 | Maryland Legislation Taps Energy Efficiency as the "First Fuel" | The Oil Drum | Cracking shale and why horizontal wells are slick |  |
DrumBeat: April 10, 2008
Posted by Leanan on April 10, 2008 - 9:23am
Topic: Miscellaneous
Delta, Northwest could announce merger next week
Pressured by extraordinary jet fuel prices, Delta and Northwest airlines want to announce a merger deal as soon as next week, according to two sources briefed on the airlines' plans.The companies, which were ready to announce a merger in February, have held off for two months in hopes the unions representing their pilots would agree quickly on how to merge their memberships. Merging the pilots into one union with one labor contract would allow the airlines to use each others' planes, airport gates and pilots most efficiently as soon as the merger closed.
Although the pilots have not come to agreement, the companies feel pressured to move forward now with a merger — with or without an agreement between the pilot groups — because of the crisis in jet fuel prices, the sources say.
There are those that will claim we are in a new era of peak oil and that oil supplies are being controlled by unfriendly countries and that oil has only one way to go but up. That oil is a finite resource and that we will never see prices be cheap for a sustained period again. Of course this argument is not one I am taking from today but back in the 1970’s.
Lukoil tries to pacify indigenous people
One of the newest oil-producing regions in Russia, the Nenets autonomous district is home to lucrative projects for Lukoil and Rosneft. It is also home to a population of 7,000 indigenous Nenets whose livelihood and semi-nomadic way of life are being increasingly threatened by the growing oil industry.
Shell signs accord for China to buy liquid natural gas from Qatar
China signed a 25-year agreement Thursday with Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Qatargas to buy three million tons of liquid natural gas a year from Qatar.
Strategic move: Hugo Chávez seeks to nationalise the cement and steel industries
IN A surprise decision, the government of President Hugo Chávez announced in the early hours of April 9th that it would renationalise the huge steel complex belonging to Sidor, which has been embroiled in a bitter labour dispute for over a year. Just days earlier the president had taken a similar decision in relation to the cement industry: three foreign transnationals—Mexico's Cemex, France's Lafarge, and Holcim of Switzerland—which supply most of the local market, are being offered a joint-venture scheme like the one applied last year to the oil companies in the Orinoco heavy-oil belt.Oil, steel and cement have all been declared “strategic” industries, and must therefore, according to the government's economic and political programme, be placed under state control.
U.S. navy secures oil, fights drugs off Africa
DAKAR (Reuters) - The United States is stepping up its naval presence in the lawless waters off West Africa to secure vital oil supplies and curb drug smuggling being used to finance terrorism, an admiral said.
If Peak Oil comes, my family is screwed
At Williams-Sonoma I bought a yogurt maker. This was sort of beside the point, Peak Oil-wise, and had more to do with trying to reduce the volume of food packaging coming into our home, although part of my justification for the splurge could be summarized as: "What if we can't find yogurt after Peak Oil? We need to keep our acidophilus counts high in our stomachs in case we have to, you know, digest rats or whatever." In any case, the yogurt maker runs on electricity, so after the oil crisis, there won't be any home made yogurt. We'll have to rely on the enzymic assistance of pineapple, vis a vis the rats.
Next-generation nuclear fuel may be too hot to handle: report
PARIS (AFP) - New high-efficiency nuclear fuel meant to burn longer and stronger may prove unstable in an emergency and hard to dispose of, according experts cited in a report published Wednesday.
Shell wants developing nations in carbon market
Royal Dutch Shell wants a global carbon market to be introduced as "quickly as possible" to ensure nations like India and China participate."We need this as soon as possible to ensure that CO2 reduction dollars focus on the most cost-effective and implementable solutions globally," Malcolm Brinded, Shell's head of exploration and production, said at an energy conference in Paris today.
Russia to Cut Oil Taxes as Production 'Stagnates'
(Bloomberg) -- Russia will cut taxes on oil companies to overcome production "stagnation" after a decade of growth, Energy and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko said."The output level we have today is a plateau, stagnation," Khristenko said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Moscow. "We hope the debate on tax changes will be complete within two or three months."
For those of us who have been watching the energy scene for the last few decades, there’s a certain wry amusement to be gained from the daily fare on the peak oil newsblogs. Once the conservation and appropriate tech movements of the 1970s collapsed beneath the weight of the falling oil prices of the 1980s, it became highly unfashionable to question the theory that the market economy could extract infinite resources from a finite planet.
