Go watch this. Wonderful and compelling.

(HT The Fire and The Rose)

In my Peak Oil presentation I talk about wind being a viable alternative – there’s now an excellent discussion over at the Oil Drum about the viability of wind. Turns out that the EROEI is 20-25:1 which is outstanding (and significantly better than deep water oil – how about that). As always, some of the best information is in the comments (see especially the comparison of wind with photovoltaics near the bottom).

So there’s room for hope.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Spent last night at Hemingford Grey with a colleague. It should be called ‘cell group’ but that sounds a bit grand when we are down to just the two of us! A good thing to do, even when we despair at the future of the church (spent much time talking about this book).

Audio of last Saturday’s talk can now be found here.

Those familiar with Peak Oil won’t hear anything new, but for those unfamiliar with it, it might prove a good introduction.

Doing some research for next Saturday’s learning church, whilst also juggling various other parish matters – including some sudden seriously bad news for a colleague – and finding that it is all rather an accumulation of sadness.

Good summary of the line that I’ll be taking is here.

In short: the human race is in ‘overshoot’ – there are more of us than can be sustained, and the chances are that there will be a significant reduction in human population.

So.

Let’s get depressed.

(I’ll cheer up again later)

Seven thin barrels of oil eat seven fat barrels of oil.
And we’re not at the beginning.
We’re half way through year seven.

“follow the whole of your nature and write the book that only you can write, and see what happens”

(Philip Pullman, a man with whom I have significant disagreements, but these words are displayed largely and prominently by my computer. In practice I omit ‘the book that’ and substitute ‘what’. Hence, ‘let us be human’ and all that shall follow from it.)

John Stott: “I said Christ and the biblical witness to Christ. But the really distinctive emphasis is on Christ. I want to shift conviction from a book, if you like, to a person. As Jesus himself said, the Scriptures bear witness to me. Their main function is to witness to Christ.”

I seem to recall being accused of ‘neo-Barthianism’ when I made the same argument a while back.

(HT BBA)

There was a really strange light on the beach this afternoon, opalescent. I suspect the air was saturated with moisture, as if it wanted to rain but couldn’t get its act together. Tried to capture something of it with these piccies, but as always, you can’t.

When I was taking a kids confirmation class once, I began it by teaching about ‘wow moments’ as times when God is (probably) present – when life seems to hang together with sense and energy and all the lights switch on.

Via BBA I discovered one: “played ‘heroes’ in my living room with david bowie”

which I’m sure was a wow moment for Moby.

It’d be a wow moment for me.

I’m not sure I’ve ever had a wow moment quite on that scale. I wonder what it would be.

Possibly: giving a Peak Oil presentation to the senior bishops of the Church of England (half of whom know me already). That would be a wow moment.

Not an unrealistic ambition either (grin).