Deirdre Kent's Page

Last Christmas I was in Christchurch staying with my well off son and his family. They have everything, big house, great jobs, five lovely healthy kids, bulging pantry and fridges and toys that pile up in corners. We all went to their Catholic church on Christmas Day. On the way in I noticed a little box which said I think "For the Poor". As the happy almost swinging service began I started to think of the gap between rich and poor and how it is widening all the time because of the destructive m… Continue

Giving Birth to a New Economy by a Managed Contraction
by Deirdre Kent, Laurence Boomert and Helen Dew.

27 May, 2009



Global economic recovery is not possible because economic growth has been fuelled by a cheap abundant energy supply, and this energy is now reaching the limits imposed by nature.

The world as a whole is either at or just past peak oil, the time when global oil production can no longer increase. Oil is a finite resource, half of it has gone, and we use six barrels of oi… Continue

I recently posted two comments on a discussion because we have just lived through a most extraordinary week on the world's financial markets and I am struggling to make sense of it all and see the connection between the markets and peak oil.

So here is Tom's take on it. It is so good.

The Inevitable End of the Central Banking and Political Money Regime

The present disorder in the financial markets and the cascading failures of
financial institutions come as no surprise. Those who recog… Continue

Went to a music weekend at a lodge near here. One would have thought that these people would be fairly au fait with peak oil issues but no so. (Not that I ventured into many conversations on the topic, I was too busy with the music.)

What I did notice was that many had gas guzzling vehicles. Then someone explained that he couldn’t afford to sell his gas guzzler because to replace it with a smaller car was going to cost so much. I heard that someone had envied the couple in the 80 sq m central c… Continue

A woman who sold fish waste and liquid blood and bone told me that her business is starting to thrive as chemical fertilisers get more expensive. I also talked to the assistant manager at our local Farmlands, asking what was happening. He told me of big price rises and the fact that their head office, where those decisions are being made, are making some changes to adjust. I suggested they stock more organic fertilisers but he said it was out of his hands. I passed him an invitation to our next… Continue