"I’ve sat with all these people who we think are in charge, and they don’t know what to do".

[robertpaulsen]

Over the past few years that I have been aware of the imminence of Peak Oil and the implications that it has for society on planet Earth, I've been keeping a checklist of US politicians who have gone on the record articulating an awareness of Peak Oil. So far, I've heard from Dennis Kucinich, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Roscoe Bartlett, Jim Gilchrest and Ron Paul. Pretty paltry list for the country that consumes the most petroleum. I've often thought that it was just out of ignorance that more politicians have not gone on the record warning about the looming emergency that Peak Oil presents. Not after reading this:

Van Jones: Spiritually Fulfilling, Ecologically Sustainable AND Socially Just?
from a speech by Van Jones

Highlights from Van Jones speech at the the Pachamama Alliance Awakening the Dreamer Global Community Gathering. Reprinted with permission from the Pachamama Alliance.

The following are excerpts from his speech. For the entire 8,000+ word speech please email us for a PDF version.

‘Comfort zone’
People are always talking about their comfort zones, you ever heard that expression? “This is outside of my comfort zone.” Grow your goddamn comfort zone then, okay? ‘Cause we are running out of time. My suggestion is, grow the comfort zone.

People say that I am hard core about some of this stuff but I know because I have been to Davos, and I’ve sat with Bill Clinton and I’ve sat with Bill Gates and I’ve sat with Tony Blair and I’ve sat with Nancy Pelosi. I’ve sat with all these people who we think are in charge, and they don’t know what to do. Take that in: they don’t know what to do! You think you’re scared? You think you’re terrified? They have the Pentagon’s intelligence, they have every major corporation’s input; Shell Oil that has done this survey and study around the peak oil problem. You think we’ve got to get on the Internet and say, “Peak oil!” because the system doesn’t know about it? They know, and they don’t know what to do. And they are terrified that if they do anything they’ll loose their positions. So they keep juggling chickens and chainsaws and hope it works out just like most of us everyday at work. That’s real, that’s real.

And so I’m hard on people, I try to tell a few jokes, you know, to make it go down easier, but I’m hard on people. But I will tell you why I am hard on people. This is real ball, this is the last chance, this is it. I’m not telling you that; Tracy’s not telling you that. You go to places like I go, and the Pentagon will tell you that. This is real ball and people, for whatever reason, need sometimes a little encouragement. You walk up to that limit of yourself and you want that limit, ‘cause that wasn’t your limit yesterday and you go Whooo! I made it, now let me start telling everybody else what to do. But the goal is over there and every step hurts and every step is challenging and every step is humbling but every step has to be taken or we’re not going to be here.

http://www.hopedance.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=337&Itemid=98

It's something that I suppose I've been aware of on a subconscious level every time I send something to Henry Waxman, John Conyers or anyone I think might be receptive to hearing about it. They already know. They don't know what to do. Something about this speech really brought that home like a bucket of cold water to the face.

So what's the solution? For me, it's individual outreach. I can't save the world, but I can help you save yourself and your loved ones, if you're willing to listen.

[Bitwit1234]

1. I truthfully think no one...not a single soul knows how to end the Iraq conflict.

We can bring our troops home but what kind of mess will be have. I don't think all these so called terrorist will follow us home, as bush and the republicans say. I think it is a shame that someone with some fore sight was not in charge of Iraq, instead of the crooked, know nothing government they have. Almost the same as this country.

[robertpaulsen]

2. I believe the fascists did have foresight regarding Iraq BECAUSE of Peak Oil.

Bushitler and many others in his excuse for an administration are neck deep in the oil industry. Think about the secret meetings Cheney had for his 2001 Energy Task Force that his hunting buddy Scalia helped cover up when it came before SCOTUS. They went into Iraq to control their oil; even a stalwart Rethug like Greenspan admits it. They knew damn well it was a permanent occupation from the start and they don't care how many lives it takes to keep it that way.

[robertpaulsen]

3. Here's a good source that elaborates on the point.

Newly discovered documents, reported in the Washington Post, revealing that as early as February 2001 senior executives of at least four of the country's biggest oil companies, ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell and BP America, met with Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force.


Documents from these meetings obtained by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch—including a map of Iraq and an accompanying list of "Iraq oil foreign suitors" revealing Iraq to have been a major topic of discussion. This is not so surprising, as that country has perhaps the world's second largest oil deposits. Indeed, the map erased all features of the country save the location of said deposits, while the list of suitors revealed that dozens of foreign companies were either in discussions over, or in direct negotiations for, rights to them.


As important as what was discussed was when the meeting occurred: at precisely the moment when scientists and industry leaders began increasingly to worry that the "age of peak oil production"—when it will no longer be possible to extract enough oil from the earth to replace what we consume—was approaching faster than previously assumed, portending a potentially explosive competition for the world's remaining supplies.


