All world powers now united in the cause of wasting energy on cars

UN summit gathers all the kings horses and all the kings men. They have been terrorizing people for years to steal oil. Now they are getting a little pushback and can't handle it. The irony is, when they get the oil, they waste in on cars. Human progress? It's pathetic. How about just stop the waste first?

The collapse of Saudi Arabia is inevitable - via @nafeezahmed

Middle East Eye: "....They were right. From 2005 to 2015, Saudi net exports have experienced an annual decline rate of 1.4 percent, within the range predicted by Brown and Foucher. A report by Citigroup recently predicted that net exports would plummet to zero in the next 15 years.

...About a quarter of the Saudi population lives in poverty. Unemployment is at about 12 percent, and affects mostly young people – 30 percent of whom are unemployed.

Climate change is pitched to heighten the country’s economic problems, especially in relation to food and water.

...Yet the Saudi government has decided that rather than learning lessons from the hubris of its neighbours, it won’t wait for war to come home – but will readily export war in the region in a madcap bid to extend its geopolitical hegemony and prolong its petro-dominance."

Falling net-energy, money-printing cannot stop its fall

Resource Insights: "But hidden from the view of most is the role that increasingly expensive energy has played since the beginning of this century in slowing economic growth. The shorthand way of understanding this is that in the last century we extracted all the easy-to-get fossil fuels. Now we are going after the hard-to-get remainder which are costly to extract. That takes resources away from the energy-consuming part of the economy and creates a drag on economic growth. Hence, a dramatically slower economy in 2015 after four years of record or near record average daily prices for the most critical fossil fuel, oil. (The recent drop in oil prices is primarily a reflection of slowing demand that comes from a slowing economy.)"

How corporate media spin works with #publictransit

Just a quick look at this article and the spin is obvious. The theme is: oh, if only poor people could have more buses, they could "escape poverty." As if poverty were some sort of disease that mysteriously appears from nowhere and traps people. Actually, what traps people is the subsidized autosprawl system that was forced upon them and for which they are forced to pay. The article goes on... but alas! there is no money for public transit. Meanwhile the US spends billions terrorizing people around the world to keep the oil flowing so suburbs will not become cement wastelands.

Here is a better title: People have been trapped with no buses and forced to support a wasteful autosprawl system that destroys the biosphere. Read for yourself and see the bias.

The Road out of Poverty Is Paved With Better Transportation | TakePart: "Transit access is the No. 1 factor in escaping the cycle of poverty"

The cause of global warming has been standard science since 1970's, Exxon included.

Democracy Now!: "A new report by InsideClimate News reveals how oil giant ExxonMobil’s own research confirmed the role of fossil fuels in global warming decades ago. By 1977, Exxon’s own senior experts had begun to warn the burning of fossil fuels could pose a threat to humanity. At first, Exxon launched an ambitious research program, outfitting a supertanker with instruments to study carbon dioxide in the air and ocean. But toward the end of the 1980s, Exxon changed course and shifted to the forefront of climate change denial. Since the 1990s, it has spent millions of dollars funding efforts to reject the science its own experts knew of decades ago."

Musical chairs played before default allowed. First, they have to make sure poor people are left out.

Many people are looking forward to a default on debt where the billionaires lose tons of money. Ha. Don't hold your breath. They are just moving and shaking to the music until there is no chair left for pensioners and unemployed. Have you heard of the carbon bubble?  That's where fossil fuel companies are counting carbon deposits as reserves when they are actually not marketable. It's $trillions. As soon as the right patsies are holding the debt, the billionaires will allow default.

Guardian: "Millions of social workers, teaching assistants and other council employees have over £3,000 each in coal, oil and gas investments as part of their pension pots - assets that are at risk of falling in value as the world tackles climate change."

Half of cars trips less than 5 miles

CityMetric: "About half of all car trips in countries like the UK, the Netherlands, and the US are fewer than five miles long. Replacing cars with other modes of transport for these short journeys would be a colossal step in the right direction."

Humans currently lack the humility needed to survive as a species

Mandatory Breathalyzers = more #autosprawlsubsidy

The bottom line is, cars don't work. In a desperate attempt to keep this pathetic system going, more money will be spent to try to make it less of a killer. Cars are not necessary. Use the money to make buses fare-free and save more lives that way.

antimedia: "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is currently working on a plan to put alcohol detection systems in every vehicle. The plan, called Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS), is still in its early stages, and they have not yet decided exactly how it will be implemented."

New Silk Road just more cancerous growth

Capitalism must grow or die. Massive worldwide default would extend its life, but only delay the day of reckoning. That's because no matter what we humans do with economics and finance, if we don't repay the biosphere, we will find nature's debt collector to be unmerciful.

The problems of debt and wealth inequality are small compared to the problem of the complex infrastructure we have built that constantly drains the resources needed to sustain life.

China is now jumping on the development bandwagon with big plans to connect and develop eurasia. This will just add to the problem.

