so the seven sisters could pretend it was not their doing. Oil prices rose. We had shortages. We also were able to get Saudi Arabia and OPEC to require our dollars for all oil purchases, which supported the dollar and allowed us to get off the gold standard for exchange with other countries, setting the stage for the credit-market-debt bubble we would create to enslave nations with debt so as to pay for the oil.
But now we had all these nuclear power reactors going online, and countries like Iran were planning to build many nuclear power reactors, and other countries who needed our dollars for oil were placing orders as well, which would reduce their reliance on oil and our dollars. Iran did not want to renew the 25 year oil deal the Shah gave us in 1953 in return for us bringing him to power to stop his predecessor from nationalizing the oil industry. So we dumped the Shah, allowed the Ayatollahs to take over, sent Saddam after them, and this created oil shortages which drove the prices up again. At the same time, we sabotaged TMI to cast doubt on nuclear powers safety, and then Chernobyl sealed the deal. Oil was made cheap again, and poof, good-bye nuclear power, at least for awhile.
As indicated earlier, we arranged to loan all this money to 3rd world nations in the 70’s. Then comes Volcker to battle inflation. As you know, inflation then, as today, was due to high oil prices. Higher interest rates did reduce money creation which can cause inflation as well, but this money was being created to send to foreign countries as loans or to pay for imports, and so did nothing to fuel domestic inflation, same as today. What the high interest rates did do was cause a bunch of 3rd world nations to go into default, since they were adjustable rate loans.
Goody Goody says the bankers, time for foreclosure. Needed a bit of help from the Fed and Congress though, and so they passed laws allowing the Fed to create money for 3rd world loans that could not be paid (a bit like today, hmm). The IMF helped secure the resources or assets as part of the foreclosure process.
Controlling the food was more problematic, since while we produced a lot of food, other countries could produce their own also. There were problems in Africa of course, which could be solved by infrastructure development, so we made sure they kept fighting each other to prevent the development and keep them hungry, since this is one of the races they plan to eliminate anyways. (see Henry Kissinger NSSM 200 memo). But GM seeds forced on countries as a result of WTO and the concentration of the agribusiness industry make food control a real possibility.
White people should not be the ones controlling the water or the oil. They are untrustworthy. Hell, they are the sole reason why the earth is polluted and the water is undrinkable.
FOOD, the article and some readers speak of food, while one reader also refers to Henry Kissinger, but I didn’t see a quote.
Actually, doing a Web search for the quote, I find links alright, but none for the quote appearing at websites with URLs or domain names ending with ‘quotations.com’. I don’t know what the original source for the following quote was, for the pages I checked and which contain the quote don’t specify this information. And the quote is differently written. Maybe someone here knows what the original source for the quote would be.
“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people; control money and you control the world.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger
The following is copyrighted to GR, so I won’t quote from it, but it also quotes Kissinger; a little differently from above, for it doesn’t contain the money part (the above being the first time I’ve seen the quote including mention of money). I’m providing the article link and title for the obvious reason of it being about GMO.
” “Seeds of Destruction, The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation”
Review of F. William Engdahl’s Book
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, January 2, 2008″
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7716
At least Lendman says the quote is from 1970 words by Kissinger; but still no identification of what the very original source, like document, or speech, was. It’s apparently stated from Engdahl’s book and maybe it states the source.
That’s part 1 of a 3-part review by Lendman and on Engdahl’s book. The other two parts are in the index for Lendman at GR, but I think one has a title that’s not obvious. It’s easy to find by doing a Web search on “globalresearch.ca lendman review engdahl seeds”, minus the quotes, and f.e.
Engdahl also has an article on this book of his posted at GR, only needing to check his index there. In that index likely is a relevant article by him and on ‘A Century of War’, or a title like that. His ‘Financial Tsunami’ series is probably also relevant.
