Tuesday Evening Clips and Comments

July 1, 2008 by Pelikan
Filed under: Gov Strickland, Peak Oil 

Ahhh, the promise of the “service economy.”  As for my local Starbucks(s) I love that Pike Place roast.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has announced a series of 90-minute forums on reform of the state’s education system.  You can find more information from Strickland here.  Some may deride Strickland’s holistic look at education - but it’s not just about funding.  Oftentimes, derision is simple small-mindedness cloaked in “knowing” sarcasm.  After all, in Ohio we’ve gone basically a generation knowing we need reform of school funding.  In that time one thing has been addressed well: school building, through the Ohio School Facilities Commission.  Other than that, previous administrations and legislatures are rolling snake eyes.

When Ted Strickland holds a statewide conference on innovation and creativity in education, it’s not psychobabble it’s part of a different approach.  This latest move to hold forums, open to the public, throughout the state is another part of a different approach.  The forums are also classic Strickland - public involvement and transparency of government process. 

About the only thing naysayers have to hit Strickland with is what they seem to believe is foot-dragging on education.   It’s not foot-dragging, it’s also classic Strickland: a careful, reasoned, studied approach that includes stakeholders.  I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

It’s heartening to see national media outlets begin covering the Peak Oil debate over the past couple of years.  Academics and oil companies have been struggling with whether or not or when the world will reach the peak of its ability to economically produce oil.  As the years go by, it seems that it’s no longer a debate of whethers or nots, but rather the whens.  In 1956 M. King Hubbert predicted the U.S. would reach its peak of production in the early 1970s — it did.

Current thinking by many who believe we are reaching the world production peak is that sometime in this first two decades of this century civilization will be there.  Past that point, it’s declining production, declining supply, and much higher prices.  The energy “Apollo Project” should have begun long ago. 

If you’re new to this subject or have just never seen the Chicago Tribune’s special report - Oil: A Travelogue of Addiction, it’s good stuff.  A great, although arguably a bit over the top accessible book on the subject is James Howard Kunstler’s, The Long Emergency.

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One Comment on Tuesday Evening Clips and Comments

  1. Sunday Morning Papers – Marc Dann et. al. called ‘pond scum,’ by hometown paper; Strickland, Education tour, DHL, Housing, Noe, Ohio EPA : Clips & Comment on Sun, 27th Jul 2008 11:50 am

    2. [...] Apparently the ABJ didn’t read my post on these education forums. You can here. Governor Strickland is doing something we’re apparently not used to as Americans in the [...]

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