Saudi oil minister predicts fossil fuels to serve global energy needs for at least 50 years
PARIS (AP) - Fossil fuels will supply the bulk of global energy needs for at least the next 50 years, the oil minister of OPEC's biggest oil producer said Thursday.Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Naimi said told the International Oil Summit in Paris that his country is boosting production and refining capacity to meet future demand.
IEA Chief Nobu Tanaka Urges Oil Producers To Maintain Output
International Energy Agency executive director Nobu Tanaka repeated a call to oil-producing countries to maintain their output levels, speaking on the sidelines of an international energy conference.
New York to Reject Proposal for Gas-Import Terminal
(Bloomberg) -- New York officials will reject a plan by TransCanada Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc to build a liquefied-natural-gas terminal in Long Island Sound, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
Iraqi Oil Ministry: Deals are imminent with major companies to boost production
BAGHDAD: Iraq is in the final stages of discussions with major oil companies to help the country boost its production, an Oil Ministry official said Thursday.The official told The Associated Press that only "one or two" issues remain under discussion, including "mechanism of payment."
Venezuela assures assistance to India in attaining energy security
(KUNA) -- South American Oil-rich nation of Venezuela Thursday assured India of full cooperation in attaining energy security.
Mexico's PRI wary of private companies refining oil
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A key Mexican opposition party said on Thursday it was wary of parts of a government energy reform proposal that would allow private companies to invest in refining.
The New Boom Echoes Deep In Oil And Gas Fields
The answer to why oil and gas production declined in the 1930’s and yo-yoed until the present will require looking back a few years. In 1912 West Virginia ranked number two in the nation in oil production and number one is gas. At the turn of the century most oil and gas was piped or sent out of state, because no refineries existed in West Virginia and the buyers were in the major industrial areas of the east. By 1907 West Virginia sent 77 percent of its gas to the Pittsburgh area, to Ohio, and to some extent Maryland. Current data indicate 70 percent is still exported out of state, connecting to pipelines allover the U.S., more is under construction and old lines are being refurbished. Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia, states “West Virginia only has 1.8 million people. We don’t have the local market.”
Total CEO welcomes Chinese state fund investment in the oil company
PARIS (AP) - The head of French oil company Total SA welcomed a Chinese investment fund as a new shareholder, saying Thursday it will help strengthen Total's presence in China.
NEW YORK (AP) -- UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, the second-largest U.S. carrier, said Thursday it is raising domestic ticket prices by as much as $30 round-trip."The fare increase will help us to offset record-breaking fuel costs," spokesman Jeff Kovick said.
Fuel costs are even starting to affect long-haul drivers who work for major nationwide carriers.Michael Conaway (and his beagle-Jack Russell terrier mix, Cody) drives for Crete and earned $69,000 last year as one of the carrier’s top drivers. But he’s getting less from the company’s profit-sharing plan because of higher fuel prices.
“The company don’t make as much money with the price of diesel,” he said last week, parked at Johnson’s Corner while he waited for his shipment to be ready.
The instructions on the bag say ‘add sand and water and mix thoroughly'. Or at least that's what they would say if you could find a bag of cement in the UAE these days.With the highest per capita expenditure on construction in the world, many building sites in and around Dubai have stopped work while contractors desperately try to source the grey stuff from the black market.
Pakistan: Fear reigns supreme as city hit with more mayhem
KARACHI - Violence paralysed civic life in the city on Wednesday. All activities were suspended, and traffic on major arteries came to a standstill for hours. Hundreds of thousands of private as well as public transport vehicles that could not make it off the roads in time remained stranded in massive traffic jams after riots erupted Wednesday afternoon in Saddar Town, the city’s main business district, and then extended to other parts of Karachi.The public transport that was not stranded in the gridlocks disappeared from the roads minutes after some buses, cars and trucks were torched.
Food Shortages An Emergency - FAO Chief
NEW DELHI (IPS) - Jacques Diouf, director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), on Wednesday described spiralling food prices as an "emergency" that demanded concerted global attention."In the face of food riots around the world like in Africa and Haiti, we really have an emergency," Diouf said at a news conference in New Delhi that was also addressed by Lennart Bage, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Kandeh K. Yumkella, director general of the U.N. Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
WHILE there are many reasons to believe that Bangladesh can emulate the FDI success story of India or Vietnam, one factor that could de-rail even a perennial Bangladesh optimist like me is the escalating power crisis gripping the country. I have read all sorts of statistics, such as the current power generation capacity of 4000 MW versus a required 5000 MW (excluding captive power plants). I have read that for every percentage point increase in growth above 7%, we need to add 2000MW of power.
