And are they finally losing their grip?

CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, FoxNews… one wonders… if this was 1929 would the psychology of the crash have happened?

Go read this link from Financial Sense.com:
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/willie/2008/0702.html

Now the Intl Monetary Fund has decided to conduct an investigation into the financial management of the US banking system! This is totally unprecedented. The German journal Der Spiegel wrote that the IMF had informed US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke of its plans for a general examination of the US financial system. The IMF board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial Sector Assessment Program is to be carried out in the United States. This, according to the German journal, “is nothing less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system… No Fed chief in US history has been forced to submit to the kind of humiliation that Ben Bernanke is facing.” For some reason, the entire story escaped the intrepid lapdog US press network system.

Well.. after almost two years since the last time I considered doing this… on June 9, 2008, I’m planning on presenting to Port Alberni City Council on Peak Oil.

This comes on the heels of last nights Council meeting where the Cities’ Climate Change Committee, of which I am a member, presented their report. It was well received, but what really floored me was the Peak Oil awareness, and concern shown quite unexpectedly from one of our Councillors. His comments spurred me to go through with the presentation right now.

My presentation focuses on a recommendation for Council to endorse becoming a Transition Town. Transition Towns were born in the UK as a grassroots initiative by citizens to propel their respective towns to address the twin challenges of Climate Change and Peak Oil by participating in community wide educational, informational and transitional events, and completing “Energy Descent Action Plans (click for one towns Plan)” for their City to follow.

I’ll be presenting a slideshow to Port Alberni City Council. You can see it below. I will also be giving them this Transition Town Primer to peruse and get to know the initiative.

I think the time is now.. oil supply fears have finally come to a head, and I think we’re on a tipping point.

And so.. I will be presenting this to Council on June 9th. Please do leave any comments you might have.

This could be the most important interview you read/hear in your lifetime.

From Denmark… translated, with the Director of Crisis Management at the International Energy Agency.

The situation on the oil market is worrisome in the sense of there being more demand than supply.

It only gets better from there.

Dear Ms Bader,

(B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation)

I recently read your column titled “Say No to Gas Tax Hike” published by Westcoaster.ca
http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=2668

Your views are shared by many, but as with many major societal changes, change comes slowly, and reluctantly. My purpose is not to argue about man-made climate change, scientific proof will be many years in the future.

CO2 emissions are simply a symptom of a much greater and fundamental problem. The Human Race transitioned to fossil fuels in the 18th century…. the reason why oil prices are so high and we are building giant Natural Gas import plants is because we are nearing the end of our fossil fuel endowment which we started using 200 years ago.

According to Natural Resources Canada, take away the Oil Sands, and Canadas conventional oil supply is already past its “peak” production and Natural Gas will peak within 4 years. After being some of the largest exporters in the world, Mexico, the UK, Indonesia are also declining in their production, and exports… Russia is set to decline within 5-10 years, and Saudi Arabia, the largest of all… may have peaked this year. Now if you say ‘we have oilsands’, you’re right… but it takes millions of cubic feet of NG… in fact the energy from a barrel of tarsand synthcrude is only 2:1 compared to the energy used to produce it. Conventional crude is about 16:1. And our 3 million barrels a day by 2020 will only satisfy 3% of projected world demand by then.

The bottomline is that $80 oil is only the beginning… crude oil is 70% of the price of gas at the pump. So when oil hits $100, $125 (equal to the ’70s high), or $150… in the next 5, 10, 15 years, how much will gas be then? The Loonie will rise right along with it… hitting our exporters even harder. 1% more in gas taxes will be nothing in comparison, even raised more overtime. Our economy, if it is still completely dependant on fossil fuels for its energy needs, will suffer every step of the way…

If on the other hand we gradually raise gas taxes, yes there will be economic hardship… but
IF INVESTED PRUDENTLY, those taxes and other incentives can be used to wean our economy off of fossil fuels and increase our efficiency drastically…. while at the same time leaving that much more for us to export to other needy oil importers (mainly the US).

It is my hope that the Canadian Taxpayer federation will be one of the champions of this strategy because in the end… the less fuel we use, the less tax we pay, both to the gov. and to our Environment.

The basis of my argument is not scientific consensus, it is mathematical certainly. For more on this phenomenon, and specifically how it affects oil exports from the worlds largest supporters, please go here:

http://graphoilogy.blogspot.com/2007/09/declining-net-oil-exports-temporary.html

Sincerely,

Chris Alemany

http://www.alberniweather.ca
http://www.murkyview.com

See the images below… to see how fast the ice is receding in the Arctic. The difference is quite striking.

As I blogged on the 9th, the Arctic is at a record minimum for ice cover.

Here is the image from the 9th:

Here is todays image (11th):

(click this one to see a bigger version)

Look at the difference just 2 days makes… the large hole developing in the Western Canadian Arctic… the widening of the western entrance to the NW Passage… the clearing of ice in the Canadian archipelago… and the extreme thinning of the Russian side towards the North Pole (deepest purple is thicker.. red–>yellow is thinner.) The north pole is the white dot.

(Now… would all this worry about sovereignty in the Arctic really be happening if our oil reserves really were all hunky dory?)

Oh.. and if you’re curious about where the new Canadian port at Nanisivic and expanded arctic base at Resolute Bay is… here’s a map…