WORLD WAR is what’s going on; militarily and economically. The scope is geographically [broad], and the approach is multi-faceted. It’s okay to think and say that ‘we are in trouble’, very; particularly when the predators consist of many allies, including those that would prefer not to be ally with the predatory powers or team.
They attack or aggress in (I guess) every way humanly feasible.
Kernel, you are correct in implying that things like ethanol production is a lose-lose proposition. We end up with a net energy loss, more greenhouse gases, and reduced food production. However, the agriculture lobby does win out by getting our tax dollars in unnecessary subsidies.
Electric cars are another story. Even if the electricity is generated with coal, electric cars have a smaller carbon footprint and lower pollution than cars powered by internal combustion engines. Plus electric cars can be recharged at night when there is already excess electrical generating capacity. And if renewable sources such as wind are used to generate the power, then the carbon footprint is very small. Their biggest problem is their limited range, but face it: most commuting and travel consists of short trips anyway. I would love to see a small solar panel on top of the car so that it could partially recharge itself all day long when it is parked out in the sun. If you get a chance, rent “Who Killed the Electric Car?”. It is a great flick.
Money is imaginary. Oil is finite. Alternative energy sources are undeveloped. They keep widening the freeway. We have control over only one thing: reproduction. Everything else is a temporary fix.
kelmer:”On the article–China and India are truly dangerous-even though the West helped lead to the current mess. Its simply a matter of numbers.
Too many people.
In the old days we were told that the problem wasnt huge masses of people, the problem was Western lifestyle. Now we find the masses of people want a Western lifestyle. They want meat and dairy(two biggest factors in global warming and deforestation) and private automobiles even if they dont have the roads for it.”
The solution should be clear to all concerned. But have you considered the environmental impact of hundreds of millions rotting simultaneously.
Under the circumstances ,it would be quite a while before the necessary resources are ‘freed up’ so that the Developed World can once again resume its environment-despoiling lifestyle viz. T-bone steaks, BigMacs and Fries , bottled ‘designer’ water, SUVs, flying around at the drop of a hat etc.
But well worth a try . Inter alia ,imagine being able to get ‘our’ hands on trillions of dollars worth of Asian assets. Universal Health Care , universal Ivy League education , etc .would no longer be a pipe dream but a distinct and delightful reality. To say nothing of unfettered availablity of the finest cocaine, crack and heroin for all the ‘needy’ -all paid for by the state.
“Those who control their anger by dealing with it first and then control their desire for revenge on those who are its cause by dealing with that desire, will have the clarity of mind to deal with such circumstances as are deescribed in the article above.” -Poet
Poet, well said. Very insightful.
Really , it has to be said that Asians are getting ahead of ‘themselves’. How dare ‘they’ seek to better ‘their’ lot, especially when it comes at the expense of our continued prosperity , and raises the spectre of painful and unendurable belt tightening and scrimping by ‘us’.Don’t they know that prosperity is ‘our’ Divinely ordained birthright and ‘our’ Manifest Destiny.
Its no longer a question of whether to do away with vermin .But how to do so. Three broad options suggest themselves:
1. Set them at each others’ throats ,by sowing the seeds of internecine discord , resentment and hatred. Then sit back and watch them slaughtering themselves en masse. For a start ,it’s easy on ‘our’ conscience .What is more ‘we’ could rake in billions by selling armaments to each and every party to the conflict. ( Just think of the number of jobs that this would create throughout ‘our’ Military Industrial Complex . Even a kind and noble soul like “Our Obama’ would find it politically infeasible to pass up such an option.)
The principal ‘con’ would be ‘our’ having to clean up after its all over ,and the dust has settled.
2.Charge ‘our’ dirty tricks department with the task of (very surreptitiously )letting loose a pan Asian pandemic.The main problem though ,would be the very real risk of non containment of such a pandemic. (As long as it ‘behaves’ itself , ‘does precisely what it’s told ‘ and confines itself to the ‘kill zone’ , all should be hunky -dory.)