International aviation officials approve Sasol's coal-based jet fuel
South Africa-based Sasol Ltd. announced April 9 it has become the first company worldwide to receive international approval for its 100% synthetic jet fuel produced by its proprietary coal-to-liquids process.Sasol's CTL product will be the first fully synthetic fuel to be approved for use in commercial airliners, said the company. "This marks a significant development in the adoption of clean burning alternative fuels for the aviation industry; engine-out emissions of Sasol's jet fuel are lower than those from jet fuel derived from crude oil due to its limited sulphur content," said the company.
The Peak Oil Crisis: The First Shortages
Fuel prices alone are unlikely to bring America to its senses.It clearly will take outright shortages with lines at the pumps, curtailed deliveries and many other misfortunes before serious measures to deal with declining oil supplies –- speed limits, rationing, mandatory car pools, improved mass transit -- are taken. Thus the question becomes: how soon?
Al-Naimi slams biofuels, favours solar energy
Saudi Arabia's oil minister on Thursday slammed biofuels, saying they did not protect the environment or help supply security, but added solar power had to be considered one of the best clean energy sources.'Let's be realistic, ethanol and biofuels will not contribute to the protection of the global environment by reducing (carbon dioxide) emissions, they will not increase energy security, nor will they reduce dependency on fossil fuels to any appreciable degree,' Ali Al-Naimi told an oil conference.
'Biofuels are not the solution,' he added.
Stop using food for biofuel, West told
NEW DELHI - India and African nations are calling on the Western world to rethink the diversion of huge amounts of food for biofuel, which has created shortages and driven up prices in poorer countries.Faced with record-high oil prices, governments in Europe, the United States and Canada are subsidizing the production of ethanol, a gasoline substitute, from corn and other grains.
Brent Crude Oil Hits New All-Time High Of $109.98/bbl
Brent crude oil rallied to a new all-time high in midmorning trade after a surprise drop in US crude stockpiles yesterday fueled fears supply will remain tight going forward.
Parker Drilling Exits Saudi Venture
"We concluded that this joint venture was not the best organizational structure for applying our project management expertise and disciplined processes," Robert L. Parker Jr., chief executive, said in a statement."As noted in our public filings, we anticipated that completion of construction and commissioning of the rigs would require significant additional capital due primarily to cost overruns, delays and remedial work."
With gas 55 cents per gallon higher than last year — the national average is now $3.34 per gallon — a group of small business owners testifying before Congress Wednesday called for government price controls.
How accurate are these predictions? Like weathermen, governmental and private oil watchers often get it wrong.Daniel Yergin, a Pulitzer Prize winning author of several books on the oil industry, heads a group called the Cambridge Energy Research Association.
Although Yergin is often quoted as an expert in the field of predicting global trends and price structures for crude oil, he assured CNBC viewers in August 2007 that, “Early next year we expect to see prices drop into the mid $60s for a barrel of crude oil.”
India's Gas Shortage Gets Relief From Reliance Output
(Bloomberg) -- Reliance Industries Ltd. may produce 50 percent more natural gas from India's biggest field than the company estimated, easing shortages that idled utilities in the world's second fastest-growing economy.
Norwegian Oil Production Down Over Last Year
Norwegian oil production was somewhat lower in February than last year, while natural gas production increased, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said Wednesday.A total of 20.6 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalents (Sm3 o.e.) were produced, one million higher than February 2007, NPD said in a press release.
Oil price could hit $150 within five years, says Guinness
Experienced commodity investor Tim Guinness expects the oil price will hit $150 a barrel in the next five to 10 years before a demand shock reverses the current trend of increasing prices.
Scientist Seeks Ways To Squeeze More Oil Out Of Existing Wells
ScienceDaily (Apr. 9, 2008) — Lewis Brown continues to devote much of his more than 40 years in petroleum microbiology figuring out how to squeeze more petroleum out of abandoned or soon-to-be-abandoned oil fields.The Mississippi State researcher already has extended the life of one field by 17 years. That may sound far-fetched for those unfamiliar with his ongoing research that involves the forced growth of oil-chasing microbes used to redirect injected water that, in turn, sweeps once-inaccessible oil from old wells into production.
UK: PM writes to G8 urging action on food scarcity
Gordon Brown raised fresh concerns about the impact of biofuels yesterday, as he put rising food prices on the world agenda by writing to fellow G8 leaders to prepare an international package on food scarcity.
Lukoil's profit rose 27 percent in 2007 on higher oil prices, increased refinery production
MOSCOW (AP) - OAO Lukoil, Russia's second largest oil producer, said Thursday its profit rose by 27 percent in 2007, fueled by high world oil prices and an increase in refinery output.Lukoil, which also operates service stations in the northeastern United States, earned $9.51 billion as revenues climbed 21 percent to $81.9 billion last year.