In such a scenario, ensuring American access to—and, where possible, leverage or even control over—the world's major oil deposits would be a natural concern for an administration umbilically tied to Big Oil, especially in the context of escalating competition with an aggressive, energy-hungry China.

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/feature/2005/11/syriana.html

[seemslikeadream]

4. Oh, I will stare the sun down until my eyes go blind hey,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUQHQMRYvAo&eurl=

[robertpaulsen]

6. Beautiful!

I especially loved the reference to the tax cut at the end. Eddie certainly has his head screwed on straight!

:hi:

[seemslikeadream]

5. Van Jones at the NCMR Slave ship on dry land

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2z6nOOO-2Y



Van Jones at the 2006 Green Festival in San Francisco
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6863502913642399535&q=Van+Jones&total=552&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1


Van Jones at the Western States Center 2006 CSTI
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4411540188910573082&q=Van+Jones&total=552&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=5



Van Jones
Executive Director, The Ella Baker Center

Non Profit Boot Camp Keynote

http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3167.html


A Van With a Plan
An interview with Van Jones, advocate for social justice and shared green prosperity
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2007/03/20/vanjones/

[alittlelark]

7. Carter knew what to do.... they destroyed him for it.

Al Gore knows what to do.... would he be destroyed as well if he entered the race?

[robertpaulsen]

20. If the election were today, no.

And if there was ever a time to announce if he had the SLIGHTEST inclination of running, this is it. But I think he'll wait until 2012.

[truedelphi]

8. Ever think what the ga-zillion dollars that we have spent in Iraq and that we

Could continue to spend might do to avert this situation?

We have spent, to date, 600 billion dollars on Iraq. Such awful corruption as Halliburton and KRB charging our government $ 100 for every load of wash they wash for the GI's.

Let's see, 600 billion dollars divided by 30 K for a Prius.

That would be twenty million Priuses.

But a better deal for the Planet would be an investment in solar cells - though I don't know if this is possible because Germany has already (I've heard) captured the market on solar cells.

The more solar cells you buy the more the price drops. So that you are in effect re-arranging the
cost of energy and lowering the price as you go.

However the real ability to change the energy game is conservation.

A lot of power useage is for stupid things - I have not used a clothes dryer in over a year.

If every other household in America did the same, that would make a big impact.

Let's not forget - there is an ample supply of certain gases and an ample supply of coal.

The main problem is that the Powers that Be don't use the solutions at hand to capture any rate of return.

I use my rowing machine one half hour a day - WOuld love to hook it up and supply power to the household. This is already done in certain University buildings - but I don't see PG&E making it a priority. It would hurt the profit margin.

[robertpaulsen]

17. Wealth exists. The motivation for the wealthy to do something does not.

It's a real catch-22, we won't have the will to implement the solutions until we've past the peak and the economy tanks, but then when we have the will, we won't have the money! It pisses me off that Van mentions Bill Gates as one of the people he's sat with who is aware of the problem: here is a guy who definitely has the $$$$$ to help create solutions for this global problem; instead he and Warren Buffett are dumping most of their loose change into developing one of the largest growing petroleum consumers into an even bigger petroleum consumer: India! So I think that's another huge problem: wealth addiction makes them short-sighted as far as investing in the real future, rather than the globalized pipe dream they wish to create.

[Mojorabbit]

9. I started planning for it

five years ago. My progress in preparing will be worthless in the end unless it is a community effort and for that leadership is needed.
We need a person with vision who can guide this country so that the worst of it can be blunted. It still will be very very bad.

[robertpaulsen]

16. I'm very interested in learning about communities that are preparing.

There seems to be a lot of activity in Northern California, specifically in the areas of Santa Rosa, Sebastapol, and especially Willits. It's probably not wise for me, living in Southern California, but most of my relatives live either here with me or in Southern Oregon. So I'm kind of in a wait and see position right now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. It's not just individual outreach.

You absolutely cannot expect the usual people to make the usual sacrifices, and still allow incredibly greedy people to hog up whatever they want, whenever they want.

I'll say it, because nobody seems to have the balls to do it. Nobody is going to believe that we're facing diminishing resources until you curtail capitalism. If you want to live in a civilized world, where we're going to make it through the era of diminished petroleum, you will have to reign in the profit margin of the oil industry. If you don't, the people who continue to put their self-interest ahead of the needs of the many will set the pace for everyone else.

[robertpaulsen]

11. UNTIL YOU CHANGE THE WAY MONEY WORKS, YOU CHANGE NOTHING

UN-PRESIDENT’S DAY: UNTIL YOU CHANGE THE WAY MONEY WORKS, YOU CHANGE NOTHING, By Carolyn Baker

Economics is the study of our optimization (creation, management, allocation and destruction) of our resources. To optimize something is to make the most of it. Our spiritual and intellectual resources are infinite. That means there is more of it than we could ever use up. Our resources in the material world —such as air, water and land—- are finite. Most of us believe that we have a responsibility to take care of the land, to take care of each other, and to take care of ourselves. Economics is a body of knowledge that helps us do that.