3.Arm ‘our’ mass-murderers and serial killers (incl. potential wanna-bes) to the teeth ,and let them loose throughout the ‘kill zone’. They could then kill to their heart’s content -with perfect impunity. However as the Nazis learnt ,to their chagrin, this can have very little impact . And can at best ,be used to supplement either of the two options outlined above.
Whatever “our’ eventual course of action ,time is of the essence.
” RJKT March 30th, 2008 10:08 pm
…
In the old days we were told that the problem wasnt huge masses of people, the problem was Western lifestyle. Now we find the masses of people want a Western lifestyle. They want meat and dairy(two biggest factors in global warming and deforestation) and private automobiles even if they dont have the roads for it.” ”
I overall agree with that, but meat and dairy don’t represent the two things stated above, only. All farming or raising of many animals means MAJOR WATER CONSUMPTION by these animals, the larger the animals, the greater their water consumption is, although perhaps not with hippos (?), and we know that this means major or devastating, critical (crisis or crises!) water depletion for humans; as well as for all living organisms depending on water consumption, freshwater, that is.
For the most part, very much so, western way of living is BAD. People drawn to this are fooled by [appearances], instead of thinking critically about life and what’s required to sustain us, as well as all other living organisms or life; to sustain us, and for us to be truly happy, which most people aren’t today. It’s like what’s meant by good intentions alone not sufficing, that they can dangerously pave paths to hell; when we’re not careful about what appears to be good intent, or simply good, to us.
However, I think Earth can certainly sustain 6BN+ humans, along with all or most other life on Earth, doubting that our number is ‘the problem’. Before I think that I’d critically accept the latter to be true, I believe we need to first and drastically reduce the number of animals bred in agriculture (or whatever the term is for cattle, dairy, etc.), and to CURB GREED. Until that combination of problems is resolved, though, increasing human population incidentally is or becomes a problem; just that our [present] number shouldn’t be a problem.
NOW, ON THE ARTICLE by Gray, I find it overall good, but don’t agree with all of it. For one thing, he certainly could place more emphasis on the U.S. et al, and what their GWoT is really about, f.e. And as for Turkey and Iran eyeballing Iraq, it’s hilarious, odd anyway, that he bothers mentioning this without also mentioning that they can eyeball Iraq all they want, but it’ll be a waste of time. The USA, its ruling elites, [are] the present deciders over who is going to gain control of Iraq’s natural resources, and that’s if anyone outside of Iraqis in Iraq achieves this; for Iraqis also constitute deciders in this, even if they’re not militarily equal. Neither Iran nor Turkey, nor any other govt, is going to try to out the U.S. et al from Iraq.
As for the ‘Great Game’, it seems that this was coined from or based on words of Lord Curzon in 1898.
Quote: “”To me, I confess, [countries] are pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a game for dominion of the world.”
Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, speaking about Afghanistan, 1898″
That’s quoted from the following.
“The ‘good war’ is a bad war
9 Jan 2008″
http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=470
I’m not sure about the year 1898. One article I had previously read and from an author at RWOR (.org I believe) said 1889, and a Web search shows others using that same year. The RWOR article quoted from “Amin Saikal, The Rise and Fall of the Shah, p. 13″, but the article says Curzon was viceroy of India in 1889, so that’s the error. The Wikipedia page on him says that he was viceroy of India from Jan. 6, 1899, to Nov. 18, 1905.
Either way, what Pilger quoted of Curzon’s words is correct. It’s what others referring to the same quote say; exactly matching.
There’s a PDF download for what appears to be a complete book by Curzon, for the Google search I just performed returned the following:
“[PDF]
T B H A J
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
situation regarding influence in Persia in which Lord Curzon. exemplified Persia as one of ‘the pieces on a chessboard upon which is … ”
I snipped the url for the PDF just in case it might be a problem here at CD, but the pdf file, from epress.anu.edu.au, is named ‘whole-book.pdf’ and is 8.9 MB. Perhaps it’d be of interest to some readers, here; for the Wikipedia page says that he loved traveling and traveled plenty in Central Asia, so he should have learned plenty about it then. (I’m going to look it over, to see what fits with what this CD page is about, anyway.)
