Like him or not, former president Bill Clinton is an intelligent, adept public speaker. Here’s a link to an audio file of a Q&A session Clinton did at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week with Atlantic Monthly correspondent James Fallows, who is one of my favorites when it comes to politics & global issues.
In the first part of the audio file, Fallows asks Clinton several broad questions about climate change, and Clinton takes several tangents in the process of answering him, including one on peak oil. It’s about 9 minutes into the file, and it’s obvious that Clinton has read up on the subject and understands it, even if he’s somewhat evasive in dealing with the subject in public. He does mention the terms ‘peak oil production’ and ‘oil depletion’, though, and notes that it is virtually uncovered by the mass media.
This reinforces my belief that the people in power know about the upcoming energy issues, but are unlikely to do anything about it until there is no alternative to doing so. The reason? In my mind, it’s got to be all about the corporate money and maintaining the status quo, even while Rome burns…
PS: The Atlantic is my favorite news magazine, and Fallows is one of it’s best writers in my opinion. His “Countdown to a Meltdown” article from last year is excellent reading regarding his vision of what the coming decade brings. The Atlantic has it available only to subscribers, but it can be found by googling it on the web.
The Moral Equivalent of War 