A techno-optimist is pitted against the pied piper of “apocalyptic environmentalism”
Charles Mann's new book,
The Wizard and the Prophet
, is about two pivotal but largely forgotten men of science. ...Mann casts the "prophet" William Vogt (1902–1968) as the central figure of mid-century "Malthusianism" and pied piper of "apocalyptic environmentalism," while Norman Borlaug (1914–2009) who played a starring role in the Green Revolution and believed that the application of science and technology could liberate humans from the shackles of nature plays the part of the "wizard." But the achievement of the book goes beyond detailing the accomplishments of these two individuals. With his trademark interdisciplinary wisdom, Mann travels the globe to visit other wizards and prophets working on the world's most challenging environmental problems.
This essay examines the intimate historical relationship between two of south Louisiana's most important industries, shrimping and offshore oil. Analyzing the social, cultural, and labor dimensions ...of environmental change, the essay argues that petroleum did not undermine the environmental sustainability of shrimping, as many scholars assert, but rather evolved in an intimate and complementary relationship to it. The organization of labor, transportation, and physical space by shrimp and petroleum were mutually reinforcing, the products of a similar social ecology of waterborne extraction and commerce. The essay also explains how the close bond between shrimp and petroleum found cultural expression in the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival, long held each Labor Day weekend in Morgan City, Louisiana. Ultimately, the threat to the local survival of these industries came not from oil-driven environmental degradation and resource depletion, as often implied, but from global competition and industry migration.
“. . . tells a dramatic story of imaginative businessmen and engineers who propelled Shell forward in the search for ways to locate and recover oil from the depths of the sea.”—Southwestern ...Historical Quarterly
“This book clarifies some of the concerns that are specific to a company like Shell and shows how information acquisition and processing provided the company with a tangible competitive advantage.”—Business History Review
“This book’s narrative is sustained throughout by easily understood explanations of the technical details of drilling and production.”—Journal of Southern History
Hubbert’s Peak Priest, Tyler
Historical studies in the natural sciences,
02/2014, Letnik:
44, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This paper analyzes the major debates over future petroleum supply in the United States, in particular the long-running feud between the world-famous geologist, M. King Hubbert, and the director of ...the U.S. Geological Survey, Vincent E. McKelvey. The intellectual history of resource evaluation reveals that, by the mid-twentieth century, economists had come to control the discourse of defining a “natural resource.” Their assurances of abundance overturned earlier conceptions of petroleum supplies as fixed and finite in favor of a more flexible understanding of resource potential in a capitalist society and acceptance of the price elasticity of natural resources. In 1956, King Hubbert questioned these assurances by predicting that U.S. domestic oil production would peak around 1970, which drew him into a long-running debate with McKelvey and the so-called “Cornucopians.” When Hubbert’s Peak was validated in the mid-1970s, he became a prophet. The acceptance of Hubbert’s theory ensured the centrality of oil in almost all discourses about the future, and it even created a cultural movement of prophecy believers fixated on preparing for the oil end times. Although notions of resource cornucopia seem to be once again in ascendance in the United States, Hubbert’s Peak still haunts any consideration of humanity’s environmental future.
The Dilemmas of Oil Empire Priest, Tyler
The Journal of American history (Bloomington, Ind.),
06/2012, Letnik:
99, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Americans were the first people to become mass producers and mass consumers of oil, the most powerful fuel and versatile substance ever discovered. During the twentieth century, oil spawned a ...world-class industry of US oil firms, service companies, and marketers. It produced vast networks of wells, pipelines, refineries, chemical plants, terminals, service stations, and power plants to deliver cheap energy. These complexes served as engines of investment and employment throughout the nation. As the chief transportation fuel, a major source of heat and electricity, and the building block for a proliferating array of consumer goods, oil underpinned a steadily rising US standard of living. The control of oil also helped elevate the US as the supreme global power. Here, Priest talks about the historical shift in oil and the global economy that have sapped American power.
Hubbert’s Peak Priest, Tyler
Historical studies in the natural sciences,
02/2014, Letnik:
44, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This paper analyzes the major debates over future petroleum supply in the United States, in particular the long-running feud between the world-famous geologist, M. King Hubbert, and the director of ...the U.S. Geological Survey, Vincent E. McKelvey. The intellectual history of resource evaluation reveals that, by the mid-twentieth century, economists had come to control the discourse of defining a “natural resource.” Their assurances of abundance overturned earlier conceptions of petroleum supplies as fixed and finite in favor of a more flexible understanding of resource potential in a capitalist society and acceptance of the price elasticity of natural resources. In 1956, King Hubbert questioned these assurances by predicting that U.S. domestic oil production would peak around 1970, which drew him into a long-running debate with McKelvey and the so-called “Cornucopians.” When Hubbert’s Peak was validated in the mid-1970s, he became a prophet. The acceptance of Hubbert’s theory ensured the centrality of oil in almost all discourses about the future, and it even created a cultural movement of prophecy believers fixated on preparing for the oil end times. Although notions of resource cornucopia seem to be once again in ascendance in the United States, Hubbert’s Peak still haunts any consideration of humanity’s environmental future.
Offshore development is one of the most important but least analyzed chapters in the history of the petroleum industry, and the Gulf of Mexico is the most explored, drilled, and developed offshore ...petroleum province in the world. This essay examines offshore oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico, highlighting the importance of access and how the unique geology and geography of the Gulf shaped both access and technology. Interactions between technology, capital, geology, and the political structure of access in the Gulf of Mexico generated a functionally and regionally complex extractive industry that repeatedly resolved the material and economic contradictions of expanding into deeper water. This was not achieved, however, simply through technological miracles or increased mastery over the environment, as industry experts and popular accounts often imply. The industry moved deeper only by more profoundly adapting to the environment, not by transcending its limits. This essay diverges from celebratory narratives about offshore development and from interpretations that emphasize the social construction of the environment. It challenges the storyline of market-driven technology and its miraculous ability to expand and create petroleum abundance in the Gulf.
After World War II, the discovery and production of onshore oil in the United States faced decline. As a result, offshore prospects in the Gulf of Mexico took on new strategic value. Shell Oil ...Company pioneered many of the early moves offshore and continues to lead the way into "deepwater."
Tyler Priest's study is the first time the modern history of Shell Oil has been told in any detail. Drawing on interviews with Shell retirees and many other sources, Priest relates how the imagination, talent, and hard work of personnel at all levels shaped the evolution of the company. The narrative also covers important aspects of Shell Oil's corporate evolution, but the company's pioneering steps into the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico are its signature achievement. Priest's study demonstrates that engineers did not suddenly create methods for finding and producing oil and gas from astounding water depths. Rather, they built on a half-century of accumulated knowledge and improvements to technical systems.
Shell Oil's story is unique, but it also illuminates the modern history of the petroleum industry. As Priest demonstrates, this company's experiences offer a starting point for examining the understudied topics of strategic decision-making, scientific research, management of technology, and corporate organization and culture within modern oil companies, as well as how these activities applied to offshore development.
". . . tells a dramatic story of imaginative businessmen and engineers who propelled Shell forward in the search for ways to locate and recover oil from the depths of the sea."-Southwestern Historical Quarterly
"This book's narrative is sustained throughout by easily understood explanations of the technical details of drilling and production."-Journal of Southern History
PDF