Following is a considerably exhaustive article on our present situation.
“The “Great Game” Enters the Mediterranean: Gas, Oil, War, and Geo-Politics
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, October 14, 2007″
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6862
He says, seems to anyway, that the ‘Great Game’ of Kipling’s novel didn’t quite fit with reality, which actually was about “struggle for control” of a greater geographic area; the whole having consisted of what Kipling wrote of, so Tibet, the sub-continent of India, and Central Asia, but also Caucasus and Iran.
Curzon’s ‘chessboard’ reminds me of the book by Zbigniew Brzezinski, ‘The Grand Chessboard’, which happens to be relevant to what this CD page is about, as well as additionally reminding of relevant PNAC.
Great; lovely. NOT! But it is interesting, and of value, to see how there’s a ‘chess game’ going on and that there’s very considerable history that is related; enough anyway. I wonder if there’s a connection between Brzezinski entitling his book ‘… Chessboard’ and what Lord Curzon said. If he did use Curzon’s words for the title of his book, then perhaps the related enough history is more than just “enough”.
Another thing Gray says in his article at the Guardian and which I disagree with is wherein he says, “This is not the end of the world or of global capitalism, just history as usual”.
While I agree with the first part, for the world will long outlast our species, I disagree with this being “just history as usual”. WE should not forget the super-military-warfare tech. of today did not exist a century, if even a half a century, ago.
Other than for those types of changes, as well as more chemical and biological weapons being used today, the human factor, the imperialism, etc., has apparently not changed; therefore this aspect seems “usual” enough, or en masse, historically speaking.
Gray speaks of China beefing up in capitalistic terms, which is true, but he does this without saying how much the U.S.A., its corporations and govt, fueled and continues to fuel this. Is he trying to make the West look good when it’s the worst beast in the world, or what? I wonder.
India is strongly interested in oil and perhaps natural gas from Iran, and I believe to have not seen mention of this in Gray’s article; believing to recall only reference to Central Asia, while Iran’s not there, but the Middle East. Or is that part of Central Asia, while most people writing on Iran tend to never refer to Iran in this way; only referring to it as being in the M.E.? I wonder. It is one of the littoral countries of the Caspian Sea, so ?.
India, Pakistan, and China are all known to be interested in oil and gas deals with Iran, and there’s been some reporting on a pipeline that would supply both India and Paksitan; if it wasn’t for U.S. obstruction. Some or all of the articles I’ve read about this are at www.globalresearch.ca, and Nazemroaya is one of the authors, I believe. These articles should be found in GR’s ‘Oil and Energy’ index.
I believe China would be routing or shipping oil from Iran via oceans, instead of using a pipeline, and as it’s doing with or for oil from Africa; if the U.S. wasn’t obstructing in the case of China-Iran. It’s also reported in articles at GR that China potentially, if not definitely, has a pipeline deal with some Central Asian country, Turkmenistan, or maybe Kazakhstan; but would ship via the oceans from Iran.
World war; ongoingly.
Fossil fuels will run out someday. Oil, natural gas, coal in that order. Nuclear may last longer or not, I don’t have the info on it. But it will cease at some point too and the only thing left will be solar and its derivitives such as hydro and wind. perhaps some geo or if we get lucky fusion. Global warming will take its toll also..
There isn’t any free way out of these problems.
Mike Corbeil: thanks for the links on the Great Game and G.N.Curzon. Most informative.
