This evening I've watched the documentary film "The 11th Hour" on Channel 4, looking at the serious environmental crisis that humanity is creating for our planet and ourselves, and talking of the urgent "transition" that we all need to make if we're to stand any chance of avoiding total disaster! The film is very well worth a watch. There's more about it at;
www.11thhourfilm.com or www.11thhourmovie.co.uk
And a couple more good Peak Oil websites I've come across today (both UK based);
Peak Oil; www.peakoil.org.uk
and PowerSwitch; www.powerswitch.org.uk which has an on-line map that you can stick a "pin" in to show people where you are and see who else is near you who shares the same interest. Find the map HERE
Sunday 25 May 2008
Thursday 22 May 2008
BBC News reports on soaring fuel prices
As if to emphasize my point about fuel prices, the lead story on last night's BBC Look East (Wed, 21st May 2008) was that the price of diesel had "jumped by more than 6% in [just the last] one month - its biggest rise this century..."
"... Over the past month the price of diesel in the east is up by 6.4% - from 117.8p to 124.2 pence per litre. Petrol is up by 4.1% - from 108.5p to 112.6p/litre (source: AA Fuel Price Report)."
"Fuel prices are tipped to reach £1.50 per litre this summer."
see; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7413774.stm
And then on tonight's national BBC News the lead story was that the price of a barrel or oil on the world markets has hit a new all-time record high of $135 - that's double what it was a year ago. But I suspect that in another year even $135 will look incredibly cheap! The BBC News suggested that the price could hit $200 by the end of 2008. But they also suggested that it might fall back the other way in coming months (I think that is rather unlikely!).
"Western" governments appear to be blaming OPEC for not increasing their oil production as the cause of higher prices, while OPEC appears to be blaiming market speculators for the price hikes! But the media continues to pay less than adequate attention to the fact that global demand for oil is now outstripping available supply with an ever widening gap.
"... Over the past month the price of diesel in the east is up by 6.4% - from 117.8p to 124.2 pence per litre. Petrol is up by 4.1% - from 108.5p to 112.6p/litre (source: AA Fuel Price Report).""Fuel prices are tipped to reach £1.50 per litre this summer."
see; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7413774.stm
And then on tonight's national BBC News the lead story was that the price of a barrel or oil on the world markets has hit a new all-time record high of $135 - that's double what it was a year ago. But I suspect that in another year even $135 will look incredibly cheap! The BBC News suggested that the price could hit $200 by the end of 2008. But they also suggested that it might fall back the other way in coming months (I think that is rather unlikely!).
"Western" governments appear to be blaming OPEC for not increasing their oil production as the cause of higher prices, while OPEC appears to be blaiming market speculators for the price hikes! But the media continues to pay less than adequate attention to the fact that global demand for oil is now outstripping available supply with an ever widening gap.
Letter printed in today's Dereham Times
My letter resopnding to last week's "Man of our Times" column by Ian Clarke is printed in today's paper on page 7 and is (almost) word for word as I wrote it. The Times editor has given my letter the heading "We can live without cars" which I'm not sure conveys what I wrote in quite the right way! But judge for yourselves.
Below (in italics) is the full text of my letter as I wrote it;
"In response to Ian Clarke's column commenting on rising fuel prices (Dereham Times, 15th May 2008), I wish to draw readers attention to the fact that many experts believe that the global production of oil is now at its all-time peak and is beginning a terminal decline! Anyone who has any idea of economics will understand that this dwindling supply, coupled with continuing growth in demand for oil, both in the "West", and in rapidly developing countries like China and India, will inevitably drive fuel prices ever higher. And we can already see the knock-on consequences, for instance in spurring the dash for bio-fuels which is diverting agricultural land away from food production, thus adding to the global shortage of grain and driving the price of all our food higher while raising the spectre of famine across much of the globe.
As for the profits of oil companies like BP and Shell - it must be recognised that these increased profits are coming from their oil production operations, due to the rising global demand for oil outstripping the available supply and driving up the value of a scarce resource. They make relatively little money from the filling stations themselves! The other big beneficiary of fuel prices in the UK is the Treasury who impose high tax rates;
a) to try to discourage us from using our cars so much (although this doesn't appear to work as many journeys by car are unnecessary and could be done by other means), and
b) (in theory) to invest the money raised into much better public transport, and into local facilities so that people don't have to travel so far for the arts, recreation, and entertainment, etc (if this investment isn't happening then we should all be asking the Government why not?).
Fuel prices will inevitably continue their rapid rise, leading to very serious economic and social consequences for us all, unless we take urgent action to wean ourselves off our addiction to oil! But there are ways we can tackle this. The "Transition Towns" initiative, which began in Totnes, Devon, in September 2006, and now includes many places around the UK (including Norwich) and globally, sees communities looking to develop and implement "Energy Descent Action Plans" to reduce their use of fossil fuels like oil, with a focus on re-localising their economies - increasing local consumption of local produce, etc, and so reducing the need for oil powered transport and the exposure to rising fuel prices that that entails.
Lets all stop whining about the inevitable rising price of a diminishing resource and start working together to find ways of living without the need for a substance that is so destructive to our world. For anyone who saw the exhibition of old photos in Dereham Library from "Before the car was king", lets all start to imagine positively what our towns and villages will be like when "the car is no longer king"!!! And lets stop our NIMBY cries of objection to schemes like wind turbines, which will help us in our urgent need to cut our dependence on all fossil fuels."
Matt Walker
One other letter (by Raymond Mann) printed in today's Dereham Times argues that "pedestrians are more important than cars" and that if they were given more priority, instead of cars, then Dereham "could be a lovely shopping town". I couldn't agree more.
Below (in italics) is the full text of my letter as I wrote it;
"In response to Ian Clarke's column commenting on rising fuel prices (Dereham Times, 15th May 2008), I wish to draw readers attention to the fact that many experts believe that the global production of oil is now at its all-time peak and is beginning a terminal decline! Anyone who has any idea of economics will understand that this dwindling supply, coupled with continuing growth in demand for oil, both in the "West", and in rapidly developing countries like China and India, will inevitably drive fuel prices ever higher. And we can already see the knock-on consequences, for instance in spurring the dash for bio-fuels which is diverting agricultural land away from food production, thus adding to the global shortage of grain and driving the price of all our food higher while raising the spectre of famine across much of the globe.
As for the profits of oil companies like BP and Shell - it must be recognised that these increased profits are coming from their oil production operations, due to the rising global demand for oil outstripping the available supply and driving up the value of a scarce resource. They make relatively little money from the filling stations themselves! The other big beneficiary of fuel prices in the UK is the Treasury who impose high tax rates;
a) to try to discourage us from using our cars so much (although this doesn't appear to work as many journeys by car are unnecessary and could be done by other means), and
b) (in theory) to invest the money raised into much better public transport, and into local facilities so that people don't have to travel so far for the arts, recreation, and entertainment, etc (if this investment isn't happening then we should all be asking the Government why not?).
Fuel prices will inevitably continue their rapid rise, leading to very serious economic and social consequences for us all, unless we take urgent action to wean ourselves off our addiction to oil! But there are ways we can tackle this. The "Transition Towns" initiative, which began in Totnes, Devon, in September 2006, and now includes many places around the UK (including Norwich) and globally, sees communities looking to develop and implement "Energy Descent Action Plans" to reduce their use of fossil fuels like oil, with a focus on re-localising their economies - increasing local consumption of local produce, etc, and so reducing the need for oil powered transport and the exposure to rising fuel prices that that entails.
Lets all stop whining about the inevitable rising price of a diminishing resource and start working together to find ways of living without the need for a substance that is so destructive to our world. For anyone who saw the exhibition of old photos in Dereham Library from "Before the car was king", lets all start to imagine positively what our towns and villages will be like when "the car is no longer king"!!! And lets stop our NIMBY cries of objection to schemes like wind turbines, which will help us in our urgent need to cut our dependence on all fossil fuels."
Matt Walker
One other letter (by Raymond Mann) printed in today's Dereham Times argues that "pedestrians are more important than cars" and that if they were given more priority, instead of cars, then Dereham "could be a lovely shopping town". I couldn't agree more.
Monday 19 May 2008
Record of current fuel prices
Just as a side note I thought; why not on this blog, occasionally record current fuel prices at the three petrol stations in the town! So here's the first log, and I'll try to do it on a regular pattern - perhaps once a month or every 4 weeks!
As of Monday 19th May 2008, between 2:30 & 3pm, fuel prices at the 3 petrol stations in Dereham were as follows;
Morrisons supermarket, Station Road, Dereham
Unleaded; 111.9p
Diesel; 122.9p
BP station, Lynn Hill roundabout, Dereham
Unleaded; 113.9p
Diesel; 124.9p
Tesco supermarket, off Yaxham Road, Dereham
Unleaded; 113.9p
Diesel; 125.9p
P.S.
Perhaps other people could post comments to this blog entry, noting the prices at other petrol stations in the areas surrounding Dereham!
As of Monday 19th May 2008, between 2:30 & 3pm, fuel prices at the 3 petrol stations in Dereham were as follows;
Morrisons supermarket, Station Road, DerehamUnleaded; 111.9p
Diesel; 122.9p
BP station, Lynn Hill roundabout, Dereham
Unleaded; 113.9p
Diesel; 124.9p
Tesco supermarket, off Yaxham Road, DerehamUnleaded; 113.9p
Diesel; 125.9p
P.S.
Perhaps other people could post comments to this blog entry, noting the prices at other petrol stations in the areas surrounding Dereham!
Sunday 18 May 2008
Transition Dereham blog intro
In the "Man of our Times" column of 15th May 2008 in the Dereham & Fakenham Times, chief reporter Ian Clarke (who I know personally to some extent) writes that "the tide must turn over rising fuel prices", complaining about the soaring cost of fuel in the UK over the last 16 months. But Ian fails to make any attempt to analyse why fuel prices are rising so far so fast, or to suggest any solutions we can take other than unfairly blaming big oil company profits and high taxes!
In response I have written a letter to the Dereham Times to highlight the issue of Peak Oil and the almost inevitability that fuel prices will continue to soar, creating serious economic and social consequences for us all unless we take urgent action to reduce our high dependence on oil (and all other fossil fuels). I would like to point people in the direction of the Transition Towns Initiative as a practical solution to the emerging crises that stem from the rising price of oil due to the peaking of global oil production.
I hope that the Dereham & Fakenham Times publishes my letter and that it sparks a local debate in our towns and villages leading to Transition Towns across mid-Norfolk. But after writing the letter I thought that whether or not the Times prints it, I would create a blog to publish it myself, and hopefully to ignite and to record the debate and the process towards creating Transition Dereham.
Whether the Times prints my letter, in whole, part, or not at all, I will post the letter here and as I wrote it, when the next issue of the Dereham & Fakenham Times comes out this Thursday; 22nd May 2008. I must stress that Dereham is not (yet) a Transition Town. But I hope that a debate will be started that will lead us towards being a Transition Town and that this blog will become a record as we engage in the Transition Towns process.
I will endeavour to make posts to this blog over the coming weeks and months as any debate develops and may open it up to other voices as and when a Transition Dereham group may develop. But whether this blog becomes a hive of news and debate or a quite and forgotten corner of cyberspace will all depend on the nature of the media debate and the degree of willingness of local people to engage in this serious issue.
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