Ebook: The energy reader: overdevelopment and the delusion of endless growth

A deeper look at the energy picture. Introduction : energy literacy -- The predicament. Introduction : energy, nature, and the eco-social crisis ; Five carbon pools / Wes Jackson ; Faustian economics : hell hath no limits / Wendell Berry ; Life-affirming beauty / Sandra B. Lubarsky ; Our global Ponzi economy / Lester R. Brown ; Coal : the greatest threat to civilization / James Hansen ; The view from oil's peak / Richard Heinberg ; Energy return on investment / Charles A.S. Hall ; Alternative energy challenges / David Fridley ; When risk assessment is risky : predicting the effects of technology / David Ehrenfeld ; Malevolent and malignant threats / R. James Woolsey ; Progress vs. apocalypse : the stories we tell ourselves / John Michael Greer -- The landscape of energy. Introduction : a tour of the energy terrain / David Murphy ; The landscape of energy -- False solutions. Introduction : false solutions to the energy challenge ; Drill baby drill : why it won't work for long-term energy sustainability / David Hughes ; Nuclear power and the earth / Richard Bell ; The false promise of "clean" coal / Jeff Goodell ; The whole fracking enchilada / Sandra Steingraber ; River killers : the false solution of megadams / Juan Pablo Orrego ; Bioenergy : a disaster for biodiversity, health, and human rights / Rachel Smolker ; Oil shale development : looming threat to western wildlands / George Wuerthner ; Gas hydrates : a dangerously large source of unconventional hydrocarbons / George Wuerthner ; Regulatory illusion / Brian L. Horejsi ; Retooling the planet : the false promise of geoengineering / ETC Group -- Under attack. Introduction : onslaught of the energy machine ; Will drilling spell the end of a quintessential American landscape? / Erik Molvar ; Backing the front : fighting oil and gas development in Montana's Rocky Mountain front / Gloria Flora ; Tar sands, pipelines, and the threat to first nations / Winona LaDuke, with Martin Curry ; Sweet and sour : the curse of oil in the Niger Delta / Michael Watts ; Outsourcing pollution and energy-intensive production / Vandana Shiva -- Depowering destruction. Introduction : toward an energy economy as if nature mattered ; The case for conservation / Richard Heinberg ; Reinventing fire / Amory B. Lovins ; Cap the grid / Robert E. King ; Protected areas : foundation of a better future relationship with energy / Harvey Locke ; Three steps to establish a politics of global warming / Bill McKibben ; Distributed renewable generation : why it should be the centerpiece of U.S. energy policy / Sheila Bowers and Bill Powers ; No ecological sustainability without limits to growth / Philip Cafaro -- What we're for -- Places where the wind carries the ashes of ancestors.;The energy reader takes an unflinching look at the environmental devastation created by our thirst for energy--including supposedly "clean" renewable sources. From oil spills, nuclear accidents, and mountaintop-removal coal mining to oversized wind farms and desert-destroying solar power plants, virtually every region of the globe is now experiencing the consequences of out-of-control energy development. Essentially no place is sacred, no landscape safe from the relentless search for energy resources to continue powering a culture based on perpetual growth. Precious wildlands, fragile ecosystems, even our own communities and children's health are at risk.