You’re right :Curzon was Viceroy till 1905 ,and ruled from Calcutta . However the India of those times was a behemoth and Curzon as Viceroy had plenipotentiary powers over India, Burma, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ceylon.The fates of the Himalayan Kingdoms viz. Nepal , Bhutan and Sikkim hung by a very slender thread and entirely at the whims of India. (In 1904 Francis Younghusband led an expeditionary force of the Indian Army and ‘conquered ‘ Tibet .)
Curzon however ,unwittingly or otherwise ,triggered events that would ultimately lead to the end of “Empire’. In 1903 or so he announced the partition of Bengal Province ( the Crown Jewel of India ). This set off a firestorm of protests by the Bengalis and led to a hardening of attitudes by Indians towards their Brit masters.
The Brits and the Bengalis had a very tortured love-hate relationship going back generations. As a result ,the ruling Brits did all in their power to humiliate and cut the ‘Bolshie’ Bengalis to size. (This was singularly successful in the area of Commerce and Industry . The Brits brought in and used the ‘Marwaris’ as an effective counterweight to the Bengali Merchant Princes . And within a generation or so the power and wealth of these Merchant Princes was reduced to virtually nothing.)
This however proved a terribly short-sighted policy : the Brits sowed the wind but reaped the whirlwinds that would eventually sweep their Empire into the dustbin of History.
I think that the choices we make will determine our path from survival and continuing or one of destruction.
I fear that so many (and I understand the anger) will allow that anger to control them and FEAR to cause them to pick up a gun and engage in destructive behaviors.
This is what we have faced. WAR. Hatred and mistrust between races…
On and on .. It has to STOP!.. Grow up.. Quit being immature… work on your personal issues. Either choose to move forward.. or fall out of the way.. but don’t block the way for those of us who seek a new way of living that doesn’t resemble Soylent Green!.
I know. I am afraid too… but more and more I see what choices we have in front of us. EIther wake up now.. Evolve or die!
Namaste
http://www.permacultureactivist.net/DesignCourse/PcSyllabus.htm#3
If everybody in the world were given solar panels that supplied their needs for power;
the avaricious lice that are ruining everything would be holding their hands over their neighbors panels to make a shade.
Nazi Germany indirectly helped India gain independence by bringing Great Britain to its knees.
India gained independence in 1947 not merely because of either an ineffective policy of the British imperialists or a strong, unified national movement by one particular Indian political figure.
Yes, M.K. Gandhi was a buffoon in the eyes of British imperialists and M.K. Gandhi’s politics was self-destructive to begin with.
“It is commonly believed that it was the Congress Party through its various movements like the Quit India Movement of 1942 that brought freedom to India.
This fails to explain the fact that the British granted independence only in 1947 while M.K. Gandhi’s Quit India Movement had collapsed by the end of 1942. The question that naturally arises is why did the British leave in such great hurry in August 1947?
The answer was provided by Prime Minister Clement Attlee, the man who made the decision to grant independence to India.
…asked Lord Attlee about the extent to which the British decision to quit India was influenced by M.K. Gandhi’s activities. On hearing this question Attlee’s lips widened in a smile of disdain and he uttered, slowly, putting emphasis on each single letter, “mi-ni-mal.” (Emphasis added.)
Indian soldiers, who were the main prop of the Empire, were no longer willing to fight for the British.
During a debate in the House of Commons, Clement Attlee told Churchill that he would agree to the latter’s suggestion of holding on to India if he could guarantee the loyalty of the Indian armed forces. Churchill had no reply. The Labour Prime Minister was as much an imperialist as Churchill, but more pragmatic, prepared to see the writing on the wall.”
WereInThisTogether, thanks for the heads-up about the aquifer in Paraguay (”And now that the Bushes and Rev Moon own the Worlds Largest Aquifer in Paraguay (enough for the whole planet for 250 years)”) … I knew Bush had reportedly bought land there, but was unaware of the size of the aquifer.
For anyone else interested in learning more, check Wikipedia’s entry on the “Guarani Aquifer” — it’s fascinating reading.
