There seems to be a general consensus, left and right, that we are in the midst of a new energy crisis. Either, “Peak Oil” is to blame, based on the argument that oil resources are about to peak bringing about serious constraints on uture use of energy. Or, climate change is highlighted, warning that the sustained use of fossil fuel is heating up the planet and bringing about catastrophic changes in climate patterns.
Changes within the energy sector are speeding up dramatically. A combination of ecological, political, economic and financial factors are converging to ensure that energy production and consumption are set to become central to global political, economic and financial dynamics.
“Counting marketable achievements such as how many leaflets were distributed, or the quantity of funds raised, prevents us from reflecting on what changes have been achieved, or the strength of our resistance to corporates or government, or, more realistically, from analysing our effectiveness long- term in a struggle against power that isn’t meant to come with quarterly ‘successes.’
[This review will appear shortly in Anarchist Perspectives.] A review of: Global Energy Shifts: Fostering Sustainability in a Turbulent Age By Bruce Podobnik (Temple University Press, Philadelphia. 2006), and Globalization and the Race for Resources By Stephen Bunker and Paul Ciccantell (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 2005)