The more 10-story glass and steel malls we build, the sooner we will perish.

Want a stable housing market? Get more buses.

Center for Neighborhood Technology: "Strong communities are built around a diverse transportation network that connects people with jobs, schools, retail shops, and more. Our work makes public transit more convenient, destinations more walkable, and housing more affordable."

• Greater sense of community and of place
• More sustainable and efficient use of land, energy, and resources
• Less reliance on cars, resulting in lower gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
• Reduced household spending on transportation
• Increased foot traffic for local businesses
• Increased property values which can be leveraged for future development
• Improved public health through increased walking and biking
• Opportunities for mixed-income housing
• Expanded transit ridership
• Lower public expenditures on roads, water and sewer infrastructure, and police and fire protection

You Call this Progress?

Do the Math: "One of the prevailing narratives of our time is that we are innovating our way into the future at break-neck speed. It’s just dizzying how quickly the world around us is changing. Technology is this juggernaut that gets ever bigger, ever faster, and all we need to do is hold on for the wild ride into the infinitely cool. Problems get solved faster than we can blink.

But I’m going to claim that this is an old, outdated narrative."

Public Transportation saves you money, #freetransit saves your whole town money

APTA studies show that your household can save up to $13,000 a year by using public transit, much more if you can reduce the number of cars you own. But there are even bigger savings to be had. If your town makes buses and trams fare-free, there are many hidden savings in municipal budget and savings in health costs, that will more than cover the lost revenue. See our page Free is Cheaper.

Public Transportation Saves Up To $16,000 Per Year - Gas 2: "We are all aware of the financial argument for using public transportation — it is way, way cheaper. Weighing out the costs and benefits is tricky, but the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) monthly Transit Savings Reports have made it beautifully clear. Ranking the savings for the 20 cities with the highest rates of public transportation use, the latest report finds that they span from $1,343 per month (New York, #1), to $877 per month (Dallas, #20). These figures are calculated by comparing the cost of a monthly transit pass to the cost of gas, parking, and other variables such as insurance, tires, and maintenance. Parking costs alone average almost $2,000 annually, according to APTA."

What should be done first?

Let's suppose you want to save money on your heating bill, so you have your house inspected for that purpose. The inspector advises 3 things:

• double glaze the windows
• increase wall and attic insulation
• replace the door missing from your front doorway

You only have budget for one of these for now. Which to choose?

This is why we advocate free public transit. The private auto is draining civilization by wasting energy. It matters what we do first.

Kurdish nationalism plus big power need to control Kirkuk oil leads to ethnic cleansing

Most Kurds are Sunni Muslim. So why is nationalism so strong? Because they live on top of two important liquids, oil and water. Consequently foreign powers that want control of these two liquids, encourage nationalism in order to create Kurdish "leaders" that they can manipulate. The oil under Kirkuk is the last major reserve of easy-to-get oil. So you can expect more meddling and manipulation of Kurds.

The National: "Last summer when ISIL swept in from the west, many Iraqi Army forces, which were at that time in control of Kirkuk and the oil flats to the south, abandoned their posts. Kurdish Peshmerga flooded south to keep Kirkuk – and its oil – from ISIL’s clutches. They defended the city of 400,000, but it was close: by autumn the frontline with Isis was a just sniper’s shot west of the highway that cuts from Kirkuk all the way to Baghdad, 150 miles to the south."

Saudi kingdom hanging by a thread

#ISIS flag painted on a mountain near #Dawadmi in #Riyadh.. #Saudi pic.twitter.com/6c7p1WeaUa

— Rami (@RamiAlLolah) September 6, 2015

US deliberately killing people to control oil

Physics wins over economics

If you want to understand the world, go back to school and refresh your physics. The age of information is the age of disinformation and there is a lot of confusing propaganda out there. Physics, though, doesn't lie. It is not religion. It is based on evidence.

Here are some things we know about how our home, the biosphere, works.

• Animal life generates heat. 
• Complex animal life that uses million-year-old deposits of carbon generates lots of heat.
• Certain gases in the atmosphere slow the release of heat from the biosphere.
• Energy comes in every day from the sun.
• Life depends on temperatures being in certain narrow range.

Wouldn't it be wise to pay attention to the balance?

Prepper meme is a marketing scam, a dangerous one

Preppers, people preparing for system collapse, are an invention for marketing products related to survival during system collapse.

This is a dangerous business for the customers and society in general.

First of all, the idea that you will sit out in the country with a gun and be safe, is ridiculous. When systems collapse, gangs will form. What will you do when twenty SUV's full of armed thugs drive up to your hideout?

The safest place is among people who are aware, active, and united. Being armed guarantees nothing. Unity brings out the power of people. With this power, you can get guns if you need them.

Currently, people are watching corporate news on TV and getting brainwashed by a steady stream of anecdotal events. Anecdotal thinking makes you stupid.

We should encourage people to turn off the TV and get involved in the community.