If Gray’s title is true then 16 billion years of evolution have just been wasted. It will become more true to say that those who control themselves will control the world. Consider another Rudyard Kipling doggerel: “If you can keep your head when all about you, others are losing theirs and blaming it onto you . . .” The next few episodes in the grand cosmic movie we’re all sharing are likely be filled with opportunities to explore this theme of losing and blaming, and remaining coherently sane within oneself. If birds of a feather flock together, then find good fellow birds to flock with. I haven’t yet read any responses on this forum that suggest my comments will be accepted here, but (mythically speaking) the original story of Hannukah (getting along without “having enough oil,” which was celebrated as a miracle) is one demonstration of the idea. The Mayan Popol Vuh, is another. In the Mayan story, two brothers known throughout Indigenous mythology from the Andes to the Northern Canadian plains as the Hero Twins. They go into the underworld and outwit the “evil lords of Shibalba” (who are remarkably like the Illuminati of today). Guess who won? Evolution won and the lords lost.
Stay curious and keep your hearts open. It will make a better impression for oneself into the future.
RE: - Those Who Control Oil and Water Will Control The World
In other words, those who control Canada …
Americans also have control of our oil and Chapter 11 can be used in the same way to insure Americans a certain unalterable proportion of our water once we start selling it to you. If we start selling you 10% of what we consume ourselves in water, then we would not be able to cut down on how much we sell you without cutting down how much we consume ourselves. If we increase the rate to 40% then we would not be able to cut it down to 10%.
It is not just keeping the water purification public but making sure that there are enough inspectors to catch problems before they cause death. The tragedy in Walkerton showed just how many people are allergic to e.coli and how many people were serverly allergic to e.coli.
We also have to make sure that water purification treatment plants are properly funded because when they get too old to function properly, governments cope by adding more and more bleach to the water system. Bleach is a substance one should not be using in front of children and yet we add this contaminant to our water to kill e.coli because more people are allergic to e.coli than are allergic to bleach.
I live in the coutry and have all the rain that lands on my roof go into a 2000 gallon tank underground, a cistern. I had well trouble in the summer switched over to the cistern and had water all winter and even still have not changed back to my well yet. For drinking it can be filterd with a few filters under the sink and some bleach down the tank or well once a month.
As for oil we have had this talk before. Wind and solar to charge batteries on an electric car.
Want to protest high oil prices how about everyone blow the dust off your bike and ride it down the road blocking traffic. Now don’t do this alone but 500 or 1000 bikes would sure turn a few heads. Have an earth day one day a month in your city or town were no cars are allowed just bikes and emergency vehicles.
Poet said it best- those who control anger and revenge are the real leaders- that would be the Dalai Lama for example.
Why get so worked up about oil? you cannot drink or eat it- you have to sell it. Why cares who owns it- they have to sell it. We should just create wealth by whatever we can and buy those products that are not in our area– here I thought that was the whole idea of commerce.
We also need to set completely different goals than just the “American dream is to own a home”Materialism is wrong headed. We are the humans, we think, we are more than four walls.
Our dream is that there be peace and industry and food and water and that we share the planet with honey bees, bats and other creatures who are getting poisoned by insecticides and small plastic granules that never decay are poisoning our oceans and ourselves.
Get with the planet program- enjoy LIFE - not some four walls somewhere or an M-16 to defend yourself from what.
stop having so many babies- we humans are our worst enemy.
Less is better.
The title of this essay is chilling. There is no alternative to continued growth and there won’t be enough resources to go around. Major conflicts are inevitable.
Truthmonger sums it up very well “What a silly game we humans are playing here on Earth. We deplete the resources that keep us alive, kill each other left and right in the name of each of our gods, then hope our god (the only true one) will come and save us in the end. Our self-fulfilling prophecies of annihilation may come true but I’m not sure any god will save us in the end for what we did.”
