Carl Etnier's column in the Sunday Times Argus and Rutland Herald. Articles posted may be the submitted versions and differ slightly from the published version.
Carl Etnier 2007-Dec-24
| Title | Info |
|---|---|
| Looking for produce in winter? Check out your local root cellar!
A continuous supply of cheap oil is vital to producing food and moving it reliably from farm to grocery store. When diesel and gasoline prices were so high earlier this year, trucking companies started to fold. If too many companies were to go under, or just park their trucks for a while, our food supplies would dwindle. A root cellar in the home can provide some resilience. A root cellar can easily store months of potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabagas, apples, not to mention home-canned or store-bought cans of food. If the store shelves go bare, a stocked root cellar may not provide a lot of variation, but it can provide plenty of calories and a balanced diet. Note: The Times Argus and Rutland Herald are discontinuing regular publication of "Energy Matters." The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Dec-21 09:57 pm EST |
| Information to Avoid Energy Surprise Attacks
The U.S. military tested early warning radar in Hawaii in 1941. Just after 7 am on the first Sunday in December, two privates sighted a massive number of targets approaching Oʻahu, the island where Pearl Harbor is located, at a distance of 130 miles. The radar operators called in the sighting to the early warning Information Center, where the lieutenant in charge told them not to worry. The Japanese surprise attack remained a surprise, until the bombs started falling. I sometimes feel like a radar operator who looks out on a warm, sunny Sunday morning and sees blips that augur rapid, unwelcome changes, while most other people continue preparing for an easy day. December 7, 2008 Due to a production glitch, the column was not published in the Times Argus. It appeared on my blog and on Energy Bulletin. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Dec-21 09:53 pm EST |
| Transition Towns: Learning to build a good life together
The Transition Town model is a very different way to address peak oil and climate change than most of those now getting headlines. We hear a lot about getting other people to do something: Bild electric cars, erect wind turbines, re-build passenger rail or sign the Kyoto Protocol. In Transition Towns, people get together themselves to weatherize each others' homes, repair bicycles, create community gardens, and plant nut and fruit trees in parks and along streets. November 23, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Nov-23 07:44 am EST |
| Will Obama's energy plan go far enough?
In President-elect Barack Obama's speech in Chicago's Grant Park, he included climate change and renewable energy among the few policy priorities highlighted. With significant Democratic gains in Congress, Obama will have an opportunity to sign more significant energy-related legislation than we've seen since Jimmy Carter's presidency. I wonder, though, whether it will be enough to prevent an energy-driven depression following the present economic turmoil. November 9, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Nov-23 07:41 am EST |
| Douglas leading state down wrong track
You think the financial crisis unfolded quickly? That’s nothing compared to how fast things could happen with oil. That’s the message Matthew Simmons, chair of the oil investment banking firm Simmons & Company International, delivered last month at a conference on peak oil. Vermont is unprepared for change of that rapidity. October 26, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Oct-26 09:19 am EDT |
| Douglas has made some progress on energy initiative
Energy is a big issue in this fall's election, as it has been in Vermont over this past biennium. Competing claims are flying. Democrats and Progressives decry what they call Gov. James Douglas' lack of vision on energy, dubbing him "Governor Does-less." Yet there's so much news of various happenings on the state energy front, that one reporter recently wondered whether all the activity was concentrated to this fall to help Douglas in the election. How much of this activity is hype, and how much is real? October 12, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Oct-26 09:14 am EDT |
| A crash course: Are ghost 'burbs on the horizon?
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has earnestly explained this past week that bad lending practices are the No. 1 cause of the collapse of the U.S. financial system. What would he prefer to have as the primary cause of the collapse of the U.S. financial system? September 28, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Sep-30 02:05 pm EDT |
| Survival 101: They don't teach that in most colleges, and there's a dilemma
Can a young person risk going to college these days? If you're 18 and college-bound, you may be skilled at computers and driving a car; know how to take the second derivative of a quadratic equation in calculus and have learned about electron orbits in chemistry; and may be able to discuss Shakespeare and "To Kill a Mockingbird" intelligently. But do you know how to kill and dress a chicken, or find and prepare wild edible plants in every season, or keep a goat healthy so it produces milk and meat? September 14, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Sep-30 02:02 pm EDT |
| Douglas administration's energy plan is too timid
In my previous column, I compared the Department of Public Service's draft energy plan to a Yosemite climbing expedition that ended in disaster in 2000, in part because the climbers were relying on the previous day's weather forecast. I didn't know at the time how accurate the analogy was. August 31, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Sep-08 10:44 pm EDT |
| Energy plan lacks clear goals
In July, the Department of Public Service released the draft Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan. If yesterday's weather continues and everything in the plan goes right, we may be just fine. August 17, 2008 The original publication is here. |
Carl Etnier 2008-Aug-24 09:02 pm EDT |