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I attended an Alternative Energy Fair at the base of Mount Washington in New Hampshire yesterday. I took Ian, a young friend of mine, up there so he could get film footage of John Howe's presentation for a peak oil piece he's working on for a local cable access show.
John Howe and his wife Deb are simply delightful to talk to. Anyone in the Maine/New Hampshire area should look up their booth at the Common Ground Fair in Thorndike this fall (if you can get gas to go there).
The Howes were hawking "The End of Fossil Energy: Last Chance for Survival." http://www.mcintirepublishing.com/index.html
Deb had a funny story: a gentleman from an adjoining table wanted one of John's books. She recommended he donate ten dollars to the Howes' cause. The man claimed that was too much, so he gave her a sample of his "product": FFT Gasoline Blend.
Messiah In a Bottle.
Deb recognized this immediate as scammish, and gave me the bottle "to light a brush pile" if I wish. When I opened the bottle and took a whiff, it smelled like Kool-Aid. There is not an ingredients list on the label.
There was also a big Pickup at the Fair--E85 ETHANOL!--with a big ear of corn painted on the side. The gentleman inside the truck looked terrifically bored.
Messiah In a Husk.
The whole time, as about a dozen people milled around the tent, a constant DIN of motorcycle traffic could be heard taking off up the Mount Washington Auto Road. John had to wear a microphone during his talk to be heard over the traffic noise. Nothing makes me long for Collapse like a fat Harley bellooowing.
As Ian shot footage for his film, I helped John with his placards during the talk. John is magnificently informed and straightforward. The twelve people at the talk had mostly already been informed, so I gathered, but a couple of organizers of the Fair, who didn't know about Peak Oil, were thoroughly impressed.
Questions concerned the need for top-down organization to get the country to power-down, stop reproducing, and get alternatives going. The task seemed insurmountable. One man questioned the possibility of a "democratic society electing someone who is going to ask them to suffer." I silently remarked to myself that they're going to suffer ANYWAY.
The taboo of population control came up and was addressed bluntly. John thinks it's too late for at least 2 billion souls on the planet. (I happen to think it's too late for everyone, but I couldn't tell you what that means!)
I'd call John a cheerful doomer. He's not depressing to be around, nor is he a Kunstler-type smart-ass.
The highlight of our trip was John's solar-powered cheddar-yellow MG. Ian took his camera aboard to interview John.
I think the car is fabulous but clearly not enough.
I can't wait to go to John's farm to see his
solar powered tractor. I could use one of those.
Ian and I left depressed at the pathetic turnout. He has me on film, sweeping my arm toward the meager turnout, saying, "What if somebody held a collapse and no one showed up?"
"a constant DIN of motorcycle traffic could be heard taking off up the Mount Washington Auto Road."
Motorcycles everywhere yesterday in NH - it was the last day of Motorcycle Week. I'm always glad when it's over.
I spent the weekend at the Laconia rally. Nothing like tens of thousands of bikes in one place to understand what a force of nature consumption is. It would have been a good place for a Peak Oil outreach booth. If one had reached some tiny fraction of the people in attendance, one would have made more difference than by isolating one's self with a small group of the same people who already know about energy issues. In my opinion scientists leave a lot to be desired in terms of the ability to market ideas.
There were guys giving out Bibles from the backs of Harleys... now there is an effective social movement that understands how to actually proselytize. They have convinced millions of people that Jesus rose from the dead etc etc etc, but the Peak Oil crowd still can't convince people that we're running out of oil. Hell, scientists in the US can't convince many people of evolution!
Because I am also not a fan of noisy rides, I rode up there on my Aprilia Scarabeo 150cc scooter...
Maybe if we could sell Peak Oil a little better, my buddies would have ridden their bikes up too instead of dragging them in a 2000 pound trailer behind a pickup... they averaged well less than 10 MPG on the way up from CT, while I made the same trip with less than 1/10 the consumption.
I got some funny looks but no outright hostility... I thought riding a goofy bike like that would threaten the whole phallic totem worship that is biking culture, but apparently it is more robust than I imagined. Actually the entire experience bordered on hallucinatory for me. Staggering around among the half-clothed masses at the Broken Spoke Saloon, I imagined myself transported to one of the inner circles of hell, and ended up enjoying it.
Riding up rt 3 from Ashland to Franconia as the sun was rising will stay with me for a long, long time. Even during bike week, at that time of the day I had the road to myself.
Most of the locals I encountered were friendly and I think that they must have valued the economic boost from tens of thousands of bikers more than they were turned off by the traffic and noise pollution.
Best spot is right by the canal next to the beach where you can simultaneously watch the motor vehicles on the strip and the 3mpg pleasure boats heading over to Paugus.
I admire anyone with the balls to be the odd man out, among 10,000 people, whatever the circumstances.
I love hearing these scooter stories... had my first ride on one 2 yrs ago on Crete, it was fantastic. Any recommendations as to brands/types would be appreciated. Also, does anybody out there have experience with Electric Scooters?
