Crude World
By Brian Black | 11.10.09
Look who just turned 150 – without looking a day over 10,000! August marked the anniversary of the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania – or, at least, of our recognition of its usefulness. Journalist Peter Maass uses the occasion to throw a massive bucket of water on the flames of human exuberance for crude. (more…)
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
By Kate Vander Wiede | 10.15.09
If you thought physics was tough to grasp in high school, William Kamkwamba will seem like a hero to you. And really, he is. Forced to drop out of secondary school when his family couldn’t afford school fees, 14-year-old Kamkwamba used his free time to build a windmill that operated on principles of physics he managed to teach himself. (more…)
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The Tyranny of Oil
By Brian Black | 10.23.08
The infamy of petroleum’s corporate lineage is legend. In most US history courses or textbooks, the measuring stick for corporate greed and unethical largess is the Standard Oil Trust, created by the business genius John D. Rockefeller. (more…)
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Hot, Flat, and Crowded
By Brad Knickerbocker | 09.22.08
Reading New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s latest book, it’s hard to know how to describe him. A genial Jeremiah, perhaps? Or maybe Thomas Malthus with a clipboard and a 10-point plan for avoiding global catastrophe? (more…)
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Tough talk about America’s oil addiction
By Todd Wilkinson | 05.14.08
Thomas Edison altered the course of civilization by helping to pioneer a reliable, affordable, and mass-produced incandescent bulb. But, as author Robert Bryce points out, there was a breakthrough that escaped Edison’s grasp: How to build a hyperefficient, long-lived, electric battery capable of powering homes, industry, and transportation – smoke free. (more…)