Two Russian regions suing oil giant Total for billions
Paris - Two Russian regions have taken French oil giant Total to court to recover up to 170 billion dollars they claim the company owes them for breaking a contract, the daily Le Figaro reported Thursday. According to the report, in 1990 - when the company was known as Elf - its chief Loik Le Floch-Prigent wanted to take advantage of the break-up of the Soviet Union to exploit oil in some of its regions.
Energy-hungry Vietnam awaits first refinery
Vietnam, desperate to meet energy needs expanding at about twice the rate of its booming economy, is putting the final touches on its first oil refinery, with a second soon to follow.
Australia: Wither peak oil at Rudd's 2020 Summit?
Australia's current pattern of settlement is impossible to maintain without cheap oil - it is essential for providing barely affordable food to remote aboriginal communities and for the operation of our car-dependent outer suburbs where young families on lower incomes try to afford record-high mortgages while trying to avoid "travel poverty".
Conservationist Erickson states population is 'hanging on a thread' with current oil consumption
"Here comes the sun, little darlin', here comes the sun, it's all right now...here comes the sun..."According to Rochester resident Norm Erickson, the sun might be one of our energy saviors. It's free, doesn't come in a tanker from the Middle East, shines nearly every day, and its solar energy can be stored underground during the spring and summer for winter heating use.
New Zealand: Climate change forecasts 'invalid' - researcher
Karori researcher Kesten Green has told MPs there was no need to pass the Government's Climate Change (Emissions Trade and Renewable Preference) Bill - because global warming forecasts are unscientific.
Warming Trends Rise In Large Ocean Areas – Study
HANOI - Warming trends in a third of the world's large ocean regions are two to four times greater than previously reported averages, increasing the risk to marine life and fisheries, a UN-backed environmental study said.
Environment can find unusual friends in unusual places
Perhaps the most surprising thing to me is the reaction from people and organizations that I normally wouldn't expect to be interested in environmental conservation.In one example, a young professional hockey player named Andrew Ference from the Boston Bruins approached the global-warming experts at the David Suzuki Foundation to see how he could reduce his own carbon footprint.
Saudi Says Won't Dump Oil On Market; OPEC Sees Weak Demand
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Oil Minister Ali Naimi said Thursday Saudi Arabia won't put extra crude onto the market to take advantage of high prices as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' data head warned its monthly oil market report due Tuesday would show weaker-than-expected demand."I'm not going to dump oil into the market," Naimi told reporters at a Petrostrategies oil summit in Paris.
"If there are buyers, then we will sell him more oil," Naimi said. "From my perspective, I believe the market is well supplied. Inventories are building...the world is producing more oil than is being consumed."
High-rise towers joined by wind turbines
Taking architecture, and wind power, to new heights, developers of the Bahrain World Trade Center in Manama, Bahrain, flipped the switch to start three huge turbines set between two towers — a first glimpse of technology that they hope will power up to 15 percent of the center.
The UK needs to rethink its 'romantic' energy policy or face disaster
Puffing on a Sumatran Nobel cigar, Germany's energy baron Wulf Bernotat has a few words of friendly warning for Britain: face up to the harsh realities of the global power crunch, or face strategic disaster.
Analysis: Companies race for nuclear plant
The United States may soon see a resurgence in nuclear power--if the government approves any of the applications for new power plants currently piling up in record numbers.As of this month, nine different businesses have requested permission to build a total of 15 nuclear reactors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees U.S. nuclear power plant operation and licensing. The agency expects to receive applications for another 18 power plants, totaling 33 altogether, in the next year or so.
Westinghouse wins first US nuclear deal in 30 years
Westinghouse Electric, the nuclear design and build firm sold by the British government two years ago, has won its first contracts in America for 30 years.The move underlines the worldwide renaissance of atomic power generation as a source of low-carbon energy. The Pittsburgh-based group, which has sought approval for its reactor design to be accepted in Britain, has won a deal from Georgia Power to build two AP1000 nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Georgia, for an estimated $13bn (£7bn).
