Sheffield Energy Crisis Newswire Archive

Drastic reduction of footprint before we collapse. 1st North American Degrowth Conference April 2010, Vancouver. Intro by Rex Weyler. Tom Walker on Barcelona Conf. Overview of peak fossil fuels by ASPO'S Dave Hughes. Maximum sustainable human population, Jack Alpert. Radio Ecoshock 100514

Read more >>

The Gulf of Mexico "spill" is really a man-made underwater volcano of oil. This accident taps a primeval fear in the human mind. Something dark and uncontrollable rushes out of the Earth, poisoning the global oceans. Could that really happen? Richard Heinberg, Anita Burke, Riki Ott, Antonia Juhasz, and new song "Corporate Catastrophe".

Read more >>

Attached is a recording of a meeting held in 28th April 2010 at Sheffield Hallam University titled, Keeping the Lights On in South Yorkshire: Is Our Future Nuclear Free or Nuclear?

Read more | 1 addition >>

Join the debate on Wednesday 28 April 2010 from 7pm to 8.30pm
Find us at Sheffield Hallam University
Furnival Building Room 9130 Arundel Street S1 1WB (view map:  http://www.shu.ac.uk/visit/plancity.html )
register now and submit your questions:  http://new.solar-active.com/debate/register/

Read more >>

Coal mining has never been more important around the world than it is today, and it looks set to expand further on a global scale. In this context energy debates, coal mining communities and associated issues and so on, need further examination.

Read more >>

Attached is a recording of a Sheffield Humanist Society meeting held on 3rd March 2010 in Sheffield, titled Is Clean Coal An Act Of Faith?

Read more | 2 additions >>

Chris Martenson, Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute, presented to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas on the issue of Peak Oil and Economic Growth, on February 23rd 2010 to a full Grand Committee Room in the Houses of Parliament.

Read more | 1 comment >>

Talk by Terry Fox and Jenny Patient about the promised new technology to save the world from climate chaos. Organised by Sheffield Humanist Society, all welcome.

Read more >>

Run by The South Yorkshire Energy Centre at Heeley City farm, the Family fuel buster project aims to help families who are living in cold damp homes and struggling to pay fuel bills by giving practical help and advice on energy efficiency and grants which may be available for improving insulation.

Read more >>

Dr. Nafeez Ahmed provides us with an overview of the role played by US military and intelligence practices in the creation of terrorism, particularly Al-Qaeda. He tells us about the status of investigations into the Blair government’s complicity with the Bush administration in supporting the invasion of Iraq. He discusses possible factors behind Americans’ long-held denial and dismissal of dark US foreign policy practices as conspiracies. Mr. Nafeez talks about the Obama administration, the ongoing posture of US corporate interests and the desire to dominate world energy supplies, the so-called liquid bombing plot and how it was mythologized in the US, and more.

Read more >>

On Christmas Day, 2009, 23-year old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly tried to blow up a plane on route from Amsterdam to Detroit by detonating a device stitched to his underwear. Fortunately, in yet another example of the level of sophistication of the new league of violent extremists, Abdulmutallab succeeded only in setting fire to his own crotch, before being apprehended by fellow passengers.

Read more >>

The United Kingdom's current winter is the coldest one since December 1981, with sustained temperatures between 0 ° and -15 ° Celsius (5 ° to 32 ° Fahrenheit). These low temperatures pushed gas demand up to 463 million cubic meters (MCM) on 8 January 2010. This level was higher than the previous record of 449 MCM reached in 2003, and more than 100 MCM above normal seasonal demand.

Read more | 2 comments >>

Dysophia and Shift Magazine have joined forces to put together a Climate Camp Reader, “Criticism without Critique”, published in January 2010. This reader hopes to encourage and faciliate debates at the next climate camp gatherings. To download it follow this link:
 http://dysophia.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/cca_reader.pdf
The editorial is posted below:

Read more | 1 addition | 18 comments >>

There is a train crash about to happen from an energy point of view. But politicians everywhere seem to have entirely missed the scale of the problem… [G]overnments and multilateral agencies have failed to recognize the imminence and scale of the global oil supply crunch, and most of them remain completely unprepared for its consequences.¹

Read more | 3 comments >>

Residents of Sheffield are being asked to join a candlelit vigil aimed at raising
awareness of the need for a fair and effective climate deal to be made
at the upcoming UN talks in Copenhagen.

Read more >>

George Monbiot's latest article on peak oil is introduced thus: "It’s probably too late to prepare for peak oil, but we can at least try to salvage food production."

Of course governments are doing nothing to transition to the production of food without fossil fuels -- what little is happening is coming from the grass roots, see for example the Soil Associations pages on community supported agriculture:

 http://www.soilassociation.org/Takeaction/Getinvolvedlocally/Communitysupportedagriculture/tabid/201/Default.aspx

The following article was published in the corporate media and the role that the tiny number of voices like that of George Monbiot play in the bigger picture is considered in the latest Medialens alert:

A Comparative Review of Flat Earth News and Newspeak
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/2009/11/442004.html

For more background on peak oil and food and what it means, essentially the end of industrial civizilation, listen to this talk by Nafeez Ahmed from last year:

Food Crisis & Peak Oil
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/2008/11/413658.html

Read more >>

THIS REPORT IS INTENDED as a non-technical examination of a basic question: Can any combination of known energy sources successfully supply society’s energy needs at least up to the year 2100? In the end, we are left with the disturbing conclusion that all known energy sources are subject to strict limits of one kind or another.

Read more | 2 comments >>

Radio Ecoshock interview with Richard Heinberg on his new book "Coal, Climate Change, and the Last Energy Crisis". Known for Peak Oil exertise, (author of "The Party's Over", and "Powerdown") - Heinberg blows up the myth of coal reserves. Will Peak Coal come in time to save the planet?

Read more | 3 comments >>

Attached are recordings of the opening plenary session and the closing plenary session from the Transition North conference which was held on 6th November 2009 in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire,  http://transitionnorth.net/

Read more | 1 addition >>

We’ve had the scientific debate and the economics and politics have been discussed endlessly. Yet, Yet, as Sophie Black’s comment on “Oh, sh*t” moments attests, beneath the surface, unexplored, run powerful emotional currents. The climate predictions are frightening. Those who listen to them feel anxiety, fear, rage, guilt, anguish, helplessness, hope and apathy. The prognosis makes them worry about the well-being and survival of children and grandchildren. It destabilises the unquestioned belief in a continuously peaceful and prosperous societies. The health of the planet and its natural marvels is at stake.

Read more >>