Welcome (back) to the new GetRealList!

August 4, 2006 at 2:21 am
Contributed by: Chris

Howdy folks,

Well it’s been nearly two years since I last blogged regularly, and it’s high time I got back on my high horse for some high times in the blogosphere. GRL is now sporting a new face (thanks to poddesigns for the new header logo!), on a new version of GeekLog, on a new server, under its own domain name (www.getreallist.com). And along with its new face, it’s got a new mission: educating as many people as possible about the coming energy crunch, and what they can do about it. Never mind the politics, we’ve got a lot of urgent work to do.

The world certainly has changed a lot in the last two years. Peak oil has been covered by many of the mainstream media,
documentaries about global warming and energy and alternative vehicles are out, books about energy are being published at a breakneck pace, and there’s even a peak oil caucus in the House (thanks to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett and Rep. Mark Udall). Many regular folks are starting to wake up and pay attention to where their energy is coming from, and what that means for geopolitics and American foreign policy. The drumbeat has begun!

On the other hand, most of the reportage I’ve seen is either wrong or politically twisted or just badly done (did anybody see that horrible abortion of a production called “We Were Warned: The Coming Oil Crisis” that CNN did back in March?), and full of misinformation and unreasonable projections. Meanwhile, the White House and Congress are still without any plan to wean us off of oil and natural gas and start making serious tracks to a renewable energy future. In fact, right now their biggest objective is to do more offshore drilling on the continental shelf and in ANWR, with renewable energy investment still a pittance. Apparently they still haven’t gotten the message that we can’t drill our way out of this mess.

I hope I don’t need to tell you that time’s a-wastin’. The ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil and
Gas) is projecting that we’ll reach the global production peak of all oil (including the “unconventional oil” category which
includes tar sands, oil shale, polar oil, and ultra-deepwater oil) around 2010-2011, and it looks as though the peak of “conventional oil” (light sweet and heavy sour crude from on-shore, and offshore drilling in shallow to deep water) was last year.

Meanwhile, at the ASPO Conference in Pisa two weeks ago, Robert Hirsch, co-author the now-famous ‘Hirsch Report‘ on mitigation scenarios for the next 50 years, doubts that the world can keep increasing oil flows for much longer. “CERA sees a long plateau ahead,” he said. “But I can’t find a plateau in the data I’m looking at.” The downturn, when it comes, would take the world by surprise. “Peaking could come with little warning and sharp declines,” he said. His latest projection? We’ll need to spend a trillion dollars a year for the next 20 years, globally, to come up with adequate substitutes and mitigation plans.

Also at the conference, Chris Skrebowski said we have 1500 days to prepare for the peak..er, make that 1486 days, give or take. Hm, that’s not much time to muster the political and popular support for spending a trillion a year, certainly not at our current rate. So there is still plenty of work for me to do, getting the story straight and educating as many

people as possible about energy.

This is where you come in.

Please invite your friends and associates to join the GRL mailing list and help me rebuild the readership! Your help will
enable me to start producing some revenue from the blog and establish a basis for some much more ambitious public education projects I am contemplating.

I hope you enjoy the new GRL and its new focus on all things energy. I love to hear from you, so don’t be shy, drop me an email or a headsup on anything you think might be relevant!

Welcome (back) to the new GetRealList!

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