Mitsui proposes ammonia, methanol production on Sakhalin
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - Japan's Mitsui & Co., Ltd. put forward a proposal on Wednesday to convert natural gas to ammonia and methanol on Russia's Far East island of Sakhalin.The Japanese company owns 12.5% in the Sakhalin II oil and gas project, controlled by Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Silk-clad sheikh protects Iraq's northern pipelines
MULTAKA: Sheikh Abu Saif Al-Jubburi is a man to be reckoned with in Iraq's northern oil hub, where the tribal leader and his 800 men protect strategic pipelines and US troops in the volatile region. Clad in black silk, a shining gold watch clasped to his wrist, Jubburi welcomes visitors at the gates of his kitsch candy-pink mansion, with its swimming pool, fake crystal chandeliers and monumental staircase. Jubburi is the mayor of Multaka, a town between the rebel bastion of Hawija and the northern Iraq oil hub of Kirkuk, a flashpoint city riven by ethnic tension.After the US-led invasion of Iraq five years ago, Jubburi left a lucrative trade "selling potatoes" which he says earned him "up to 10,000 dollars a day" to devote himself to guarding roads in areas where there are oil pipelines. The pistol-toting father of 18 is now the uncontested master of 885 men and 80 checkpoints on the Hawija-Kirkuk highway that runs alongside pipelines that transport Iraq's black gold north to Turkey.
Iran To Spend EUR17 Billion-EUR18 Billion On Oil Refineries Until '12
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Iran plans to invest between EUR17 billion-EUR18 billion in its downstream oil sector until 2012 to upgrade existing refineries and build new ones, an Iranian oil executive said Wednesday.
SANAA - An explosion rocked the Yemeni capital overnight near the offices of Canadian oil company Nexen, without causing any casualties, a security official said on Thursday.
U.S. trade gap widens unexpectedly in Feb.
The usual culprits of a higher deficit, higher imports of oil and imports of cheap goods from China, were noticeably absent in February. The Chinese New Year caused imports from China to fall to their lowest level since March 2007. And oil imports fell after eleven straight monthly gains. Record imports of food, industrial supplies and consumer goods pushed the deficit higher.
MARCUS HOOK, Pa. — Sunoco Inc. declined Wednesday to estimate how long its 180,000-barrel-a-day Marcus Hook oil refinery will stay closed while an electrical failure is investigated.The power outage forced the refinery along the Delaware River southwest of Philadelphia to close. The shutdown involved dramatic flaring at the refinery, and nitrous oxide was emitted from a neighboring chemical unit.
Shell and Total eye Mexico oil law changes
LONDON (Reuters) - European oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and Total said they were keenly watching proposed legal changes in Mexico that could pave the way for investment by foreign companies in oil production.
More plastic than ever on Britain's beaches
The latest Marine Conservation Society (MCS) check revealed that plastic litter has increased by 126 per cent since the annual survey began in 1994.The survey found big rises in the amount of drinks bottles, plastic bags and cigarette butts dumped or washed up by the tide.
Over 170 species of marine wildlife including birds, whales and turtles were recorded fatally mistaking plastic for food.
Philippines to make climate change part of school curriculum
"Our children will inherit the earth from us," said Education Secretary Jesli Lapus. "We must make sure that this inheritance is in great shape for them to cherish."
Hunters worry about global warming
WASHINGTON - Global warming could force elk and mule deer from much of the American West. Wild trout could disappear in lower Appalachian streams. Two-thirds of the country's ducks may disappear.A new assessment of the threat to fish and wildlife habitat has hunters and anglers calling for action.
TV docs on a roll, with China, climate change topping sales
The growing global taste for programmes that roll out reality is currently so high that factual shows have become the second most purchased TV genre at the twice-yearly television trade shows organised by Reed MIDEM -- MIPTV and MIPCOM....TV buyers this week showed particular interest for green docs, such as National Geographic's "Six Degrees Could Change The World" and a France Television docu-drama "Changing Climates", that looks forward to 2075 when global warming has seriously affected the everyday lives of our grandchildren.
from article:
High-rise towers joined by wind turbines.
I wouldn't like to see one of the blades fail on that thing. It does happen. Blades have been known to fly off!
You mean like this
http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/42761/12d9620a/windmolen_zegt_krak.html
BTW, that tower is in Bahrain. I don't think they have a lot of strong wind there. But then again, maybe should've been fitted with solar instead.
Interesting enough, but I see that as a WT-techno-stunt.
They depend on a prevailing wind from one direction only – head on (as I se it). That funneling effect between the buildings I suspect will cause more trouble than benefits. If wind is slightly offset head-on, there will be much more strain on one side than the other, spawning wobbling and balancing problems, but we shall wait and see. I’ll give it a short year or so ….
Why did't they mount two WTs on top of the buildings(?) a lot of wind up there, and from all directions.
I smell some audible and visiual noize-issues as well for those offices near the WTs, but fancy to look at from a distance.
