What's in a name?

Hello. The more observant of my readers will notice that the name of this blog has changed. Don't panic - it's still the same thing but I decided to change the name of it. I apologise for this.

Originally I didn't know what to call it but settled on the Peak Oil Dispatch because a) I thought that one day I could invite guest writers and turn it into a regular, perhaps even printed, publication (a habit of mine) and b) The initials were P.O.D. - which I liked.

I wasn't all that keen on the name, truth be told, and when I discovered all the other sites out there with similar names I began trying to think of a new one. I've come to realise that when it comes to peak oil there are two types of site.

1 - Those that focus on the raw numbers and report on every new discovery of fossil fuels. The patron saint of these kind of sites is M. King Hubbert, the late oil geologist of the peak fame.

and

2 - Those sites which take a much wider view and take the fact of peak oil/energy as a given but instead try to address the repercussions of our ecological overshoot. The patron saint of these kinds of site is William Catton.

This kind of site is of the latter variety, and is named after Colin Campbell's remark that today's fossil fuels provide us collectively with the equivalent energy of 22 billion slaves, working for us around the clock and never complaining.

This site doesn't aim to count slaves, argue in favour of a new type of more efficient slave or pretend that the slaves are not dying off. Instead I think it's better if we talked about what we are going to do as the slaves go away and figure out mindful ways to make that transition as least painful as possible for ourselves, our families and communities.

Thanks for reading!