EclecticLip

As a follow up to the Peter Senge lecture (previously noted here) I should note that there was an awkward moment during the Q&A when a participant demanded to know why Mr. Senge hadn’t discussed the need for ethical vegetarianism, alongside his discussion of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the other damage we are wreaking on the environment. To his credit, Mr. Senge deflected the question nicely, acknowledging the reduced footprint of a vegetarian diet, then segueway-ing into a discussion on the need for collaborative instead of confrontative approaches.

Because the other participant — as well meaning as they were — was a fratricidal ally, turning their fury on the very like-minded people they need to leverage, to get their own message heard. Such splintering seems pretty common in environmental circles; I can imagine an activist vegan calling out the aforementioned participant and arguing that ethical vegetarianism wasn’t enough, and that veganism was the way to go.  And so forth.  It’s like the scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian where the People’s Front of Judea, the Judean People’s Front, the Judean Popular People’s Front, and the Popular Front of Judea don’t speak to each other.
On the far-left side of Canadian politics, the Marxist-Leninists and Communists certainly don’t seem to talk, as evidenced by data from the last election.  On the other end, it took a very long time to unite the Canadian right, with the Progressive Conservatives (”right lite”) and Alliance party (”far right” by historical Canadian standards) eventually merging into the Conservative Party, after a decade of counter-productive internecine strife.  (I’m counting from the 1993 election, a breakthrough for the Reform Party, to the 2003 merger.)
Fratricidal allies make it tougher for an umbrella movement (in this case the environmental movement) to gain critical mass, as they disrupt the umbrella movement’s messaging. Such withering criticism would be seized on by opponents to delegitimize the umbrella movement’s efforts, ultimately impairing the fratricidal ally’s own goals.
A more productive long-term strategy would probably be to gain buy-in from the umbrella organization.  But as long as there are absolutists out there, I suppose there’ll be plenty of people trying to catch flies with vinegar instead of honey.  Given the urgency associated with climate change, I can see how various groups might feel there’s not enough time to build influence in the greater movement, and thus switch from “friendly” to “fratricidal” tactics.

Ah, Hamlet, were you only alive to read this…  or, given that you were a fictional character, were you only ever alive.  Hmm…  actually, given how horrific your end, maybe ’twere better you stayed fictive.

A recent Harvard Business School study (”Red Light States“) further confirmed the trend that conservatives buy more pornography than progressives.  Conservatives can take comfort that maybe, just maybe, the difference is that progressives steal more porn through file-sharing.

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It was reported recently that GM was using bailout money to expand production in Brazil.  Fortunately, it appears as though the sources were misquoted.  (Hat tip to Jesse.)  If that had been the case, then I think the automaker’s leaders would’ve been called back to Washington for a verbal grilling.  Or whatever passes for a verbal grilling by lawmakers who for the most part can ill afford to make deep-pocketed enemies.  (The individuals, not the companies, that is.)

That’s why this harangue by Michael Capuano (D-Mass) to the CEO’s of the US’s eight biggest banks — which even got excerpted on CBC radio — was particularly gratifying.  Even if — or perhaps, especially since – the CEO’s will probably escape further consequences.  Sadly, like so many US industries, the financial sector appears to have achieved regulatory capture of the regulators intended to oversee them, in the public’s interest.

(video under the fold)

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That’s my vote for the epitaph to George W. Bush’s Presidency.

For all his violations against law and land — which were legion — I rank his authorization of torture as the very worst; the summum malum, the apex of evil.

Setting up the Guantanamo Bay gulag, revoking habeas corpus, and implementing extraordinary rendition make for a formidable axis of malice of their own.  But torture… torture is sui generis, a class of horror of its own.  And as the title points out, torture is what the Romans did to Jesus.

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Climate Progress had a speechlet competition to the effect of “write the energy section of Obama’s inaugural address”.

Naturally, I entered. 

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We went to the Steveston marina in Richmond on the weekend.  The fishers there priced their catch uniformly — which I’m assuming wasn’t an unplanned coincidence.  It’s unlikely any of them had a big enough competitive advantage to undercut their peers and offer lower pricing to consumers.  Even if they did, they’d probably figure it better to pocket the extra profit instead risking being shunned by their partners-in-trade.  I believe Canada’s big banks work on the same system. 

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The second Obama-McCain debate was the other night; I caught a replay after coming home from ball hockey.  Obama won this one so handily, it reminded me of Chris Rock’s description of the first Rocky: “a movie which finishes with a black brother beating up a white man for forty-five minutes?  What’s not to like?”

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Listening to the radio this morning, I was initially perplexed by the vociferousness of the opposition to the BC carbon tax (which has brought together those well-known bedfellows, the NDP and the Fraser Institute, against the equally-easily-going coalition of the Liberals and the Canadian Council of Policy Alternatives.)

It was only when I realized we’re among the fortunate few who have disposable income, that I realized why people would be angry. Certainly, if we were near break-even on our cash flows, any marginal increase in expenses would be upsetting.

I suspect the highest-profile commentators (TV and newspaper) are in the same boat. Having reached the higher levels of their profession (if bloviation can be considered one) they’re unlikely to be affected by cuts to social services funding, so can only abstractly comprehend the impact of the cuts.

Raise the marginal tax rate though, and they’ll offer an earful of condemnation!

A great piece by John Maudlin, nominally an investment-newsletter writer, on China. It offers a much better perspective on the kinds of challenges the country has faced historically. (And by extension what challenges it will likely face in the future.)

In particular, I didn’t realize that Han China effectively covers the region which receives 40+ cm of rainfall, with the other regions populated by ethnic minorities. And indeed, that the ethnic minority areas form a ring-shaped buffer around Han China (from the south, and moving clockwise: Tibet, Xinjiang (where the similarly-oppressed Uyghurs live), and Inner Mongolia. It’s not unlike the old Soviet / Russian strategy of putting up a series of satellite states as a buffer against Germany.

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Here’s a breakdown of the major areas of China, broken down by linguistic group (effectively, ethnic group)

John Robb of Global Guerrillas just wrote a piece for The Oil Drum, which serves as an excellent introduction to the themes he discusses in his blog.

Basically, because of peak oil, there’s little or no excess oil production capacity.  Which means a supply disruption — any supply disruption — has worldwide effects.  Which means that a very small group of militants / vandals / saboteurs can punch way above its weight, in geopolitical terms.  In his words, super-empowerment.
Furthermore, since these groups often sell oil on the side (as a means of self-financing) disrupting oil supplies to raise prices is a matter of entrepreneurial self-interest.  It drains the state of its oil revenues, while it increases the guerrilla group’s own earnings.

In a worst-case scenario, like an entrenched super-Mafia, the guerrilla group can maintain effective control over an area.  The case of northern Mexico, pitting relatively-underfinanced government forces against richly-financed drug gangs, would be a close-to-home example.
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This suggests that peak oil is facilitating the erosion of the nation-state’s  monopoly-of-authority — one of its two defining characteristics (along with territoriality) as per the Westphalian model.

I’m not sure what the full implications are, but it seems peak oil will accelerate the pace at which we find out…