What we see is the result of a catastrophic loss of trust in the West. It goes well beyond economics and finance. It is the sincerity of political leaders of the West that is at stake. If those in power in Washington, London and elsewhere cannot be trusted on the critical matters of war and peace, law and justice and treatment of different sections of their own populations, their ability in other areas is bound to be questioned. The leaders of America and its allies have simply become captivated by a doctrine that leaves their economies at home, to be run by the large private institutions that they befriend, while they themselves go and fight wars abroad.

Today, America's wars are financed by money borrowed from China and the oil-rich Gulf states which are awash with petrodollars... And countries like China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, which have accumulated huge reserves in U.S. dollars, don't trust the West. The resentment in the Arab world against the treatment of Muslims by the West is strong. And the government of Iceland criticizes its 'friends' for not doing enough to help it and looks towards Russia to bail it out.

The West is simply broke – morally, politically and economically. [More]

The Catholic Church hierarchy has sent a declaration to each parish church to be read out from the pulpit stating that there are 5 non-negotiable issues and leading those was abortion - that catholics should vote against any presidential candidate who does not oppose abortion. These non-negotiable issues do not include “continuing a war of occupation in which hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens have been and continue to be slaughtered or killed as a result of American, and allied, actions for the sake of controlling oil”. No, this issue doesn’t come up in the Catholic Church’s key list of how to choose a country’s leader. This sounds just like Cardinal Pell in Sydney.

How can any Christian priest be oblivious to the greater evil of war, of an unprovoked war to control oil! I found it almost impossible to comprehend until I saw there is one extreme reason why they think that abortion is a greater wrong than unprovoked war – it’s because there is sex involved. Abortion involves sex! They are obsessed with sex so that one abortion is worse than a month of thousands of deaths in Iraq. One fetus about to die worse than a thousand Iraqi children dying. That’s where the right wing of the Christian churches around the world are united – vote for leaders who are socially conservative no matter how many wars they support. Sex bad, War good.  . . read more

We aren't going to change that, for reasons that are deeply entrenched in our societies, and these are extremely powerful interests, with the ability to at least slow real national progress. Thus we have a need (radical change) which is blocked by a political reality. In such a conflict, even the most fundamental of steps - a real international price on carbon - will be an extremely hard-fought victory at the national level in all our countries.

We need national action, but maybe it's time to rethink the rest of the approach. After all, legislation and markets, while absolutely essential, represent only one instrument in the tool chest we need to fight climate catastrophe. We also need technical invention, widespread innovation diffusion, new models and new approaches. And these things are much more difficult for the carbon lobby to stymie, if done at the proper combination of local and regional levels.  . . read more

Now we're in a terrible fix. People are scared and removing their money from the banks and money markets. This is intensifying the freeze in the credit markets and driving stocks into the ground like a tent stake. Meanwhile, our leaders are caught in the headlights, still believing they can finesse their way through the biggest economic cataclysm since the Great Depression.

If something is not done to increase the flow of credit immediately, the stock market will tumble, unemployment will spike, and many businesses will grind to a standstill. We could be just days away from a severe shock to the system. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson's $700 billion bailout does not focus on the fundamental problems and is likely to fail. At best, it puts off the day of reckoning for a few weeks or months. Contingency plans should be put in place so the country does not have to undergo post-Katrina bedlam. [More]

And there are things to be considered. Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in the right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

There is a river flowing now, very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and they will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, and push off and into the river, keep our eyes open, and our head above the water. See who is in there with you and Celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over, gather yourselves!

WE ARE THE ONES WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

A major flaw of Peak Oil is that it is based on a static, or technology-neutral, assumption: it implicitly assumes that limits to oil are set as natural, innate, and immutable. Yet, limits to oil, like those to most other resources, are determined as much (if not more) socially as they are naturally. Research, development, and technological advances have made (and will continue to make) both the amounts of oil reserves and of oil production much more fluid or elastic than perceived by the champions of Peak Oil.

Another equally-flawed proposition of Peak Oil is that it implicitly views the limits of oil supply independent of substitutes or alternative sources of energy. These include solar, wind, non-food bio-fuel, and nuclear energies. They also include natural gas. Further, they include “unconventional” oil: Tar Sands, Heavy Oils, and Oil Shale. Although, with the exception of natural gas and nuclear technology, the use of these substitutes is sill quite expensive, and therefore, limited, technological advances are bound to reduce their cost and increase their sue. [More]