Kurt Cobb is a freelance writer and communications consultant who writes frequently about energy and environment. His work has also appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Resilience, Le Monde Diplomatique, TalkMarkets, Investing.com, Business Insider and many other places. He is the author of an oil-themed novel entitled Prelude and has a widely followed blog called Resource Insights. He is currently a fellow of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions.
In 1943 President Franklin Roosevelt declared that "the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States." The reason: Ten years…
After reading Art Berman's excellent summary of how fast-growing U.S. natural gas exports are likely to reduce domestic supplies significantly over the next several years…
There is an iron rule of resource exploitation: Go after the easy stuff first. If you don't, your competitors will and run you out of…
China just expanded its already tight restrictions on export of technology related to refining rare earth minerals. The most recent restrictions involve technology for making…
One of the favorite shibboleths of the world's tech overlords is "Move fast and break things." It seems that one of the things that is…
The single most abundant element in the Earth's crust is oxygen making up 46.6 percent of the mass. The second most abundant element is silicon…
Back in 2009 I wrote a piece entitled "The unbearable lightness of information." Since then the information economy has become ever more resource intensive. Examples…
The substance that constitutes a pencil lead and an important component of electric vehicle batteries is suddenly less available. China, the world's top producer of…
A very observant longtime friend of mine opined recently that the clean energy economy is really just a metals energy economy where metals provide the…
Eleven years ago, I wrote about the how millions of holes drilled deep into American soil were already destined to pollute groundwater across the United…
You've almost certainly read about the backup of ships waiting to transit the Panama Canal, which carries 6 percent of all commercial ships worldwide. While…
Just when you thought the hydrogen economy zombie was dead and gone, it rises again, this time in color. Yes, hydrogen comes in many colors…
It has now become more fashionable to talk about shortages. Computer chips have been in shortage and then in glut in the last few years.…
There are those who believe our current way of life is not facing any near term threat and will go on indefinitely. In this view,…
The most salient fact about natural resources such as minerals and fertile soil is that they are unevenly distributed around the world. That means some…
A person buying insurance does so because he or she is concerned about the future. A house fire could lead to a financial wipe-out. A…
We humans now face an era of climate that is uncharted for the size and complexity of the human community. Our roads, rails, ports, buildings,…
Self-driving vehicles are stopping in traffic for no apparent reason and blocking emergency vehicles reports the Los Angeles Times. The writer alludes to a famous…
The state of Illinois is suffering from its driest conditions in more than a decade. In fact, large swathes of the Midwest and Plains states are…
A friend of mine who was trained as a physicist used to joke about a future in which each of us would carry handheld fusion…