Murray's Blog

somewhat thoughtful – the gutting of the ‘middle class’?

murrayg1 — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:34:19 +0000

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/Walker/2011/09/12/Walkers-World-A-dying-economy/UPI-16711315823280/#ixzz1XuGEWciz

makes you think……which we try to do now and then.

murrayg1 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:09:15 +0000

http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/?p=2778

It’s all about resilience. Being prepared.

Dyer – ain’t that the truth (on global water/irrigation)

murrayg1 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:01:22 +0000

http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/173013/water-woes-will-mean-food-calamity.

Jacqui Dean – maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed?

murrayg1 — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:42:22 +0000

Jacqui Deans – a National Party list MP, came to talk to the Energy Studies EMAN series yesterday. That was brave, I’ll give her that.

It was a vetted-for-sure script she read from. One of those which cleverly gives no openings, sounds logical, and placates (their RMA reforms are apparently for the good of the environment).

Interestingly, where the scientific/professional/professorial types tend to take an hour – and clearly have left out stuff they wished to get across – she was all over in 40 mins.

Q&A was interesting. She dealt well enough with what was essentially a smart and hostile audience – but no politician should tout growth without understanding doubling-time. She either didn’t, or pretended not to. I suspect the former.

In the end, she just looked to me like a fundie christian – I believe this this and this, and nothing you say will make me change. I believe the free market coupled with everlasting growth will make us all richer, and we don’t need ‘the environment’, it can be fenced off in little representative pockets. Somewhat reminiscent of Reagan’s ‘a tree is a tree is a tree – how many do you need?

We didn’t really get round to Hubbert, and I doubt she’d know a gaussian curve it it hit her square-on (I’ve mentioned these both more than once on the Homepaddock blog – and an astute pollie would have read, then done their homework. No intellectual stone should be unturned, if you set out to be informed.

I don’t think she’s capable of much original thought, and suspect she has no desire to examine anything which may upset her pretty little picture. Heck – I seriously suspect she’s not read the Clint Smith Parliamentary Report into Peal Oil. I didn’t get to ask whether she had – it was time to let the youngies have a go. Probably even if she had, she wouldn’t have understood, or maybe it would be a case of belief trumps inconvenient truth.

Either way, probably not the sharpest tool in the shed, and an absolute zero in terms of future usefulness. Just my humble opinion.

It’s becoming official

murrayg1 — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 09:28:38 +0000

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/07/201172081613634207.html

a good wet weekend read – what really underpinned the Industrial Revolution

murrayg1 — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:39:51 +0000

http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/6781

well said, that man

murrayg1 — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:41:05 +0000

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=65398

Generation Zero. Wow.

murrayg1 — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:30:09 +0000

I went along to the St David St lecture theatre last night. An outfit I’d vaguely head of, was hosting a ‘Give Bob hope’ forum (Bob Lloyd being about as doomersterish as me).

Bob gave his Peak Oil / Peak Everything/ Energy lecture, a couple of students spoke, and Jeanette Fitzsimmons skyped to them.

What got me, was that this theatre – which seats 550 – was full. There would have been 10 of us who were not of student age, we stood out like sore thumbs (or is that toes?).

If I was running the National Party, or Labour, I’d have been very scared. These folk are the future. 500 quiet, thoughtful folk, not a kaftan or a bare foot among them, all wanting to claim their planet back from the madness.

Powerful? I was humbled. Thankful too – for a long time I thought we were a dwindling and aging band, fighting a doomed rearguard action. I knew it could only buy time, and that the only reason for that was to hope that someone would step up before it was too late.

These youngsters look like they’re doing that. I saw a future Prime Minister last night too. It was pretty impressive. Rightly, they weren’t that impressed with my generation. Mea – wea – culpa.

But as a hope for the future – there are a lot of political movements would like to boast 500 intelligent youngsters in their lists.

Comparing that gathering to the horseshit that ‘DavidB’ and ‘Gonz’ and the other spinmeisters put up, was something I did several times last night. Different worlds. I’ve decided that my contribution (besides what I do now) will be to document this phase. With names. Theses folk have had the time, had every chance, to do the right thing. History should remember them for what they are.

Go you lot – the baton is all your – run…..

http://generationzero.org.nz/

the big snow

murrayg1 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:20:46 +0000

We came through it with minimal damage – a broken 50mm vent pipe, and slightly splayed spouting, both courtesy of the icing on the roof succumbing to gravity.

There were cars abandoned all along the highway, and we put up two car-loads here overnight, along with an already-here guest. There were mattresses all over the mezzanine, shades of summer camp, or perhaps the Waltons….

Good to do, though, and good to be able to do. The infrastructure wasn’t in trouble (water didn’t freeze, stacks of firewood, enough produce to feed the mob for days on end…..) and it was good to have to time to do nothing but socialise, talk, eat, play. It’s what we set the place up for.

Still and all, I don’t do snow willingly these days. It just slows down the projects…………

Heinberg – on target as usual

murrayg1 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:12:45 +0000

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-07-25/conservation-there-no-alternative

a wee taste:

We’re at a crossroads. Up to this point, cheap and abundant energy has fueled consistent economic growth. The only real discussion among the managerial elite was how to grow the economy—whether in planned or unplanned ways, whether with sensitivity to the environment or without.

Now the discussion must center on how to contract. Sadly, that discussion is radioactive—no one wants to touch it. It’s hard to imagine a more suicidal strategy for a politician than to base his or her election campaign on the promise of economic contraction. Instead, discussions in policy circles tend to turn on how to maintain the illusion of growth. Denial runs deep, but sooner or later reality will make itself known.

Ain’t that the truth.