[Diggers350] The tectonic plates of energy policy just moved!

Wed Nov 10 20:42:47 GMT 2010

I was hoping to be polite by not mentioning that.

The abiotic oil story is wholly flawed, in that not only does it fail to be 
demonstrated by real and verifiable data, but it also cannot explain the 
characteristics of existing oil and gas fields. Likewise the water-
based/hydrogen car issue, or, even more worryingly, a lot of the absurdity 
that surround the "free energy" diatribe.

Or, to put it another way, it's predominantly "Fox News" material -- 
manufactured to create "fear, doubt and uncertainty" ('FUD' -- as outlined in 
principle by the grand-daddy of marketing, Edward Bernays, in his 1928 
pamphlet 'Propaganda') in order to hide the real underlying stories that might 
cause concern about the viability of our "modern" lifestyle (have a look at 
David Michaels book, 'Doubt is their Product' for a more in-depth view of how 
this process operates).

Much of the rest of what you cite is material perpetuated by US-based 
lobbyists, funded by interests devoted to hiding the truth about the 
geophysical basis of oil production in order to prevent a realistic debate on 
energy supply in the west. A large part of the political and social debate in 
the West, aided by the centralisation of the mass media, is now stiched up by 
such lobby groups. E.g., the much hyped Tea Party movement in the US 
represents "public interests" against "special interests", but it's being 
funded (channelled through think tanks like Freedom Works) by the same group 
of elite capitalists who also bankroll the think-tanks that represent the 
special interests in keeping Washington's 'pork barrel' economics running 
irrespective of who is in power.

Much of American (and increasingly European) political funding doesn't care 
about the groups being funded, it's purely about ensuring access in the event 
of one of those groups taking power -- or using "astroturf" (see 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing ) groups/individuals to obfuscate the 
real stories about the ordinary people who are being exploited by the present 
political-economic system. This isn't just a "bad business" thing either. 
Earlier this year I investigated the 'Yes2Wind' web site (set up by 
Greenpeace, WWF and others) and found that it's now run by corporate lobbyists 
for the "big energy" industry, Pendragon PR, with a tie in to a company called 
Green Campaigns Limited, who they funded to use software called 'Express 
Support' in order to spam local councils in favour of energy and economic 
developments. In fact, a whole lot of supposedly "green business" and "green 
tech." is really just business as usual but with a different kind of 
advertising bias -- I could go on at length about this but that's another 
issue.

The world is running out of "stuff" -- just accept that fact and move on 
towards a more rewarding form of social organisation beyond industrialism. 
Much of what you cite is corporate-inspired/indirectly-funded misdirection in 
order to prevent a meaningful debate on what is actually happening around us. 
Within that whole issue energy supply is actually not a major restraint. For 
example, once we "run out" of indium or hafnium, which in terms of their 
economic viability in industry might only be a decade or two, then a lot of 
the high-tech networked systems that keep globalised capital on the rails will 
cease to be viable. Instead we/the economy in general will just re-balance to 
a more simpler, local and more directly connected to the Earth/agricultural 
patterns of existence because that, once you take away the non-renewable 
minerals, is the only thing we know for certain that we can maintain (how many 
people can be maintained by that technology is, of course, another issue).

There is no conspiracy, it's all just "business as usual" -- as it has been 
(if you read you Greek and Roman classics) since the earliest human 
civilisations. The way you beat that reality is not to act like a dis-
empowered victim of conspiracies of the powerful, blaming your woes on the 
fact other people don't like or want to exploit you. It's by understanding and 
taking charge of the situation to allow you, and those around you, to find ways 
beyond these difficulties and develop new patterns of living/organisation; and, 
from permaculture and low impact development to open source hardware and 
citizen science, that's how a lot of people are getting on with things today, 
irrespective of what the Fox News mentality dictates.

P.

- -- 

"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government,
nor are we for this party nor against the other but we are
for justice and mercy and truth and peace and true freedom,
that these may be exalted in our nation, and that goodness,
righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity with
God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burrough, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

Paul's book, "Energy Beyond Oil", is out now!
For details see http://www.fraw.org.uk/ebo/

Read my message board, "Ecolonomics", at:
http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/ecolonomics/

Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
tel./fax (+44/0)1295 261864
email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/index.shtml
public key - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/mobbsey-2010.asc
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