Paul Mobbs/
Mobbs' Environmental Investigation & Research

Latest Information, Events and Updates

Site updates are listed below – for a list of forthcoming events click here.

Updates and recent information/publications:

• Monday 21^st November 2011 – Jam Tomorrow: Unconventional Gas and Britain's Energy Future
  As plans for the development of shale gas and coalbed methane in the UK are advanced (along with underground gasification, they're collectively called "unconventional gas"), the debate on our energy future is seemingly reduced to a single factor; carbon. In fact the complexities of how we source our energy today, and how – and how much – we will be able to produce in the future are far more complex than the issue of carbon emissions. Irrespective of whether we're looking at renewable energy, shale gas or nuclear power, the groups that promote their alternatives to present energy policy all argue that we can be secure in our present lifestyles and economic well-being if we adopt them today. Is this a reality, or is it, as in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Through the Looking Glass, a case of "Jam tomorrow" – the rosy future that these protagonists promote with their energy technologies will never really arrive.
• Friday 18^th November 2011 – Ecolonomics No.13: Hype, hearsay and hyperbolæ – shale gas and the UK energy economy
  I take the first random bus and here I am, within one of the areas that might be soon licensed for unconventional gas production. Is there no sanctuary for the weary researcher? This has been my work for the last few months, and even when I try to get away from it, it won't let me go! (HTML and PDF versions available) – for further information goto the Ecolonomics newsletter.
• Friday 10^th June 2011 – Ecolonomics No.12: "Promulgating the Web's calorie controlled diet" – web design, environmental impact and the much ignored ecological efficiency of the Internet
  Whilst catching up on a long-overdue chore as I recover from the flu, I muse on the role of “design” within the driving energy and resource trends of information systems, and how we measure such ethereal trends in order to define a process for change. (HTML and PDF versions available) – for further information goto the Ecolonomics newsletter.
• Tuesday 19^th April 2011 – Ecolonomics No.11: "Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one" – peak oil, nuclear power and the ecolonomics of existential material reality
  Another edition of ecolonomics so soon after the last? It's been one of those fortnights. The response to my last ecolonomics has been somewhat greater than usual – over 3,000 copies have been downloaded. I've had a lot of email too, not just mulling over my critique of George Monbiot, but also looking at the whole context of what I said; which is good, because that's why I wrote it. I'm writing so soon after the last (in terms of size) "double issue" because of the events that have happened since then – events which put the content of the last edition in a whole new light. (HTML and PDF versions available) – for further information goto the Ecolonomics newsletter.
• Thursday 31^st March 2011 – Ecolonomics No.10: When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?
  I met George Monbiot many years ago, during the various roads and land campaigns of the early 1990s– not long after the security guards at the Batheaston/Swainswick bypass used "minimum reasonable force" to bust his foot, after which he limped from event-to-event on a crutch. As far as nuclear power goes, George has been sitting on the fence for a while now; this week he fell off, on the pro-nuclear side. (HTML and PDF versions available) – for further information goto the Ecolonomics newsletter.

Forthcoming events:

Tuesday 29^th November, 7.30pm, Parbold Women's Institute, Lancashire:
Jam Tomorrow – Unconventional gas, gas fracking, and the British energy economy

    Irrespective of whether we're looking at renewable energy, shale gas or nuclear power, the groups that promote their alternatives to present energy policy all argue that we can be secure in our present lifestyles and economic well-being if we adopt them today. Is this a reality, or is it, as in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Through the Looking Glass, a case of "Jam tomorrow" – the rosy future that these protagonists promote with their energy technologies will never really arrive.
    Over this 2-hour discussion/presentation event we'll seek to address a straightforward question; does unconventional gas promise us a secure future as our North Sea supplies run out?; or is it just a short term fix that can't escape global consequences of the peak in oil, gas and coal production?

Booking: Entry to the evening is £2/person on the door

Background: For information on this event see the Papers and Articles section

Map/guide: Click here for a street map.