Here's a video link to this story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7340528.stm
Cheers,
Paul
My 6 year old son is a pretty talented drawer. He can draw very well and takes an art course at the local art museum and the teacher is enthusiastic about him. We are generally worried about him as he is completely undisciplined; say in learning music or doing anything we tell him to, like learning to read, so we see this drawing talent as one good thing that he could develop.
So when my wife read an article yesterday evening in an educational magazine she gets, which said that when kids learn to read and write and memorize lots of stuff in school they lose their creativity/spontaneity she got worried as our son only has his creativity and is completely undisciplined.
It occurred to me while riding on my bike to work this morning that the western language is based on phonetic symbols/alphabet which anchors language/speaking skills in the left brain hemisphere (right handed). Western civilization is very linear and logically oriented therefore as the left brain hemisphere dominates. However in China they use ideograms (similar to hieroglyphics system of the very long enduring mystically based Egyptian culture) and when a Chinese person has a stroke in the left brain hemisphere they can still speak whereas a westerner cannot. In China the dominant cultural tradition is holistic and cyclical. This would be presumably because the dominant right brain hemisphere organizes itself in this manner.
So it would appear that instead of arguing about linearity or progress vs. cyclical holistic systems or if civilization is good or evil or man himself we might look at some more basic features of how we think and why this has so developed. A balanced way of thinking (between the hemispheres due to our predominant way of communication or learning) might allow us to survive long term.
There might be some tactics to remedy this domination of the left brain hemisphere. For example I was raised right handed as were my parents although they were really left handers. I taught myself writing left handed several years ago and had to retrain my older son (now turned 9) also last year to write left handed after he took a test with a professional who said that he was 90% left handed.
Besides our language and handedness there might be other ways to change/balance our dominant left brain hemisphere mental patterns which apparently doom us personally / societally to perpetual/cyclical self destruction due to a lack of yin/yang left/right brain hemisphere balance. Suggestions would be here welcome. I think ecological economics and similar are a start but these do not go deep enough into the root problem. Psychology and religion are just explanations but explanations and base on logical and not holistic constructs.
If we change literally how we think through simple mechanical changes in handedness and language structure and perhaps through other means perhaps we could tip the balance towards long term stability in human culture. I do no mean to say that China or Egypt were without up/down cycles with wars, etc. as in the west or to romanticize them but just to show that as the current dominant culture is based on the western scientific/economic paradigm which again comes from western concepts of ideology and linearity so that perhaps a simple choice of alphabet over ideogram in the ruling class predetermined the fate of our culture. We could perhaps reverse and arrest this problem but only if it can be recognized as the problem.
You might find this video of interest... it's a lecture given by brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor on the differences between the brain hemispheres. The most fascinating part is where she describes her personal experience of suffering a left-hemispheric stroke. It's about 20 minutes long, but well worth it.
I couldn't manage to download the flashplayer so it wouldn't play. I read the text and it confirms esoteric religious concepts are bassed on right brain hemisphere.
http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/jill_bolte_tayl.php#more
As an implicit test of your thesis that choice of written language representation determining dominant culture, one would expect there to be much less difference between the two kinds up to the point that a significant proportion of the population became literate. Given that illiteracy was the norm until relatively recent historic times when I think you could already see the distinct cultural patterns in east and west, I'm not sure it supports your contention.(Actually it's more complicated than that in that, from what little I understand, both the written representation and the kind of "deep language structure" -- in the Chomsky sense -- of the language, which apply even as spoken, differ. So you could argue the spoken forms might hugely affect brain processing, but I'm unconvinced.)
I'm naturally right handed and at twenty forced myself to learn to use the computer mouse and brush my teeth left-handed. (I type, write and sketch an awful lot and I was worried about carpal-tunnel type issues from doing everything with my dominant right hand.) Fifteen years later I can't say I've observed any particular increase in holistic thinking.
he is more self confident and natural, can learn interact better. I think this is a problem with left handers who are forced into right handdness, they don't fit and so are suppressed and become more neurotic their whole lives without knowing why to a certain extent, not developing their natural capabilities.
Raising my right hand here, a lefty who was forced to use my right hand to write etc, in school. As a result I can't really write but can print. On the other hand, I've found building houses, working on telecom towers, it really comes in handy having both hands to use. Take shingling for instance, perched on a ladder sometimes you just can't swing the hammer with your left hand but can with your right. Or if your left arm is getting tired driving 16d nails, you can easily switch.
Same thing with tower climbing being able to rely on both hand made positioning at extreme heights much easier. I still throw a ball with my left hand but I really consider myself more ambidextrouse than lefty now.