We can clearly predict that our primitive instinctive drive for acquisition and conflict will destroy our human world in the not too distant future because we are powerless to change. We will suffocate in our own waste. We can look at this as quite an accomplishment; the only living species to destroy itself. Collectively man worships and blindly follows their generals and distrusts their wisemen. Power reigns over wisdom. Fortunately when we are gone, the animals and insects that remain will take this world back, the empty cities will remain as silent monuments to our misdeeds, life will return to the seas, snow to the mountain tops, and the forests and plains will be green again.
Seems that oil and water are more linked than they first appear. The Alberta Tar Sands requires huge quantities of water to keep the oil flowing.
Loss of water permit threatens big oil sands project: report
The federal government has revoked a key water permit for Imperial Oil Ltd.’s proposed $8-billion Kearl oilsands mine as massive projects around Fort McMurray, Alta., come under intensified environmental scrutiny, the Globe and Mail reports.
Imperial, majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., has been granted an expedited court hearing, scheduled for early May, on its application to overturn the decision, the newspaper said Monday.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/03/31/oil-water.html
RE: For drinking it can be filterd with a few filters under the sink and some bleach down the tank or well once a month.
good luck I don’t get you, you got pure bleach free water and you add bleach to it! Why do you take clean water that you have put through filters and make it dirty it before drinking it? I have to blow money on a tap brita at least every couple of months to get the bleach out because if I drink tap water it makes me dizzy. I use the tap Brita rather than the jug Brita because I don’t really want to inhale the water coming out of the tap any longer than I need to. It only makes me a little bit dizzy, but it is not much of an adjustment to one’s lifestyle to just not use cold water unless one is making drinking water with the Brita.
Ok, there are worse stuff used for “disinfecting” than Bleach, so it needs to exist to avoid use of the other stuff, but it shouldn’t be used unless absolutely necessary. If you need to disinfect, what about using something safe such as hydrogen peroxide? It is a bit more expensive, but completely non-toxic.
That said, I think you are doing great things to save the environment.
RE: - Why cares who owns it- they have to sell it.
Who owns a particular oil supply and who controls it made be two different entities. One would like both to control and own oil, but control is more important.
RE - We also need to set completely different goals than just the “American dream is to own a home”
One either owns or rents or one is homeless. There is nothing wrong with wanting (or needing) a place to live. It is the same argument for bats and other mammals - we destroy them by destroying their habitat - by destroying where they live.
We have met the enemy and he is us and there are too damned many of us! What else needs saying except STOP BREEDING!
It’s already too late. China will burn coal to get an economic boast - the US will drop environental protections and burn the dirtiest coal in the name of economic neccesity. When the coal is gone we’ll burn the forests. Only when all is gone will the few surviviors rise from the ashes, perhaps a thousand years after that a new civilization will emerge - will it have learned anything from our mistakes?
China will almost be able to pay for all of the oil they need with the interest on all of the debt that we now owe them because we have borrowed the entire amount needed to fund Bush’s war for oil. This is another example of Bush economics brought to your by our mba president. Meanwhile, let’s all go shopping.
I consider energy to be part of national security in a broad sense. If we can have our economy thrown into a tailspin anytime a country decides to cut off our oil supply, we are not energy secure.
Going to war for oil is foolish as well as very expensive. We pay about $1 per gallon more, if you count the money wasted in Iraq. The oil embargoes of 1973 and 1979 should have taught us this. Then we were importing about 1/3 of our oil and now we are importing about 2/3 of our oil and now we use much more oil now than we did then.
We have to have policies that get us away from oil. Having G.W. Bush say that we are “addicted to oil” is like having a drug dealer say that his customers should cut back.
Bush cut the budget for the National Renewable Energy Labs for years. He tried to do a photo opportunity after he was reelected and found that there were so many people laid off that there were too few to take pictures with. So he put in an emergency funding to hire some of them back.
