Temporary School of Thought Forever!

Thanks to everyone who came down, had a real blast and it was great to meet so many interesting folk.

For anyone who missed it - I wasn't able to tape the seminar, but you can enjoy the Powerpoint presentation below! No notes - I did the talk off the top of my head, but hopefully this will still be entertaining:

The Fun Side of Petrocollapse

Hey, doing another talk this Saturday at the excellent Temporary School of Thought - http://temporaryschool.org/
in Mayfair. It's a heavy subject but hey, you gotta laugh eh?

The Fun Side of Petrocollapse
A light-hearted take on the end of the world as we know it

Why did the economy just start falling apart? Where are we headed and what can we do about it? While the media blather on about the latest bailouts, the real story continues to unfold. Amazingly, there is a connection between the Mayan empire, cheez doodles and the Energy/Economic/Climate Crises!
Featuring clip from 'Crude Awakening' (Switzerland, 2006)

5pm Sat 24th Jan
39A Clarges Mews, Mayfair (right near Green Park tube)

Hope to see you there!

Cheers, Bill.

http://realfeal.blogspot.com

--------------

PS.
An amusing video of the Temporary School below:
http://vinay.howtolivewiki.com/blog/personal/a-quick-look-around-the-temporary-school-of-thought-1149
Not a bad article from the Londonist too:
http://londonist.com/2009/01/temporary_school_of_thought.php

End of Empire seminar

I'm doing a talk, 3pm this Sat (10th) here: http://temporaryschool.org/

My flyer / info below in case you missed it.

Also - Yeah we're in the paper!! (pretty much all the papers, today in London anyway ;)
Artists evicted from Mayfair squat move to �22.5m property round the corner | Society | The Guardian

---------------------------------
I'm gonna be giving a talk on the economic/energy crisis at The Temporary School of Thought. It's a week of free workshops/lectures/film screenings/life drawing classes etc. being put on by a bunch of young people in an unused building in Mayfair, from 5th-11th of Jan. Link below for listings + photos:
http://temporaryschool.org/

End of Empire Seminar - Bill Trible
3pm, Sat 10th Jan
39A Clarges Mews, Mayfair (right near Green Park tube)

I'll be screening a bit of this film as part of it: http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/ It's a barrel of laughs so come along!

They're looking for more folks to get involved so if you wanna do a talk, screen a film or run a workshop get in touch!

The Last Road Trip / Freakishly cheap gas? Nation broke? Just hit the road

Funny -

The Last Road Trip / Freakishly cheap gas? Nation broke? Just hit the road

Nice Pie

This one's been doing the rounds a bit lately - and in fact is out of date already - the bailout fee has doubled to roughly $8.5 trillion since it was made - so much that you could easily include the whole of WW2 in the pie-chart on the right (WW2 cost less than half what has been spent on the bailout so far at about $3.6 trillion.) That's right, I'll repeat it - THE BAILOUT COST MORE THAN TWICE WW2 FOR THE U.S. ... and they're still spending! In fact, it's cost more than every U.S. Government project of the past 200 years or so - combined. Hehe:


My conclusion is - the U.S.' economy is totally fucked. You can't just invent money equivalent to a couple of centuries of major government project spending in a few months and expect to get away with it. I think it's pretty likely the UK and most the rest of the world will follow suit, be interesting to see how that pans out. It takes 6 months or so for the effects to filter through to the real economy- we've just seen the beginnings of that now with Woolies going down in the UK etc., the first of many.

On a positive note, I joined my local LETS scheme, pretty excited about that! - Not expecting it to be able to feed me if the supermarket supply chain falters though :/

OUCH

'Revolution, food riots in America by 2012'

From Commodity Online:
"The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012. [...]"

Lighter news today from Jeremy Clarkson of TOP GEAR:
"Get an allotment!"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7766057.stm

Podcasts

Been enjoying these Kunstler podcasts lately:
http://kunstlercast.com

Always amusing, particularly enjoyed his sardonic take on the financial crisis:
http://kunstlercast.com/shows/KunstlerCast_33_The_Great_Bailout_2008.html



Also interesting is the C-Realm Podcast, just listened to this great interview with Greer about the 'Long Descent':
http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2008-09-17T16_54_27-07_00

Some other interviews about permaculture with the author of "Gaia's Garden", Toby Hemenway. I've been reading some great articles on his site.

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2008-10-22T18_59_49-07_00

Ugly Overload: Louse Tongue

Some comic relief here! I love this site, always a good laugh.

I imagine that when spotted rosesnappers go out on dates, one of the first things they ask each other--certainly before the first kiss--is if they have a sea louse tongue. That might be a deal breaker for some.

Only click this if you're in a gross mood:
Ugly Overload: Louse Tongue

Already cost more than World War 2!

... and over $14K for every person in America.

Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions | Chris Martenson

Worse Than the Great Depression

Some cheery news here from Stephen Lendman at Global Research. I can't even comprehend a lot of it, but there are some good lines -

"What's known in the shorter term is what Michel Chossudovsky observes: "The financial crisis is deepening, with the risk of seriously disrupting the system of international payments. (This time) is far more serious than the Great Depression. All major sectors of the global economy are affected (and TARP and related schemes are) not a 'solution' to the crisis but the 'cause' of further collapse" - by design."

Worse Than the Great Depression?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11001

The Five Stages of Collapse - Presentation from Fifth Annual Community Solutions Conference

Dmitry Orlov in fine form giving the keynote speech at the Community Solutions Conference - he compares the collapse of the USSR with the present state of the U.S. and its likely outcome:

The Five Stages of Collapse
http://energybulletin.net/node/47157
(Slideshow + speech notes)

Permaculture

A journey to Brazil for the 8th International Permaculture Convergence reveals an ecological design strategy that is helping to free Latin American farmers from the corporate noose around their necks; the same noose threatening the world with climate chaos.

Peak oil gets a mention too!



Also, came across this blog- Lame name, top site - lots more ineresting videos:

http://infopatriots.blogspot.com/

Obama

I'm sure he'll put a friendlier spin on things than McCain would have managed, and even promises fractionally more moderate policies. Unfortunately I think he may prove to be the new Tony Blair. My only hope is the US economy will be so completely broke they won't be able to afford to commit genocide in the manner to which they've become accustomed. Glad I don't live anywhere the US/UK bomb in the name of 'freedom'. Did you know they actually made a 'freedom' model US army issue knife? They were going to call it "Operation Iraqi Liberation" till they realised that spelt "OIL."

Checkout Pilger's excellent writing on Obama in New Statesman magazine:

New Statesman - Obama is a truly Democratic expansionist
http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2008/07/pilger-obama-afghanistan-news

Also, well recommend John Greer's "Long Descent", I've really been appreciating his wider perspective when keeping up on current affairs recently. Less sober but entertaining in a dark way is Dmitry Orlov's "Reinventing Collapse."

CUBA

This video=WOW:

Meat Loaf

http://jerseymike.org/2008/10/percentage-of-things-meat-loaf-would-do-for-love-and-other-graphs-to-make-you-chuckle/

MORE DOOM

ENERGY PEAK

Here's a straightforward primer.

http://www.energybulletin.net/primer


Peak enters the mainstream

2 years ago, French government predicting peak by 2012 (many say it is already beginning to peak):
BBC NEWS | Business | 'Peak oil' enters mainstream debate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4077802.stm

The Long Emergency - by James Howard Kunstler
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/4856

And it ain't just the newspapers / magazines and the internet:
http://www.grinningplanet.com/environmental-books/peak-oil-books.htm
http://www.amazon.com/PEAK-OIL-BOOKS/lm/26CCG716IZ4VC


If a picture tells a thousand words

Outside the middle-east, oil production is already in decline:


Oil / population comparisons:



This next one's a little tricky, but shows the energy 'per capita' (person) mapped over time. Note the peak in the US. happened in 1970... :



Slightly clearer version of the above for the global picture:




I'm sure you saw this one back in the 70's! .. from ecological science, the population 'overshoot':



Well, you gotta laugh - Human energy production / population over a longer stretch of time:




For the source of the above graph, see the Olduvai Theory, as proposed by Richard C. Duncan:

From "The Social Contract" [2005-2006 Winter] - provides information on the background to the precursors of theory from 19th / 20th Century scientists:
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/duncan/OlduvaiTheorySocialContract.pdf

A more recent take on it with the latest data confirming the trend:
www.warsocialism.com/duncan_tscq_07.pdf

Overview of the Olduvai theory, with steps humanity must take to avoid descent - What are the odds people and politicians will suss this one out in time? Don't rate them very highly myself. Iraq war, anyone?
http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3565


Nice! Someone prove this stuff wrong for me, quick!

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Woah

from here: http://www.drmillslmu.com/peakoil.htm

But what about other sources of renewable energy?

In one year the entire world produces about 1 cubic mile of oil (2006 data). It would
take 50 years of energy production by each alternative energy source below to
accumulate the equivalent energy in 1 cubic mile of oil that the world uses now in one year.

Source: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3084 and http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2320

Energy equivalents of 1 cubic mile of oil (CMO).

To produce the equivalent amount of of the energy provided by oil in one year would take:

200 Three Gorges Dams
2,600 Nuclear Power Plants
5,200 Coal Fired Plants (not good for global warming...)
1,642,500 Wind Turbines
4,562,500,000 Solar Panel

Also see: can renewable energy make a dent in fossil fuels?

http://www.drmillslmu.com/peakoi23.jpg

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PEAK OIL

Sorry to piss on your chips but ... read this.

Or maybe not - after all, someone might invent a miracle power source tomorrow. Go for a drive, go shopping, take a nap, enjoy life!

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

MEH

"The global financial crisis will see the US falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when the Berlin Wall came down."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/28/usforeignpolicy.useconomicgrowth

Kelly Clarkson goes death metal:

Kelly who?

This rules anyway: