Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (New Society Publishers) | 
| Author: Richard Heinberg
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 9927
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 086571598X
Dewey Decimal Number: 304.2
EAN: 9780865715981
ASIN: 086571598X
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The twentieth century saw unprecedented growth in population, energy consumption, and food production. As the population shifted from rural to urban, the impact of humans on the environment increased dramatically. The twenty-first century ushered in an era of declines, in a number of crucial parameters: - Global oil, natural gas, and coal extraction
- Yearly grain harvests
- Climate stability
- Population
- Economic growth
- Fresh water
- Minerals and ores, such as copper and platinum
To adapt to this profoundly different world, we must begin now to make radical changes to our attitudes, behaviors, and expectations. Peak Everything addresses many of the cultural, psychological, and practical changes we will have to make as nature rapidly dictates our new limits. This latest book from Richard Heinberg, author of three of the most important books on Peak Oil, touches on the most important aspects of the human condition at this unique moment in time. A combination of wry commentary and sober forecasting on subjects as diverse as farming and industrial design, this book tells how we might make the transition from the Age of Excess to the Era of Modesty with grace and satisfaction, while preserving the best of our collective achievements. A must-read for individuals, business leaders, and policymakers who are serious about effecting real change. Richard Heinberg is a journalist, lecturer, and the author of seven books, including The Party's Over, Powerdown, and The Oil Depletion Protocol. He is one of the world's foremost Peak Oil educators.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Great read, but off topic, and unbalanced July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I got a lot from this book. Its entertaining and well written, but also presents a refreshing look at the often ignored connections between climate change, peak oil, and other topics.
The title is misleading though. The majority of the book's pages do not explicitly discuss the peaking in production of oil, steel, and other commodities. In fact, a few pages in the author mentions how many things are not peaking (e.g. community, craftsmanship, etc.).
The author devotes the lion share of the book to what societies will have to do to get by given the impending peaking of everything production or energy related. In short, economies will become more local, production more manual, and society will de-urbanize. The last chapter is a speculation in broad strokes that this will be accompanied by a fair bit of discomfort, if not outright pain, and gnashing of teeth.
I suspect the author is largely correct in his assessment. But he only briefly discusses why this will be so. To me this is a major flaw in the book, and left me feeling the argument presented is unbalanced.
For example, only a few pages explain why adoption of coal, nuclear and natural gas can't delay these trends any further out than a decade or two, and there is almost no discussion of why wind, solar, and/or geothermal cannot post-pone them forever.
Although I tend to agree with the author, other books credibly argue that we won't be running out of fossil fuel soon, and that the downward slope of the oil peak will be long, drawn out, and replete with technology intensive schemes such as the conversion of coal to gasoline or natural gas, collection of frozen natural gas, and extraction of petroleum from shale and tar sands. While such treaties usually ignore environmental concerns, they do make a point that should at least be addressed.
 Peak Everything, Waking Up to a Century of Decline July 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent summation of the ecological problems facing us, not only as a people but a nation and world. Pulls it all together in one book. Excellent.
 Old Hippie Needs to Grow Up! July 5, 2008
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
I am writing this review in the hopes that someday Mr. Richard Heinberg sees this review and mails me a check for the price of this book. Now this very smart man is just writing goofy stuff to sell a book and make a buck. It's clear Mr. Heinberg hates Republicans, hates Conservatives, hates corporations, hates profits (unless they are his profits), hates Nixon, Reagan, BushI and BushII, and he takes a swipe at Christian fundamentalist and the old Confederacy on page 169. In other works he makes it clear he hates rich people and admires the Cuban Miracle. The Cuban Miracle? Cuba went into a mini-peak oil with the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the Soviets cut off their oil. What did to Cubans do? They got up and got together and grew vegatables. Wow! They decided growing vegatables was better than starving to death! Wow! What a miracle! Mr. Heinberg, The Renick family in America from 1719 to 1940 produced almost all of their food. It's no miracle! On page 170, the author states "by electing Nixon, Reagan, and Bush and supporting the Vietnam war." Wait a minute Mr. Heinberg, I was there in the 1960's. You left out President Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. They got us involved in the Vietnam War. The most Americans sent to Vietnam at it's peak of around 530,000 Americans was during the administration of a Democrat, Lyndon B. Johnson. You know this, your are just being dishonest. Richard honey, Vietnam is over and Mr. Nixon is dead, get over it! Take off your bellbottom pants, remove your peace neckles and turn off your lava lamp and move on! I don't mind you and Dr. Frank calling President Bush "an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and megalomaniac