Catherine Austin Fitts, “Economics 101: A Curriculum” (which may be read at her Solari website)

All-too frequently I encounter activists who don’t like to talk about money. While they crusade loudly for “economic justice”, they resist talking about their own relationship with money as if it were somehow an X-rated topic on par with sexuality or bathroom habits. In other words, these well-meaning individuals have little or no financial literacy. For this reason I wrote a 2005 article “Activists And Accountants: Absolute Allies” in which I emphasized that economic IN-justice only happens when people sacrifice sustainability for profit and that whenever we attend to our own sustainability and that of our community, we are practicing economic justice, but we cannot do so without acquiring financial literacy.

My experience has confirmed this for me so profoundly in recent years that I have come to agree wholeheartedly with Catherine Austin Fitts that until we change the way money works in our personal lives, our communities, and our world, we will change nothing. I know of no one else on earth who has so clearly articulated the way sustainable and unsustainable economic systems work as Catherine has. For this reason, I place little emphasis on the role of presidents as I teach history to college students or in my thinking and discourse on the government of the United States and how it functions.

“Tapeworm” is the name Fitts applies to the economic system of the U.S. which seeks to feed upon both its inhabitants and its neighbors, near and far, and at the same time, ingest them with toxins which cause them to crave the very elements which feed the Tapeworm, thereby establishing a perpetual search-and-destroy economic system. Inherent in Tapeworm economics is the primacy of centralized financial systems such as the Federal Reserve, national and worldwide banking networks, a complex global economic apparatus, reliance on agribusiness for food supply and distribution, and the privatization of resources—all without financial transparency or accountability.

http://carolynbaker.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/un-presidents-day-until-you-change-the-way-money-works-you-change-nothing-by-carolyn-baker/

In some ways, I'm looking forward to Peak Oil, because it will make the most popular incarnation of capitalism, globalization, obsolete. Our economic infrastructure will have to be localized, so by its very nature, it will have to accountable to the needs of the many over the desires of the few. That is mt hope for a post-peak future: that it will be impossible to maintain a functioning CIA, NSA, Homeland Security or Federal Reserve. Any attempt at totalitarian repression will naturally result in class warfare because those who presume to have authority will no longer be able to exercise it if they can't provide the masses with creature comforts or even basic goods. That's what happened to the Soviet Union to some degree and it will happen all over the world after Peak Oil.

[Karenina]

18. I jes LOVES me some Carolyn Baker!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the link. Quite frankly, I do believe the global monetary system HAS TO CRASH AND BURN. Its momentum is so far beyond any tweaking of trajectory that a hard landing would seem to be the most merciful outcome. Either that or aliens descending with HUGE MAGNETS. :rofl:

Nearly a half century ago, as we studied Capitalism in 5th grade Social Studies, I remarked aloud that "success" depended on unlimited growth which seemed to me similar to cancer. The word CANCER was VERBOTEN and Ms. Houston threatened to send me to the principal's office. I'd ALREADY spent time there for remarking, after a "Duck and Cover" drill, that if a nuke was dropped on our school, we'd be burned to a crisp no matter what we did. Classmates cried, I was sent to be disciplined.

MONEY is a construct, much like race. Same shit, different day.

[robertpaulsen]

19. Capitalism=Cancer. Great story!

What remarkable common sense! You cannot have infinite growth within a finite environment. And if we continue to base our interest accruing economy on non-renewable energy sources, we will end up exactly as you say: CRASH AND BURN!

[truedelphi]

21. Thanks for your insights! I guess that this means I don't need to

Lie here under the desk typing any more.

God! It feels great to sit in a regular chair again. :-)

[BeHereNow]

12. Voted #16...Indeed they know, indeed they have no idea what to do, thus...

They continue collected corporate payola to
try and insure the survival of themselves and
their kin.
To hell with the rest of us.
Katrina'd- that is our future.
BHN

[robertpaulsen]

13. Useless Eaters Unite!

Yes, we need to recognize our future. I am hoping that the future does not have a bunker deep enough to protect Cheney and his ilk from the rage of the masses. Then we've got to find a way to localize our economic infrastructure so that the many benefit, not the few.

[joshcryer]

14. Just FYI, Peak Oil is myth, Colorado and Utah have more oil...

...than all the other oil reserviors in the world combined. Just so you know.

[robertpaulsen]

15. Oh yeah! And more important, oil is a renewable resource!

And not only that, there are HUGE POOLS of abiotic oil hundreds of miles beneath the surface of the earth! All we have to do is keep drilling! Fuck the EROEI and that goddamn greenhouse effect! HAPPY MOTORING!!!