A couple of things this time. The first is an idea that is causing a stir, the second a continuation of the discussion of “Crude,” including the introduction of new information.

Political Reality
The “idea” is contained in a new book by psychology researcher Drew Westen of Emory University, called “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.”
In his book Weston notes that while it is generally supposed that decisions are made by reasoning people that just ain’t so. Instead, people’s decisions are based on reactions. Fear. Envy. Desire. Duh!!!

People who create television programming are entirely aware of this and always have been. Advertisers. In politics, GOP more than Democrats (who seem more likely to assume reasoning responses). Did it take a book to understand this? I doubt it. Joseph Randolf Hearst created the Spanish American war in order to sell more newspapers. The right wing was uncommonly successful at driving political decisions based on fear during the cold war. The business sector understands this best – they’re the ones who pay for your television entertainment, which most assuredly includes those charming commercials, and they’re the ones who support politicians they like with their funds and their expertise as an investment, expecting a decent return on their money.

To sell one’s ideas to the public, one might follow the proven path of flooding media with paid advertising, something I can’t contemplate for lack of funds. Or one can find political champions who are reasoning people but can dress their ideas in apparel attractive to voters. Al Gore comes to mind, having gotten over his once reasoned but wooden presentations. Bill Clinton was a master. I’ve an idea Hilary is going to stop hiding her light under the bushel one of these days. Obama doesn’t need encouragement – he has a proven verbal ability which has taken him as far as he is.

For myself, I’ll use the good will of many Oregon political leaders as a basis, and try to convince them to enact possible solutions to the grievous energy problems which loom. Beating the television hucksters will be one tough job but success is conceivable. It takes quick brains to do it, though. The other guys don’t need to be smart. Appealing to fear and loathing, envy and greed is pretty easy. Just look lugubrious and say, “My friends, let me assure you that I will protect you and help you realize the good life.” Sound familiar? Should. You’ve heard it enough in the past few years.

Petroleum
“One-sixth of the entire global economy is dedicated to the staggering effort of harvesting oil from its uneven accumulation within the earth’s crust.” On sea life: “the tiniest (plankton and diatoms) are by far the most prolific, producing up to 80 percent of the total organic matter in the ocean.” “There are about 49,000 metric gigatons of carbon on Earth today, making it the fourth most plentiful element in the universe…750 gigatons of carbon hang in the atmosphere…30,000 gigatons reside in the world’s oceans.”

Pretty good stuff, what? They come from the book “Crude, The Story of Oil” by Sonia Shah, published by the Seven Stones Press in 2004. Available from B&N for under $20 hardcover, under $15 soft cover. Or from amazon.com at similar pricing. Something familiar about that title? Should be. Last month we discussed at some length the Australian documentary “Crude” www.abc.net.au/science/crude/. The documentary was based on this volume. That this was so occurred to me on perhaps my fifth viewing of the documentary – that much because it is so doggone loaded with information it takes me while to absorb it all, and it is information I do deeply desire.

I’ve read the book. Damned good read if you’ll pardon my English. She does tell a good story. The book and the documentary have some very important differences, which casts no negative reflections in either direction. Sonia Shah’s book speaks of things not mentioned in the documentary – life under the oil barons in third world countries for instance. Made crystal clear the recent problems with Nigerian oil, for instance, and some notion of why Venezuela’s Chavez is how he is. The documentary, on the other hand, offered us Earth Structures Professor Lee Kump of Pennsylvania State University, who explained the “oceanic anoxic event” and took us places where we could see anoxia in its natural state. I don’t know that he was along when the cameras visited the sea bed off the coast of Peru and a probe penetrated the gooey mess, acting like slightly warmed jello, that dead life forms created in those anoxic seas. Anoxia, you may recall, is without oxygen; normal decay does not occur in anoxic areas. Nor did Sonia mention the work of micropaleontologist Dr. Darren Grocke of McMasters University, Hamilton, Ontario, who demonstrated for your very own eyes the methodology of establishing carbon dioxide levels during that period of the Jurassic that created the oil deposits that we’re mining today.

Either the book or the documentary should assuage your feelings about peak oil – it’s gonna happen willy-nilly, and maybe it is something that really ought to happen. I’d really recommend both. They’re informative, interesting, and to a substantial degree entertaining if you like something other than fantasy. If you go for the documentary, I’ve had best luck on weekdays – the internet gets too crowded weekends to permit the easy flow of that many gigabytes. At best, sound and video are not in synch, but unless one is lip reading while listening, it scarcely matters.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 8:31 am and is filed under Energy Future, Environment, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.