tendencies." Maybe he is, but what I am concerned about is that you are one-sided and not objective and unfair. The author has expressed his approval of Mr. Carter and Mr. Al Gore. I liked Mr. Carter. When I first moved to North Yemen in 1980, I remember during Mr. Carter's Administration inflation was so bad that I was getting 16% return on my CD's. Mr. Carter was right about energy, but he appeared to many to be weak, a little effminate and Iran laughed at him. He got nothing done other than screwing oil companies out of their profits which I am sure made you very happy. page 171, "dedicated neo-fascists" Who are you calling names? I understand you are a liberal Jew (God Bless the Jewish People), but your views are the product of your comfortable safe life in California and Canada. Neo-fascists are not out to get you honey, relax. There are no Nazis hidding under your bed. "turning America into a Disneyland Reich." Disneyland Reich? Do you really believe this goofy stuff? As for Mr. Gore, you never mention all the money he and his father received from the coal industry, or the Millions Mr. Clinton has received from the UAE. I don't need Mr. Gore lecturing me about climate change when he's living in a 12,000 square house, jetting around the world and making millions. Page 171, "the mysterious collapse of the twin towers." Richard honey, wasn't nothing mysterious about it. Saudis flew two large commercial airplanes into them. And for your own sake, I wish you would stop saying "stolen election." If you believe this, you should not admit it because if you do believe it you did nothing about it. What did you do? Nothing but whine. Before the constitution, before the bill of rights, before declaration of independence, Renick's got their guns and took a stand. They didn't whine. It was guns, violence and blood that got our freedoms, not paper and ideas. They were men that risk their lives. And before you get too smug and snooty about Christian conservatives in the South, be informed that it was Christian conservatives like my ancestors in the south who grab their guns and helped fight a revolution to form the United States and give you the liberity to whine today. The Parrots of Telegraph Hill? I am very happy for Mr. Mark Bittner that after wasting half his live he found something of interest and learned to study parrots. I am also happy for Mr. Bittner that he got a girlfriend and I am sure he's a nice man. However, this is a useless chapter that helps no one. If there is anyone who's living in a cage it's you. Your cage is the 1960's and the safety of your campus world. You seem to be a sappy romantic. You are also too sappy about the lives of the North American Indian. Many tribes lived hard and violent lives. I am truly glad that we don't live in an age of "Peak Art Supplies." You would take away art supplies from Monet and Van Gogh and share them with people that have an IQ of 75 to 80 that have no tallent. Who did James Titus Renick vote for in 1821? Or 1829? Or 1850? What party did he belong? It doesn't matter. Democrats and Republicans are the same thing, just packaged differently. All of your blaming and name calling won't make any difference. What's sad to me is that you screwed me out of the price of this book and you cheated yourself. As brilliant as you are, you are starting to waste your tallent. Richard, humanity is not going to move back into the woods and become Art Nouveau loving hippies in touch with nature. Ain't gonna happen! Move on! Regards, Keith Renick, Peachtree City, Ga.
Thinking Straight in a Media of Hearsay and Misinformation June 25, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Heinberg explains how fossil fuels, primarily oil, permeate every aspect of our modern culture - from agriculture to cities and a long-term perspective. In the age of almost 7 billion people demanding more and more of limited resources, the media, politicians and governments tend to only report short-term perspectives and ignore Heinberg's Five Axioms of Sustainability to the extent that these concepts are taboo to be spoken, discussed or thought:
1) Any society that continues to use critical resources unsustainably will collapse.
2) Population growth, and, or, growth in the rates of consumption of resources cannot be sustained.
3) To be sustainable, the use of renewable resources must proceed at a rate that is less than or equal to the rate of natural replenishment.
4) To be sustainable, the use of nonrenewable resources must proceed at a rate that is declining, and the rate of decline must be greater than or equal to the rate of depletion.
5) Sustainability requires substances introduced into the environment from human activities be minimized and tendered harmless to biosphere functions.
The psychology of peak oil and climate change discussion is like Kubler-Ross' "On Death and Dying." This all lands on the shoulders of "boomers" or the "me" generation. How do you stay optimistic and move forward when most have been conditioned to expect continuous greater wealth and lower cost? Questions and anger are answered by a "A Letter From the Future" - a look back from 2107 CE.
Many of us think, "If only I could be rational and think objectively in light of too much hyperbole and misinformation." I keep this book close at hand and constantly reread specific chapters. I need to keep my head on straight and provide others with constructive, objective, logical, forward thinking in light of the current shift to "peak everything" (oil, coal, water, food, transportation, housing, . . .) and not succumb to emotional, short-term, greed and power struggles. This is excellent.
Excellent insights June 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Richard Heinberg did it again. Excellent book with insights everyone should read! And then take action in an according way. Well written, very well reserched. A real pageturner.
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