Michael C. Ruppert - Confronting Collapse: the Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post Peak Oil World

PRAISE FOR Confronting Collapse

This book not only explains the essence of the subject but provides a penetrating analysis of the wider political, military, and economic implications. The second half of the Oil Age now dawns and will be marked by the decline of oil production and all that depends upon it, including especially transport, trade, and agriculture. The book ends with a list of sensible new policy proposals with which to face this turning point of historic magnitude.

Colin Campbell, Ph.D., former oil exploration geologist,
Texaco, British Petroleum; exploration manager, Total;
former consultant to Shell, Statoil, Mobil, and Amerada;
former Executive V.P., Petrofina; author of many books and
publications on oil and gas depletion

Mike Ruppert has an unblemished track record for saying things that are incendiary, outrageous, shockingand true. Our new president needs desperately to hear the uncomfortable message of this book about energy and the economy, and so do the rest of us.

Richard Heinberg, Ph.D., author of The Partys Over,
Peak Everything, The Oil Depletion Protocol
and senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute

Mike Ruppert has been at the forefront of speaking and writing about the grim reality that the worlds crude-oil output is peaking or has already peaked and will soon begin what could be swift declines over the next decade or two. The world needs to pay careful attention to the multiple risks this event will usher in. Thanks to Rupperts new book, readers around the world will have access to his well-written work.

Matthew R. Simmons, Chairman of Simmons & Company
and author of Twilight in the Desert: The Coming
Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy

Ruppert confronts the stark realities of a world of declining oil production, poses vital questions of our complex oil-dependent supply chains, and challenges uspeople and politicians aliketo build a sustainable world with what remains of our resources.

Julian Darley, author of High Noon for Natural Gas,
founder of Post Carbon Institute

All I can say is, Yikes! This is a book everyone should read.

Mike Ruppert is my friend. And sometimes I remind him, in a way that only a friend can, that my perspective is colored by my own distinct experiences as an informed woman of color in the United States. And, frankly, that means that some of what is between these covers makes me cringe; but it is exactly this substance, actively suppressed in proposed national and international gatherings, that we human beings must debate and resolve, or else we will find Dr. Kings admonition, once again, to be true: We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. We know Mike Ruppert because he became a whistleblower and told us some inconvenient truthsabout crack cocaine, 9/11/01, and now this: how to step back from the brink of human disaster.

It is clear that Mike and I are headed toward the same destination, despite our differences. This book lands Mike exactly where I amoutside the box of political orthodoxy, but well within the space of policy advocacy that is representative of critical thinking, rational analysis, and authentic leadership. Mike Ruppert dares to go where our elected leaders seem afraid to take us. In the end, however, if we are to salvage our own human dignity, either our leadership must catch up with us or we must become and nurture a new generation of leaders.

Cynthia McKinney, six-term member, U.S. House of
Representatives, Green Party Presidential Candidate, 2008

Americas most courageous and fearless investigative reporter exposes the root causes of the financial meltdown. Our new president should read this book for his next intelligence briefing.

Mark Robinowitz, author of Peak Oil Wars and Global
Permaculture Solutions, PeakOilWars.org,
GlobalPermaculture.org

If ever there was a need for a particular book at a particular time, its this book now.

Jenna Orkin, World Trade Center
Environmental Organization

CONFRONTING
COLLAPSE

The Crisis of Energy and Money
in a Post Peak Oil World

_________________

A 25-Point Program for Action

MICHAEL C. RUPPERT
Author of Crossing the Rubicon

CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION,VERMONT

Copyright 2009
by Michael C. Ruppert.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be
transmitted or reproduced in any
form by any means without permission
in writing from the publisher.

Confronting Collapse was first
published in 2009 as
A Presidential Energy Policy:
Twenty-five Points Addressing the
Siamese Twins of Energy and Money.

Project Manager: Patricia Stone
Designer: Peter Holm,
Sterling Hill Productions

Printed in the United States of America
First Chelsea Green printing December, 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 10 11 12 13
eBook ISBN: 978-1-60358-299-5

Our Commitment to Green Publishing
Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because we use recycled paper, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitia-tive.org), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Confronting Collapse was printed on Rolland Enviro Natural, a 100-percent postconsumer recycled paper supplied by Thomson-Shore.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Post Office Box 428
White River Junction, VT 05001
(802) 295-6300
www.chelseagreen.com

This book is dedicated to the great and courageous visionary
Marion King Hubbert and to President James Earl Carter, Jr.

King, you were the prophet.

Jimmy, you led. You told the truth about energy. That record
can never be diluted, and it will not be forgotten. You did
not let us down, Jimmy. We let ourselves down.

But then again... we were conditioned to.

_________________________

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

FRANK HERBERT, Dune

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Michael Ruppert does not mince words in this stirring and uncompromising book on the vital issue of global energy and economics. He addresses some simple but widely ignored concepts relating to the critical role of oil and gas in the modern world. First, they are finite resources formed in the geological past and are, therefore, subject to depletion. Second, they have to be found before they can be produced, the peak of which is long past.

Ruppert considers the broader implications of this realization in terms of a finite Oil Age. The Oil Age started only 150 years ago, precipitating the rapid expansion of industrialization, transportation, technology, etc., fuelled by this cheap-source energy flowing from the ground. But now, at the dawn of the second half of this age, we face a decline of production and all that depends upon it. The economic and political consequences of this turning point for mankind are colossal, demanding far-reaching political responses, as the book discusses. Many claims have been made that new technology will counter the natural decline, yet the arguments overlook the irony that the better the technology, the faster the depletion.