To try to appear being for renewable energy while cutting back the budget for it at that lab is duplicitous to say the least. We need a policy that will get us to renewable fuels for cars, homes and businesses. The next President will face a daunting task being left a mess that will take a miracle to solve.
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Pogo, Walt Kelly.
Way to many of us. I suspect that once all the lags between consumption and its adverse environmental impacts get worked out, we will find that the sustainable level of world population is more like 2 billion. We’re sorta like Wile E. Coyote, still running along on fossil fueled Business As Usual while momentum has carried us past the edge of the cliff. We’ve got a stupid puzzled expression on our face as we begin to realize that things went irreversibly bad a while back. Pretty funny, except for the 4 billion excess deaths.
Can Quest
You put bleach in the water so it doesn’t turn into a bug infested green slim. It is in a 2000 gallon holding tank under the ground. The bugs, bird crap etc that are on the roof of a house, the rain washes all this off the roof into the cistern I still filter it before I drink it and use the unfiltered water for washing and flushing toilets. As for the well, bugs and even the odd mouse always find a way to fall into the well even with a cover over it. Farmers have been using this low tech 100% free from Gov intervention for hundreds of years. It is hard to filter before it enters the cistern since the filter would freeze in winter when you get those mid winter thaws.
there are so many ways a country can reduce its dependency of oil and water. In the south growing suger cane and not use corn. Brazil, CUBA etc take the sugar out of the cane then use the rest of the plant to make ethanol. If you can grow cane you don’t need the middle east.
As for water even that Millennium tent in England catches the rain water and uses it for flushing toilets and watering any grass, trees that is there. One other way and I have done this during droughts is put the plug in the tub when you take a shower. You then put that water into buckets and use it to flush the toilets. If everyone did this simple country thing millions of gallons saved each day
From elsewhere:
“I wouldn’t worry about Iran (they are FAR too ‘useful’ to Israel/the-West to ‘eliminate’ so early in this “Great-Game” — and both 1953&1979 amounted to MAJOR-Investments on the parts of the CIA/Mossad).
But, since the departing BushCo needs to ‘lay up the ball’ for yet-another neo-Lib/Clinton (who will kill far-more & more-broadly — via ’soft-Power’ and GMO-starvation — than this Admin ‘ever-dared’ to kill militarily) — I AM concerned that before they ‘leave’, they will help ‘realize’ ersatz-Israel’s strongest-hope, for decades-now…
Specifically: the destruction of all possible Syrian-opposition (military or political) regards the LONG sought-after capture/theft of Lebanon’s Litani River and thence the “breadbasket-farmlands”, South of all that precious-water — and all the way up to its Syrian-headwaters — while leaving the Lebanese & the Hezbollah/Palestinian-refugees unable to oppose any much-planned oil-pipelines [that will stretch from Kurdish-Iraq to Haifa-refineries/portage] — once Syria cannot ‘threaten’ any of these obvious Goals/Ambitions, either). [Jordan is already virtually an Israeli-Suzerainty/Satrap]
Israel has KNOWN it would need these oil/water-Resources (absent in ‘their Homeland’ itself — if one can consider Israel ‘home’ for these Ashkenazim?) since at-least the 1930’s — and, has always ‘worked-hard’ towards their ‘acquisitions’ ever-since… and by “any Means necessary”.
This would/could be Bush’s “Longed-for Legacy” — if he can possibly pull-it-off within his remaining Puppet-Term… “
Every time you take a drink of clean water from the tap, and feel refreshed, please close your eyes and remember all those who have no such access to water. When you wash your hands, remember places where disease is spread all the time because there is no clean water.
It should remind us of how a few dollars to build a well or pipe water into a town could remedy so much misery. It should remind us of how evil it is to exploit this basic daily need for profit.
It should remind us that government has no legitimacy if it does not organize to build for basic human needs that require common effort beyond the individual.
Water is not clean as long as it has bleach in it.