High Tide makes the best-sellers list 22 April 05

Here in Kendal it’s in two windows at Ottakers and on prominent display in the shop itself, accompanied by their recommendation. Sure it will sell like crazy.

Meanwhile I see the council gardeners in Carlisle are threatening to go on strike as they are being asked to work longer hours in order to keep the grass short. Apparently the milder weather is keeping it growing for longer (when it’s not underwater!)

It seems that we as humans do not fully understand and appreciate the importance of planetary ecosystems to our survival and how our climate systems affect them. Maybe our modern environment supported by fossil fuels disconnects us from nature in that we think we are not still dependent on nature for our ultimate survival. Mark’s focus places the earth’s systems above our own and that it is not we who master nature but we who are privileged to be a part of nature.

Those with a naturalistic mind-set have a deeper appreciation and awareness of the need to develop our modern world within ecological boundaries. Often words such as sustainable and recycle are used which are modern attempts to mimic natural systems which work harmoniously over geological time rather than our short-sighted corporate time.

High Tide is a wakeup call which stirs the emotions of how a changing climate can affect our world. This was needed since much of climate science has been portrayed in a clinical unemotional way in the abstract language of scientific analysis. Mark’s book High Tide makes it much more personal.

From reading High Tide, many of us have now awakened from our slumber of ignorance and indifference. Our dialogue on Mark’s site shows the complexity, difficulty, and multi-dimensional aspects of addressing GW/CC in our modern paradigm. Our inner conflict between our modern lifestyle and living with nature require us to embrace the very best of not only our intelligence and ingenuity but of our compassion as well. We have to care more about our future world than our present comforts.

Mark’s work-in-process of writing about future scenarios of various elevated world temperatures will aid our further development toward solutions to mitigate climate change. By using temperature as a focus, Mark eliminates both the uncertainty of climate change and aspects of the controversy over anthropogenic causes. Uncertainty has caused indecision among policy makers and sometimes the anthropogenic distinction misses the whole point in that it may not matter if climate change is caused by us or by nature. No matter what causes any climate problem, if it affects us then it will require either our intervention or adaptation at some level. Climate change simply cannot be ignored.

By focusing on temperatures, Mark uses his creative ingenuity to reduce the level of controversy to what the consequences of a particular temperature rise is and what may be the negative environmental impacts. As world temperature rise is monitored, Mark’s ecological analysis based on temperature rise can help economists better incorporate the negative aspects of climate change in their economic assessments and this may help policy makers make better decisions.

I imagine that predicting the global ecological impact from various temperature-rise scenarios is a daunting task. I wish Mark success in his endeavor and his next book will most likely become a best seller. Mark remains a visionary and is both courageous and compassionate in his steadfast resolve to make a difference in how our future unfolds.

I think Mark’s ecological focus is critical but not complete in saving the planet. Not only must his message be heard but also acted upon. For that to happen, qualified people must be more engaged working in harmony on both the multi-dimensional aspects and multi-disciplinary aspects of the solution. This is more our job than Mark’s job.

To be qualified, one must develop him or herself to be multidisciplinary which embraces the truths of ecology, physics, economics, technology, business, and human behavior. No solution can be successful without a multi-dimensional and inter-disciplinary focus. And yet, no person can easily be an expert in all disciplines either so our efficiency is increased when a group of people of diverse disciplines, backgrounds, and experiences develop solutions together.

We need a group of visionaries working together in harmony to create a plan. Mark’s special focus is important but not enough. Mark cannot do it by himself without our help.

Best Regards,

Dan

High Tide selling well must always be good news. I hope that it wakes some voters up in time.

I bought this book at the recommendation of Peter Winters who regularly posts on Mark’s site. For me is it is one of the best books I have ever read. I would also love to see Paul Robert’s book make the best sellers list especially here in America where the information would benefit our people so much.

Paul Roberts has created a work which elevates the reader into a greater awareness of so many issues which include a perspective on the oil industry, all energy industries in general, geo-politics, the physics of energy, consumer’s energy illiteracy in the USA, a complete and comprehensive discussion of many energy technological issues, and a chapter on climate issues, history, energy statistics on conservation, plus much more. The analysis is brilliant and objective. The writing is clear and concise.

