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.
It is a slick piece of public relations to convince people to disregard what is right in front of them and believe the opposite. And…
The way the oil industry is touting gains in U.S. crude production, you would think that production is soaring to new all-time highs. But the…
With U.S. natural gas production having risen more than 25 percent from its nadir in 2005, natural gas producers are pushing for an end to…
It isn’t often that the world’s working stiffs get a chance to fleece rich investors. But that’s essentially what has happened as a result of…
“Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfilment,” French philosopher Jean Baudrillard once said. Substitute “forecasts” for the word “statistics,” and you’ll have a…
America believed it could put off the question of slavery. It did for 73 years from the drafting of the U.S. Constitution to the beginning…
It is hard to imagine a more unlikely vehicle for advancing energy literacy than a finely crafted large format picture book. Energy, after all, is…
A professor friend of mine recently asked his freshman writing class what makes civilization possible. The students puzzled for a minute and then someone said,…
Here's the short version of why forecasts of low long-term oil and natural gas prices are almost certainly wrong: It costs more than that to…
Matt Damon's new fictional movie about natural gas development in a rural township was being lambasted by the natural gas industry even before it premiered.…
[I]f you're still operating under the assumption that the earth's petroleum--or at least the cheap stuff--is about to run out, you're not going to thrive…
Many people trot out their predictions for the coming year right about now. I'm generally allergic to predictions and think rather in terms of probabilities.…
Anyone who tells you that energy independence can be achieved based on globally traded commodities such as oil, coal and natural gas is either trying…
When people read about a long-term forecast of world oil supply--say, out to 2030--they often believe that the forecasters are merely incorporating our knowledge of…
The great fear among those working to address climate change is that the seemingly vast resources of fossil fuels waiting to be burned will send…
Was the most recent American election outcome determined by the presidential debates, changing demographics, voter views on issues, Hurricane Sandy (and the president's reaction to…
Does the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believe we have a peak oil problem? The precise answer is that the IMF is currently studying how constraints…
An oil executive once observed that burning oil for energy is like burning Picassos for heat. Oil is extraordinarily valuable as the basis for so…
You are not alone if you think it's odd that Canada--the world's ninth largest exporter of crude oil and petroleum products and the main supplier…
With gasoline scaling $4 a gallon recently, plans announced last week by international oil giant BP to export U.S.-produced crude oil ought to have Americans…