Links for the Week – October 21, 2006

Peak Oil Video: A one-hour documentary by Ronan Doyle explains our civilization’s total dependence on oil and how reaching production capacity will inevitably precipitate catastrophe and decline. Thanks to Peter at Karavans for the link.

Real Story of What’s Happening in Iraq: Another one-hour documentary, this one by the British Channel4, shows footage of the carnage and anarchy in Iraq that you’ll never see on the Mainstream Media, and explains why you’ll never see it.

Mutual Funds for Democrats: The Blue Fund lets Americans invest their money in companies that support progressive values and support Democratic Party candidates.

Impossible to Get to the Edge from Here: A long and remarkable rant by Joe Begeant laments how difficult it is for middle class citizens to break free of addiction to consumption and debt. Thanks to Avi Solomon for the link.

Olbermann on Bush’s New Foreigner Indefinite Detention and Torture Without Charge Law: The MSNBC renegade identifies the new Military Commissions Act as the beginning of the end of America. Thanks to Dale Asberry for the link, and the one that follows.

The Connection Between Diet and Anti-Social Behaviour: If it wasn’t bad enough that the malnutrition caused by our poor modern diet causes chronic physical illness (and especially auto-immune diseases), now there’s evidence that it also causes extreme anti-social, criminal behaviour. Specifically, there is a near-perfect correlation between the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in the average diet and the murder and depression rates of people consuming that diet.

Imagining a World Without People: An article by Bob Holmes in The New Scientist provides a scientific consensus on how the planet would recover if ever human were suddenly to be removed from the planet. It’s encouraging to know that, even if we are unable to fix the mess our civilization has created on this planet in time, the Earth will recover remarkably well. What is even more remarkable than this consensus is the virulent reaction of the technophiles and humanists to this ‘defeatist’ article, as exemplified by this article and comments thread in WorldChanging. To be a ‘good’ environmentalist, it seems, one must remain relentlessly optimistic and blinkered from any hint that the good fight might be lost. Thanks to Zane at Lichenology for the link.

Imagining a World Without Water: An article by Michael Specter in The New Yorker (not online but aninterview about it is) explains why our political and economic systems are causing catastrophic waste of water at an unsustainable level, and how the burden of that waste is being borne, as always, by the world’s poor.