Interestingly, Peter’s original assessment using the word “balance” is an understatement. This book does not have a political bias of any kind. People in the UK and the USA, and anywhere else would benefit. Many Republicans and Democrats here would gain equal insight and awareness and would naturally give equal praise for this well done piece of non-fiction. Based on the polarized views here, that alone is a good testimonial.

So, for those who know me well on Mark’s site, I say go buy and read “The End of Oil” by Paul Roberts.

The conventional wisdom on Mark’s site is when 2 or more people who post regularly recommend a book passionately; you can be assured that it will be worth your time to read. I think one of the greatest benefits of Mark’s blog site is the education many of us receive for participating. BTW, I also bought Natural Capitalism passionately recommend by Lynn and Colin which is my next book to read.

When I hit certain chapters and pages of “The End of Oil” on issues I am already familiar with, it becomes a very emotional experience for me. I think for many, what Paul Roberts has to say will have a similar impact. The good news is that Paul’s work helps many of us converge on our viewpoints and so his book has a unifying effect rather than a polarizing one.

Enough Said! Everyone would benefit from reading this insightful book!

Also, here is a website about Paul Roberts and his book below:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/ccn/top_story.html

Best Regards,

Dan

Hi,

Saw this article the other day. thought some of you may be interested.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1464050,00.html

...........here

http://society.guardian.co.uk/environment/story/0,14124,1470535,00.html

Interesting article! Huge oil shocks seem very likely within the next few years and it could even happen this year!

There is some good news if the oil shock is not too severe. Americans have a great spare capacity called WASTE! Most of us own automobiles and most of us (not me anymore) use our cars like they were an extension of our legs.

With that said (and this is my opinion only), if gasoline prices go up high enough here, Americans will immediately curtail non-essential road trips and find more ways to conserve energy which may be sufficient to stabilize oil prices for quite a while buying some valuable time.

In the meantime, an instant awareness of our energy issues may shake the energy illiteracy of our general population sufficiently causing a paradigm shift in our collective attitude.

This may be good news in that we seem to act decisively when we view something as being a crises and react strongly in the direction of solving it. If the decision making in crises does not involve our military, then we may have hope.

I hope my intuitive assessment is correct. We all have strengths and weaknesses in our perspective cultures. There is a lot of ingenuity and DESIRE still left in many USA citizens who are currently kept in check by our politics, media, and low energy prices.

I myself have studied power plant theory and design, solar energy and I can understand and access most any technology at some level. I have been interested in energy issues for decades.

I am an engineer who is NOT working but studying the issues as I share my thoughts on Mark’s website and learn from many thoughtful people who live in the UK. I desire to be more engaged and I am getting more and more anxious to know my direction which I am still contemplating on as to where I best fit in.

I am hungry and thirsty for change and I would plan to seize the opportunity that a crises may create. I believe that proactive people in the UK and the USA should be working closely together on each other’s problems and that doing so would be in the best interests of each country plus in the best interests of the citizens involved.

Would it be wrong for me to think that many of our citizens and yours have complementary strengths in both intellect and character? Based on the current UK focus I see on Mark’s site, I see plenty of opportunity where both British and American citizens can help each other solve problems.

Honestly, you Brits have had to deal with higher energy prices and had to scale back your former Empire. Your government has taken a leadership focus on GW/CC issues and partly because you are having floods that are affecting your entire country.

By contrast, we have been always accustomed to cheap energy and over the years it has been an ever smaller percentage of our GNP and personal costs. This enabled us to develop a much higher intensive energy economy. We are still in “Empire mode” and our land is so huge that our Florida hurricanes have occurred only in a small percentage of our land mass and is mostly a concern for people living in Florida.

So, you guys are ahead of the game but some of us over here do have a few brain cells left and what a wonderful world it would be when visionary people realize that collaboration with Americans to help us change for our own good is the best investment for the future a British citizen could ever make.

After this, we need to help China get it right by not repeating the mistakes made in our own earlier industrial development. The Chinese should not be trading in their bicycles for gas-guzzling inefficient vehicles like SUVs without modern pollution controls.

Come to think of it, maybe it would be better if Americans traded in their SUVs for bicycles instead!

All the Best,

Dan