Peak Oil and Climate Change
UW Freshman Seminar
Autumn Quarter 2008
Wednesdays at 2:30PM in 425 Ocean Science Building (OSB)
Prof. James W Murray (543-4730; jmurray@u.washington.edu)
School of Oceanography
Program on Climate Change
Peak Oil and Climate Change are two historic events for humans and life on earth. Both result from societal dependence on fossil fuels. The first threatens modern industrial ways of living and the latter threatens the climatic systems that are an integral part of our world and the way we live and survive.
Peak Oil is the point when global production of oil will reach a maximum for geological reasons.
Climate Change is the alteration of the earth’s climate systems due to global warming by anthropogenic CO2.
How do these two events affect each other? Peak Oil and Climate Change are a bigger threat together than either are alone. Our biggest hope is to similarly converge our understanding of them, and how to deal with the problems they present. The solutions to both are essentially the same – development of renewable energy sources and increasing the efficiency of our energy use. The Climate Change movement has been saying for a long time that we should change; Peak Oil means categorically we have to change. Fuse them together and hopefully we’ll get more momentum moving us in the right direction.
Course Text: Global Warming: The Complete Briefing Paper
Houghton (2004); ISBN: 0521528747