An integral perspective on climate change and peak oil

Hi,

the use of fossil fuels have both a sink side (CO2) and a resource side. We live on a finite planet with finte resources of gas, oil and gas, but this is a topic that often is ignored when climate change is on the agenda. Especially oil supply may already be limited, and we have to adapt to a future with less oil available. In 2005 the so-called Hirsch report, commissioned by the US Department of Energy, stated that:

“The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. As peaking is approached, liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase dramatically, and, without timely mitigation, the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking”

In the report peak oil is seen as inevitably and as an enormous problem for our civilisation, and also concludes that we need at least a decade to prepare our economy for this transition, preferably 20 years. Let's hope that we haven't reached peak oil yet...but we have recently seen dramatic increase in oil price and price volatility.

Our future will probably be marked by both climate change AND peak oil, something I think it is extremely important to acknowledge. We need a transition away from fossil fuels within the next two decades; climate change tells us that we should, peak oil tells us that we must.

A couple of weeks ago there was a Climate Change Conference in Oslo, which hosted a session on "Environmental Change and Integral Theory" (chair was Gail Hochachka). I did a talk called "An integral perspective on climate change and peak oil". The slides may be found here: integraltliv.no/Artikler/Horn%202009%20An%20Integral%20Perspective%20on%20Climate%20Change%20and%20Peak%20Oil.pdf

We should start preparing for a future with less fossil fuels!

Regards,

Svein