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. :-)
The left-right brain thing is similar to cornucopists techno-fixes or abiotic oil.
It is pop stuff the media like to tout, as do some irresponsible, unscrupulous authors. Compare to: Men are Martians contrasted to Women are Venusians. Sounds a bit scuzzy?
Nothing in the pop or pseudo Science press about left/right brain can, or *should be*, related to ordinary individuals, such as boys who paint, adults who ride bikes, engineers who make plans, drivers who brake, women who knit, Generals who take military decisions, and on and on.
Perhaps a mechanical metaphor can serve: the brain as a material machine. If you knock off a part of the thing, it can still move forward, light up, and reverse for three meters. The other functions don’t work. If you knock off another part, the lights have gone, there is no more reverse, but great speed forward can be attained. So, the different parts of the machine react differently to destruction - to the left or right (or front or back) doesn’t have the same effect. That does not mean that the ‘left or right’ parts have specific functions, its a complex system, coordinated.
No way these left-right (or back front) effects can be related to the characteristics of the machine as a whole, with some machines being “ohhh.... right controlled”...or “mostly left” - a ‘left’ tractor? Might Chavez invent it? ;)
People have different interests and different ‘gifts’, live in different milieus, adapt differently, etc. Nothng to do with left or ride side of the brain.
So please have some understanding and pity for those who think hydrogen will solve problems or that oil was injected into the earth by some mysterious action of solar rings managed by ...UFOS?
No, you're wrong-if I had been taught to write with my left hand I would have a ton more money, or maybe I would be the oldest contestant to ever win American Idol-I would sing my hit song while throwing together some Jackson Pollock type piece of garbage. Damn those primary school fascists.
hazel nut,
It was just a thought I had riding to work on my bike and I have enough experience with relearning handedness that I know the limits of the concept and how hard it is to change one person with a lot of effort after 40 years of age for minimal results so no I am not into quick and easy mass solutions for society or working on an impractical level. However if you do not start at the most basic level you just don't have a solid enough foundation for your new building. Basic human behavioural patterns must be changed. I also have been doing yoga for 13 years and Tai Chi for 6 years and meditation as well so I am felxible in my use of techniques for self change and experiment and a serious and non dogmatic. I do not think a new invention will fix everything. Maybe we are the problem as humans and a new species is called for to start over and we should go extinct. But we might need a totally new approach. Beyond controlled evolutionary change, which nobody knwos how to control without making Frankenstein's monster I can only suggest using those levers we understand to alleviate problems in modern human nature which occur due to overemphasis on linear thinking, etc. which might promote the seven deadly sins, alienation,etc. by using modern techniques and Asian techniques like yoga to balance us out as individuals and as a culture. Who knows if we can get a second chance after the coming PO dieoff. Why just continue repaeting all our mistakes again and again due to simple misunderstandings like language type, handedness or a cultural emphasis on logical thinking vs. holistic thinking. Of course it is deeper. Duality is wrong and unity is the way. It sounds like the link above from a video of the lady who had a stroke shows similar to mystical experiences in some ways. We just have to be able to consciously control that experience then we do not need to run around seeking happiness in externals. This is truly just a trick. From the indian theread I take it most indians, poor as dirt get this idea better than we do.
Heh, @ Brian T, it is said that left-handers are more ‘original’, more ‘creative’, etc. - most likely simply because they are different from the majority. There is solid evidence they die younger (from many places in the world) but why exactly is not known, perhaps simply because they live in a right-handed world. (Google turns up stuff.) I believe insurers do not use this categorization. @ galactic, oh I agree with most of what you write, it’s general thrust anyway. Also - Forcing children to ‘switch’ is a poor idea and not very current today, though of course who knows what happens on the ground here or there.
So, to sum up (moving far away from OIL..), 1) left-right handeness is related to left-right brain dominance in complex ways (see link, just the first reasonable hit off google), 2) culture and the construction of our world play a tremendous role - think sports, or flying a Boeing.
Enough!
http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/brain.html
I can only golf left handed,bat a baseball left handed, and played hockey left handed. I write and throw right handed so it is all messed up-there are probably millions in the same situation-have no idea of any relevance.
I can very much believe that forcing someone into writing with their non-dominant hand can be have very negative results (both neurologically and because of the psychological implication that "there's something wrong with you"). As far as I know, in the UK forcing people to be right-handed has not been done for at least twenty years, and that's a good thing too in my opinion.
What I'm more sceptical about is that if there was a push towards using "right brain" languages we as a population would develop "holistic thinking" that would lead to societies that avoid some of the problems of current western society.