Thanks
No one complains about all the fuel used by a zillion NASCAR fans driving huge motor homes to distant races. No one complains about pro and college football fans doing the same, but let 10,000 bikers show up somewhere and suddenly there is a huge controversy. It is the same mentality that gave bikes a bad name from the 1950s - 80s and probably caused primarily by all those cheap drive in movie releases about biker gangs pillaging locals. Biker gangs make up 2% of the bikers and most of them are toothless. Its all baloney. Bikes are far more economical to run and far more fun than motorhomes and the biker community is made up of people from all walks of life. Give it a rest, please.
A 'Kunstler type smart ass' ? Well, I'll agree he's not a dumb ass. Sure, he rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but he got their attention, which can be a tough act if you are meek, mild and polite in society that has largely abandoned that mode. He's not out there to make you feel good about yourself.
Maybe Darwin was a smart ass, or Newton, or Malthus or Erlich or Carson? I'm not expecting him to apologize for being intelligent and ahead of the curve. As to whether his stockmarket predictions come true, the longer they don't the bigger the blowout. He's just saying that while it is tempting to hang in there for the unjustified runup, your financial ass is hanging out and the downside risk is formidable.
It's not about whether you like him; this isn't a weather presenter screen test. Until someone shows up to take over his role and do it better, I'll just be glad he's doing it.
Perhaps some day when you meet Your Hero, you can ask him if he still wishes Afghanistan to be "carpet-bombed back to the the Stone Age."
You'll seek in vain for the comment in his archives, for he has deleted it.
Kunstler loves the sound of his own horn, be it about Y2K, peak oil, or bad architecture. Your comparing him to Darwin and Newton might be the definition of absurd.
I never said he was my hero. I'm not familiar with the bombing comment. Could be. Louis Armstrong loved the sound of his horn too. I didn't compare him to Newton; I merely pointed out that his ideas are reaching a lot of people, and that on certain aspects he appears to be obviously right. Newton might have been a smart ass too; I don't care at this point.
The fact that you are referring to him as a necessary attachment to his ideas is exactly the problem I am referring to. I'd rather have an accurate weather forecast from an obnoxious social pariah than an inaccurate one from the usual Goldilocks. The forecast lasts five minutes and the weather goes on all day.
Darwin and Newton didn't invent anything but merely pointed out aspects of relationships within an existing reality. Same with the others. There will, in all probability, be a long emergency with or without Kunstler. By the way, today's Flustercluck presents the reality of the Oiliad in a way I've not seen before. Like him or not, and lots don't, he has an agile mind and an ability to express himself. Keep the wheat, chuck the chaff.
I'll agree that there are times when he rubs me the wrong way, and his flaws are no doubt in the public record, but it isn't about him, or you or me. That's my point. Maybe Shakespeare was a drunken lout. Didn't affect the run of his plays. Lots of our heroes have or had all sorts of personality quirks. I won't even get into Hollywood.
Newton is credited by many with the invention of the reflecting telescope. He was also pretty good with math.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blnewton.htm
These were noted scientists who almost single handedly advanced their fields by a generation and will probably remain famous as long as the printed word. Kunstler is a journalist who uses heated language and occasionally rude words to describe what others have already discovered. Whether or not you like his work, to compare his stature to the names you mention is at best ridiculous.
Richard C
Yep. Newton used his position as president of the royal society to badmouth his intellectual rivals mercilessly. Lost the plot and spent years researching fairies and angels in his later years. Darwin, on the other hand, was a decent chap :)
b3NDZ3La
you can ask him if he still wishes Afghanistan to be "carpet-bombed back to the the Stone Age."
Jim Kunstler has an Email that is open to serious inquiries, did you, in fairness, ask him that question before you bring it here like some sort of dogs dropping. That sort of statement, without anything more than your say so reflects more on you than on him.
If you want to criticize him get your data first. In the above article, by Kunstler, he says: or they could do the same thing that Saddam Hussein set out to do back in 1990: extract Kuwait's remaining oil by horizontal drilling across the borderline. which is completely backward, it was Kuwait doing the horizontal drilling. I think if this is the level of his knowledge about these events I think he is out of his depth.
Thanks for the post regarding Harleys. After reading it I took plum crazy with its two into one Hooker Header out and ran up and down main street, raising cain. Of course, I put my earplugs in first (kidding). After riding fifty miles today I topped off the tank on that Fat Boy and it took a whopping 1.2 gallons. Even if gas were $10 per gallon that would be cheap and fun entertainment and I made numerous friends for the biker community. I assume most were not wearing ear plugs. Better get used to the Harleys for they will be around a long time after the SUVs are growing daisys.
BTW, I was at Bike Week 2005 in Laconia and took the ride up Mt Washington. We then continued up to Pittsburg NH for the 'blessing of the bikes.' Beautiful country that. We had a log cabin with an old barrel wood stove for a week on Clarksdale Pond with loons included. Had a great time. I put 4,376 miles on the bike that trip without mishap. One must be aware of the moose up there, especially at night.