powerswitch - Profile (original) (raw)
on 23 December 2004 (#5541016)
Peak Oil & The Energy Crisis
Energy, environment, economy issues.
This community is about peak oil and the issues which surround it. In a nutshell, peak oil is the point at which an oilfield, a country or the planet reaches its maximum possible output of oil, before going into terminal decline. Large amounts of evidence suggest the entire world is at its peak, with consequences that affect every aspect of our lives. We have built up our modern societies to depend on cheap, easily accessible oil, and are reluctant to turn this around. The website from which this community takes its name, Powerswitch, is an excellent resource for learning more.
Why Are Things Falling Apart? Richard Heinberg explores the good and bad of our discovery of fossil fuels:
Anyone is welcome to post or join, but these are the positions of the admins:
Peak oil is a result of a certain set of economic systems that demand increasing consumption of resources.
Climate change matters. Some posts won't mention peak oil at all. To try to separate the two is irresponsible. But the truth is near all discussion of climate change is connected to resource depletion. Answers to peak oil cannot begin and end with trying to get more crude.
We believe in climate and resource justice. To this end there will be posts about communities and campaigns that are resisting fossil fuel extraction, fossil fuel infrastructure, the people affected by their burning and those most affected by their depletion. These people deserve all the exposure they can get.
Likewise, we will post press releases about anything else energy-related that we deem a worthy cause.
Even though we have general themes, we will post about anything interesting - it's not just political. That includes technology stories, details about films, music and TV programmes, things that may help people transition on a personal level, light-hearted posts and just general news from the energy industries. We're also not shy about posting stories from right-wing sources or intelligent commentary that strays away from our own views. We tend to post roughly once a day to make things digestable.
This community operates an anti-oppression policy. This is not an irrelevant tag-on but a central component of discussing energy issues. Who gets energy, who uses energy, who is harmed by climate disasters and every other element of energy consumption - the answers to these questions are affected by peoples gender, race, wealth, nationality, sexuality and physical ability. This means that all commentary where relevant must be written with respect and privilege checking. Anything seen not to be fitting these guidelines will be called out. If we profess to care about what peak oil is going to do to life on this planet, the acknowledgment of oppressions must be a part of our thinking, as it is within these frameworks that all energy tragedies happen. It is simply not true to say we all face danger equally. (If you don't consider yourself an activist and are interested simply in survival, you're still welcome, just follow the rules.)
We post about news and events all around the world. Join us if you want to learn more, change things at a personal, community or political level, share your feelings and ideas with an audience or just to feel part of a supportive group. Thanks for reading.
By using this icon on my website I am stating...
1. That I am opposed to the use of corporate advertising on blogs.
2. That I feel the use of corporate advertising on blogs devalues the medium.
3. That I do not accept money in return for advertising space on my blog.
(Explanation for this is here. Annoyingly, if you don't have a LiveJournal account, we can't do anything to remove the ads you see.)
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