Energy Bulletin
Dec. 14, 2006 -- Peak oil, climate change, species extinction, overpopulation, agricultural land degredation and almost any other environmental issue are so intertwined that one shys from picking favourites. But of them all, perhaps the least appreciated and most important is the fact that we are currently living through the greatest mass extinction of species of life on earth since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago -- the Sixth Great Extinction.
David Ulansey, Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco compiles the Mass Extinction website. Follow his advice: "For an overview of the magnitude of the crisis, scroll slowly down this page and read just the titles of all of the links. When you finish, go back and begin to click on the links to read the full articles." If we and the planet's flora and fauna are to survive humankind's brief fossil fuel epoch, we may need to address peak oil as an opportunity to not only reverse industrial expansion, but move to a new economic model of 'earth stewarship'. As our livelyhoods become once again tied to the productivity of natural systems, advocating learning to work with and improve them is not idealism, it's pure selfish pragmatism.
LINK: Energy Bulletin