I have found that any paricular task takes time to learn fluidly with left hand after being used to using right hand. The brain and musles problbly store it in memory onthe other brain side and that side of the brain needs practice like a muscle.
I suspect scientific studies would show some mental differences. I think I am better adjusted but i do lots of self development work so it is hard to say what is working bettter for me, to separate the various "therapies" out.
What that all could do for society if everyone got into it is a different matter.
Great point. Maybe we could put a European and then a Chinese under one of those magnetic resonance machines and see how their brains work wtih regards to language to figure this out with radioactive markers and such.
It would be interesting to try the same with right and left handed people and with people who change from right to left handed over the time period they switch to see how brain functions change.
People like Tibetan monks do similar tests and their brain scans are pretty interesting as well compared to normal peoples. They can control this stuff and that is the big difference to us. That is an art/science in their "religion", if you want to call it that, is actually more a higher form of scientific brain/consciousness control with nontechnical means.
The **classic** pov is that in daily life, in functioning, in resistance to insult (brain damage), in learning capacity, in diversification (learning new languages, etc.) the language spoken makes little difference. - They all work pretty much the same way though the surface grammar is not the same, and differ from lang. to lang. Chomsky would be the first to say that.
The written transcriptions, however, as they are wildly varied, are conserved (insult) / not, easier / harder to learn, more / less easeful to use, extensible to other scripts, or not, etc.
Well known example: China claims it has no dyslexics, as the written system is - more or less whole word - one graphic positioned in a rectangle corresponds to one meaning (like a picture, but the pictographic quality is much exaggerated.) Italy, by contrast, has problems with hyperlexics - children or ppl who can read aloud text and haven’t a clue what it means.
pardon for going on about this.
Interesting. Have you noticed a change in your and your son's mental patterns since switching handedness?
he is more self confident and natural, can learn interact better. I think this is a problem with left handers who are forced into right handdness, they don't fit and so are suppressed and become more neurotic their whole lives without knowing why to a certain extent, not developing their natural capabilities.
Hey Galactic;
Ever the moderate (and a very impressionistic Left-hander myself), I don't want to overreact to Left-brain cultural dominance with an overemphasis on the opposite. As ever, we have to find a balance of the two natures, and not just take sides, as it were.
As with the other Left-Right, we have to be able to orchestrate between 'staying and going', 'holding on and letting go', and between 'literal and figurative' etc.
Looking back, I see that you do present it as rebalancing. I'd only noticed phrases like 'reverse and arrest this problem' on the first read, but didn't mean to imply that you were being extreme, either.
For me growing up, 'Discipline' was a word I always got stuck on. It was the "D" word.. I've worked to find in myself appropriate tools of discipline and group leadership structures that are productive and functional, but also are not blindly 'disciplinarian'.
A memorable image from my years in NYC (which has a leash-law), was a dog and owner, where the dog wore his leash, but carried the rest of it himself in his mouth, and he and his human walked along at 'leash-length' anyway. It's my icon for 'Self-discipline'
Blessed are the artists!
Bob
That dog is a bit like my kid. He leads however.
I'm a lot like your six year old - creative and naturally averse to discipline. I secretly learned to read when I was three but refused to put any effort into memorizing the order of the alphabet until I was about six or seven. Memorizing things like passages from the Bible and multiplication tables was a huge part of my education from first grade until fourth grade, then I switched to public schools. I'm still a creative and largely undisciplined person, so I don't think my early education changed my personality or the way my brain is wired. For people like me and probably your son, it's important to be motivated to learn and to have room to figure things out on one's own.
The left brain/right brain thing probably isn't as black-and-white as you may think. Individual brains can vary quite a bit. Good luck.
PS I'm a lefty as well.
We have been trying to get our son interested in keyboard lessons for a month or two and he would just play games mostly with the teacher except for maybe 5 minutes. My wife and the teacher were about to give up. Yesterday however he paid attention the whole half hour, a miracle! Discipline is neccessary to get throught he basics and then creativity takes over when you know what you are doing, in any "discipline". A master had to memorize routines first laboriously as a child or a student. After that the right brain integrates the information fluidly. For an artistic "little genius" getting him past this painful memorizing phase is the critical problem. Afterwards he will get the idea, have fun with it and learn easily, like with drawing, I hope.
His older brother is the absolute opposite, slow and methodical, disciplined and conscientious. He will obviously never be an artistic genius but loves science, despite his left handedness.
galacticsurfer thanks, very interesting read.
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess speaks directly to this topic. I found it fascinating