Yesterday I saw a news clip about G8 Asian powers urging an oil production hike
AOMORI, Japan (AFP) — Eleven nations that guzzle nearly two-thirds of the world’s energy called Sunday for an urgent hike in global oil production as host Japan warned the world could plunge into recession….
In a joint statement, they called for boosts to their own production and asked major oil producers “to increase investment to keep markets well supplied in response to rising world demand”.
The European Union’s energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs warned that high oil prices were a fact to be reckoned with and that major economies needed to come up with alternative energy.
“The era of cheap energy seems to be over and no economy should gamble on a potential return to low prices,” Piebalgs said.
What incredible wisdom-if there is not enough - ask mom and dad for more. The “end of oil” has been a long time in coming. Peak oil production had been predicted, ridiculed and discovered again. But,none of this wisdom reached politicians or car manufacturers. Standards for emissions were relaxed as the new gas guzzlers (SUVs) came into being.
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Categories: environment · politics · simplicity
During the first part of May my wife and I took part in a ten day Vipsassana meditation retreat hosted by the Alberta Vipassana foundation.I sat for the same course last year. Meditating for 11 hours a day was not easy. Not talking was even harder. But, as one fellow student said “ This is the only time you will truly get to spend with yourself. So use it wisely.”
At the end of the ten days I had never felt so calm, peaceful and clearheaded . There was a great energy and happiness with the group. Even though you never actually talked to anyone, you went through meditation boot camp together. That sense of accomplishing something together fostered a great deal of positive energy, cooperation and gratitude for such an experience. But, as the year wore on and my practice was less than consistent, I let the demands of the world intrude into my mental space. I had hoped that by repeating the course I could regain some measure of peace and calmness.
This was not to be. A few days before the course started I received a call asking if I could serve on the course instead of participate as a student. I reluctantly agreed even though my stomach was churning. I was disappointed and a little bit nervous. What had I gotten myself into ? A server I talked to last year had said that there was a great deal of work to do and sometimes things got tense in the kitchen. A server would have between 3-5 hours of meditation a day. While this was more than I was doing, I hardly thought this was enough time to develop a deeper practice.
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Categories: environment · politics · simplicity
