Below are some bits and pieces recently posted on YouTube.
George Monbiot grills the IEA
Environmental campaigner, George Monbiot, grills chief economist Fatih Birol on the International Energy Agency’s annual World Energy Outlook 2008 report. In the interview Mr. Birol admits that previous estimates of oil field decline were assumptions rather than assessments and that this years report was the first time ever that the IEA conducted a detailed survey. It has found that the average decline rate of oil fields which have passed peak is 6.7% per year, much higher than last years ‘assumption’ of 3.5% per year.
You can read Monbiot’s full interview here and watch the full documentary here.
Branson on Peak Oil
The UK Industry task force on Peak Oil have produced this short summary video of their recent Oil Crunch report. Given that there seems to be no sustainable alternative to jet fuel, it is amazing to hear Richard Branson of Virgin, one of the contributors to the report, speak from his Necker island home on planning for an eventual future ‘without carbon’ – perhaps he meant to say ‘without airlines’…
You can read a summary and get links to the report here.
Gore on 350
At the recent Poznan climate change conference Al Gore spoke of the need to set 350ppm as the safe limit to avoid runaway climate change. This means not only reducing our current emissions to zero but also capturing carbon already in the atmosphere and sequestering it safely. To highlight the importance of the 350 message environmental campaigner Bill Mc Kribben has set up 350.org
Tipping Over
The evidence that we are passing climate tipping points is mounting with the accelerated melting of the summer north pole ice cap and reports of large scale methane release from the Arctic ocean sea bed. In a recent presentation at the University of South Carolina James Hansen, renowned climatologist at the NASA Goddard Space Institute, explains the role of feed-backs in the climate system and why we should expect sea level rise measured in meters rather than centimeters by the end of the century – unless radical action is taken now.