Violent Twilight – Could I do a Link per Day?

Trying to figure out what to do with this-here blog. I have gazillions of half-composed entries in my head all the time. But I almost never sit down to write them up. So maybe I’ll try something else for awhile. How about a link a day? With maybe some commentary, maybe not. It won’t always be the most important or profound topic. It’ll just be something I found somewhere and have open in a tab that’s perhaps mildly interesting. How’s that? Pretty undemanding, right?

So, ok. Today’s link is this interesting book except in Foreign Policy, “Scenes from the Violent Twilight of Oil.” Peter Maass is the author and has a book, Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil. I think “violent twilight of oil” is a brilliant phrase. I know that peak oil is a little bit like the rapture for pessimistic Nones (oh look! a second link!), but there is something compelling about the notion that we’re using up a finite resource more quickly than we’re making progress towards a replacement (or towards a graceful reconfiguring of society to need less). The excerpts here were pretty disturbing.

Oro Sangama had another peculiar feature: There was a steady roar around it, like the sound of a giant flamethrower. Across the fetid creek stood a natural gas plant operated by Shell. The village was in the shadow of its largest flare, which shot into the air a plume of fire. As darkness fell, Sangama became illuminated by the flare’s reddish glow and remained lit in this fashion until the sun rose in the morning. The Martian light was deadly rather than helpful because the flare spews into the air a cocktail of toxic substances.

Soon I was greeted by King Tom Mercy, leader of the local Ijaw community. He wore a T-shirt and a frown. “This is where the oil and gas comes out,” he said. “They could give us water, give us light, give us scholarships, give us jobs. We would not quarrel with anyone again. We have tried everything, used lawyers and dialogue, and we see there is no way. The next thing is violence. We don’t care if everyone dies; we will burn it.”