RUPPERTS NEW BOOK AND GARDEN STUFF

from Murph

We got a copy of the new Michael Ruppert book, “A Presidential Energy Policy” and I just finished reading it. The first 14 chapters are primarily concerned with recapping what has happened in the last 15 years, peak oil and discussions on alternative energy. He also emphasizes that he had been predicting since his book “Crossing the Rubicon” what has now manifested. He does admit that some of his timing was off.

I have to admit that Ruppert has been pretty much right on and his first book, “Crossing the Rubicon” which was a large influence on the decisions we have made. So far, we are satisfied with those decisions, that is; Getting out of a large population area, getting into a small community that has the potential for sustainability, getting our personal sustainability going, largely divorcing ourselves from the greater society, learning to live a post collapse life style, cutting way back on spending (out of necessity, SS is not a lot of money), getting out of debt, you know the drill.

One of the things that interested me in the book particularly is his discussion of alternative energy sources. He examines them pretty closely, not to the extent that some other writers have, but a good synopsis. I agree with him that the hydrogen substitute seems to be a stone cold dead end. He also talks about wind, wave and solar energy, all of which are not going to replace oil and gas. He talks about some of the more esoteric stuff too, but emphasizes that these are mostly on paper and scalability is an almost insurmountable problem, even if they work. Infrastructure for all the alternatives is also a huge problem. If we had diverted resources 30-40 years ago to these things, they would have had promises, but we laughed Carter out of office for broaching the subject. It sure appears that he was right about at least one thing during his presidency.

Ruppert goes into considerable discussion about peak oil and oil wars and sites a lot of research concerning this situation.

In chapter 11 he hits on localization pretty hard, insisting that this is going to be absolutely necessary.

One of the interesting aspects of the book is his tying money and energy together. He also sites how money has been used in the past and in some other societies. He insists that we have to change our method of using and distributing money in our changing society.

I was somewhat disappointed that he didn’t get into more of the ecological damage done by money and energy. Guess I can’t have it all.

Here are his 25 suggestions by title for the president without his elaborations.

1.Create a second strategic petroleum reserve of 750 million barrels of refined
products for state and local governments.
2.Create a new and uniform crude oil reserve accounting system for the U.S.
3.Enact the oil depletion protocol.
4.Immediately declassify the May, 2001 national energy policy development group
records (NEPDG)
5.Impose an immediate moratorium on all highway and airport expansion, including
NAFTA superhighways.
6.Completely rebuild and expand America’s rail system.
7.Implement a feed-in tariff.
8.Prohibit energy sources speculation.
9.Enact a national speed limit of 55 mph and strictly enforce it.
10.Eliminate all federal subsidies for ethanol and biofuel production.
11.Create feed-in tariffs for local food production point of origin labeling.
12.Stimulate and strengthen local food production through federal and local
governments, make vacant urban land available for cultivation.
13.Immediately make an agriculture soil assessment and restoration.
14.Create a federal clearing house to track and report on all state and local
initiatives/progress with respect to relocalization and energy use.
15.Draft and pass a new public utility holding company act
16.Rebuild the grid and energy infrastructure including oil and natural gas
pipelines.
17.Create a public energy oversight board to police and monitor advertising and
public dissemination of information about energy.
18.Redraft the tax code of the U.S.
19.Re-do nuclear power and take material from weapons.
20.Draft new federal building codes for home and office construction.
21.Re-do the educational system. More vocational training for one thing.
22.Reduce federal government energy use by 15%.
23.Drastically reduce overseas military deployment.
24.Decriminalize the hemp plant and encourage widespread domestic production.
25.Open a rational open and ethical domestic and global dialog on population growth
and reduction.

I have not, of course, included all the supporting arguments for each. Some are interesting rationales. I suppose there would be heavy debate of the wisdom of any of these. And no matter whether you agree with all of them or not, and no matter how rational they are, I try to imagine just how many of them would ever become implemented. I honestly can’t see any of them becoming policy, too may of them make too much sense and too many big money people would have to bite the bullet. I just don’t see them happening.

I also notice that they all increase the control by the federal government, which I think is a great deal of the problem to begin with. Just what we need, more elite control of more stuff. But, if you are of the liberal persuasion, I would imagine you might agree with most of this. Me, I bristle at more government control of anything.

It is a book worth reading though.

On to more domestic stuff. I have decided to record the progress of our attempt to grow our own food as it progresses with photos. Here is a few of them plus some photos of Montana’s neck of the woods and Belgium’s garden area.






Two pics of Montana's big sky area where he lives. Quite a valley there,beautiful isn't it.



What the garden looks like in the morning with the frost covers on the beds.



I think rhubarb could care less if it frosts at night.



Potato bed. 14 plants, experiment this year to see if we can keep them alive. Have special plastic film to cover them with every night and then frost blanket over that.



Three types of onions and garlic beds. They are doing real well. Strawberry bed in the back corner along with carrots and some other types of onions. The walking onions will be interesting to watch grow and reproduce.



Greenhouse starts. Doing well since put in the wood stove.



Belgium's new garden area.

Have a good week folks. The weather here has been all day clear sky (except for the chemtrails)and bright sunshine and down to freezing at night. Been fetching more firewood as I have time. Busy time.