The short days in the Northern Hemisphere produce a peculiar journalistic crop, the Top 10 list. At Miller-McCune.com, we’re not immune to the pull of that chestnut, but the wonk rays so prevalent here force a mutation. Instead of a Top 10 list, here’s 10 for 2010, stories that are popular and memorable but without the baggage of perfection as determined in a year-end frenzy of instantaneous deliberation. Of course, some of the best movies never get nominated for Oscars, and so it is here. We’ll make apologies to stalwarts like Jai Ranganathan (of Curiouser & Curiouser fame) or ... Read More
Peak Wood: Nature Does Impose Limits
June 1, 2010 • By • 57 Comments
Ed. Note — While the specifics of Peak Oil can be debated, the existence of an inflection point in which petroleum becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to extract is not. A few days ago our Melinda Burns looked at possible scenarios on how the world might cope with Peak Oil. Here, John Perlin, author of A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization, recaps and expands on the cautionary tales he’s recounted on how the world has already experienced the age of Peak Wood. Constant fuel wood crises taught pre-Colombian Americans in New England the precariousness of accessible ... Read More
Peak Wood Forges an Industrial Revolution
April 19, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
As England entered the 18th century, manufacturers could not get enough wrought iron. The problem had nothing to do with a deficiency of ore. “In that respect,” an anonymous pamphleteer of the period observed, “nature has been very liberal.” “But,” he added, “for lack of wood and charcoal they are not being worked.” The country’s rich supply of coal was of no help. “No art or method is known and practiced,” one familiar with the iron trade of the time attested, “of making iron from ore but with charcoal.” Accessible wood supplies, those that could be delivered ... Read More
Wood and Civilization
April 5, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
The author of A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization, writes a series for Miller-McCune on the world’s first energy crisis: peak wood. Part I: The Tree That Changed the World Part II: Wood and Civilization Part III: Peak Wood and the Bronze Age Part IV: Peak Wood Brings on the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Fossil Fuels From the first cave society to the end of the 18th century, the world lived in the Biomass Age with wood as its primary building material and fuel. England was first to leave the Era of Wood, embracing the fossil fuel coal at the dawn of the ... Read More
