Shopping Is The Worst Fairy Tale, Ever

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On Saturdays while visiting my nieces, I marvel at the “good fortune” of these children at being able to have any throwaway toy they want. But, inwardly, I wring my hands at the rampant consumerism that seems second nature to this next generation of kids with well-to-do parents and often two sets of even richer doting grandparents. In the words of Douglas Coupland, they are up to their eyeballs in “striving middle-class participation.”

Let me unravel my cognitive dissonance. I survey my own Made-In-China Queendom—a jersey-knit, acrylic, rhinestone-dazzled mountain of crap (are you really one to judge, oh Duke of USB Chargers?).

I am aghast.

Drilling Deeper: New Report Casts Doubt on Fracking Production Numbers

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Post Carbon Institute has published a report and multiple related resources calling into question the production statistics touted by promoters of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).

By calculating the production numbers on a well-by-well basis for shale gas and tight oil fields throughout the U.S., Post Carbon concludes that the future of fracking is not nearly as bright as industry cheerleaders suggest. The report, “Drilling Deeper: A Reality Check on U.S.Government Forecasts for a Lasting Tight Oil & Shale Gas Boom,” authored by Post Carbon fellow J. David Hughes, updates an earlier report he authored for Post Carbon in 2012.

The report’s findings differ vastly from the forward-looking projections published by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), a statistical sub-unit of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The findings also come just days after Houston Chronicle reporter Jennifer Dlouhy reported that in a briefing over the summer, EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski told her it was EIA’s job to “tell the industry story” about tight oil and shale gas production.

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