May 16, 2008 - 3 Cats News This Week

Here are some of this week's more interesting articles:

At the beginning of the week AP wrote that a U.S. Energy Department Report says wind can produce a fifth of United States' electricity needs by 2030. That is about the same share of electricity produced today by nuclear power. But the report cautioned that its findings were not meant to predict that such growth would, in fact, be achieved, but only that it is technically possible.

From yahoo.com on May 12 is the report that High fuel prices curtail RV trips – just a little. There will be some sacrifices for the retirees: perhaps fewer meals out, maybe working a part-time job. But they can't imagine giving up the RV lifestyle: a sense of freedom and adventure mixed with close friendships developed over years of traveling around the country. They don't plan to turn in their wheeled home for a condo.

At AutoExpress.co.uk on May 14 is the warning that Biofuel bacteria wrecks engines. Many filling station tanks are rife with bacteria, and when they come into contact with the vegetable or wheat-based bio-diesel fuel, the result can be oil clots, which clog up engines.

James Randerson reports on May 15, 2008 at  guardian.co.uk: Expert warns climate change will lead to 'barbarisation'. Mohan Munasinghe, vice-president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in a lecture at Cambridge University presented a dystopic possible future world in which social problems are made much worse by the environmental consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions. "Climate change is, or could be, the additional factor which will exacerbate the existing problems of poverty, environmental degradation, social polarization and terrorism and it could lead to a very chaotic situation," he said. The scenario, which he termed "barbarisation" is already beginning to happen. "Fortress world is a situation where the rich live in enclaves, protected, and the poor live outside in unsustainable conditions."

Tom Whipple in the Falls Church News-Press on May 16 writes: The Peak Oil Crisis: Diesel. "The evidence is mounting that the U.S. might just encounter the first real crisis of the oil depletion age before the year is out." The prices for distillates (diesel and heating oil) have been climbing recently, almost as if leading the price of crude (and by association, gasoline) higher. And China is beginning to import more diesel to generate electricity for their earthquake-torn counties. Look for things to get tighter (high prices and local shortages) in the US in the coming months.

And finally, a couple of recent thought-provoking articles about population overshoot -- a subject of taboo, shame, and neglect.

In J. Kenneth Smail's blog, Culture Change, is the article Confronting the inevitable: Population reduction, voluntary and otherwise. He points out that it has become increasingly apparent over the past half-century that there is a growing tension between two seemingly irreconcilable trends. On one hand, moderate to conservative demographic projections indicate that global human numbers will almost certainly reach 8 to 9 billion by mid-21st century, only two generations from the present. On the other, prudent and increasingly reliable scientific estimates suggest that the Earth's long-term sustainable human carrying capacity, at what might be defined as an “adequate” to “moderately comfortable” developed-world standard of living, may not be much greater than 2 to 3 billion. It may in fact be considerably less, perhaps in the 1 to 2 billion range, particularly if the normative life-style (level of consumption) aspired to is anywhere close to that currently characterizing the United States. This is a dichotomy that must be faced.

On May 1 Andrew Revking of the NY Times commented on comments from Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, C.I.A. Chief Lists Population as a Top Concern, where he described three troublesome trends that distinguish this century from the last, and the exploding populations of poor places topped his list. This is how our government is viewing the situation.