The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies

by RichardHeinberg (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $4.70

  The world is about to run out of cheap oil and change dramatically. Within the next few years, global production will peak. Thereafter, even if industrial societies begin to switch to alternative energy sources, they will have less net energy each year to do all the work essential to the survival of complex societies. We are entering a new era, as different from the industrial era as the latter was from medieval times. Richard Heinberg places this momentous transition in historical context, showing how industrialism arose from the harnessing of fossil fuels, how competition to control access to oil shaped the geopolitics of the 20th century, and how contention for dwindling energy resources in the 21st century will lead to resource wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America. He describes the likely impacts of oil depletion, and all of the energy alternatives. Predicting chaos unless the US - the world's foremost oil consumer - is willing to join with other countries to implement a global program of resource conservation and sharing, he also recommends a 'managed collapse' that might make way for a slower-paced, low-energy, sustainable society in the future. More readable than other accounts of this issue, with fuller discussion of the context, social implications, and recommendations for personal, community, national, and global action, Heinberg's book is a riveting wake-up call for humankind as the oil era winds down, and a critical tool for understanding and influencing current US foreign policy.

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $3.25

  Without oil, what would you do? How would you travel? How would you eat? What would everyday life be like? The world is about to change dramatically and permanently as a result of oil depletion. Within the next few years, the global production of oil will peak. Thereafter, even with a switch to alternative energy sources, industrial societies will have less energy available to do all the things essential to their survival. We are entering a new era as different from the industrial one as the latter was from mediaeval times. The Party's Over deals head-on with the imminent decline of cheap oil. It shows how oil and war have been closely related for the past century, and how competition to control oil supplies is likely to lead to new resource wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America. Tracing the crucial role of fossil fuels in the rise of industrialism, Heinberg discusses the degree to which energy alternatives can compensate for oil, and recommends: a managed transition to a slower-paced, low-energy, sustainable society in the future; a global programme of resource conservation and sharing implemented by the US - the world's foremost oil consumer and the most mightily armed nation in world history - in concert with other countries; and realistic ways for families, communities, nations, and the world to prepare for the coming crisis. A riveting wake-up call that does for oil depletion, what Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did for the issue of chemical pollution - i.e. raising to consciousness a previously ignored global problem of immense proportions - The Party's Over is essential reading for all those concerned with the future of modern life as we know it.

• New

  Paperback
  2005

  $14.08

  Without oil, what would you do? How would you travel? How would you eat? What would everyday life be like? The world is about to change dramatically and permanently as a result of oil depletion. Within the next few years, the global production of oil will peak. Thereafter, even with a switch to alternative energy sources, industrial societies will have less energy available to do all the things essential to their survival. We are entering a new era as different from the industrial one as the latter was from mediaeval times. The Party's Over deals head-on with the imminent decline of cheap oil. It shows how oil and war have been closely related for the past century, and how competition to control oil supplies is likely to lead to new resource wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America. Tracing the crucial role of fossil fuels in the rise of industrialism, Heinberg discusses the degree to which energy alternatives can compensate for oil, and recommends: a managed transition to a slower-paced, low-energy, sustainable society in the future; a global programme of resource conservation and sharing implemented by the US - the world's foremost oil consumer and the most mightily armed nation in world history - in concert with other countries; and realistic ways for families, communities, nations, and the world to prepare for the coming crisis. A riveting wake-up call that does for oil depletion, what Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did for the issue of chemical pollution - i.e. raising to consciousness a previously ignored global problem of immense proportions - The Party's Over is essential reading for all those concerned with the future of modern life as we know it.