US Production of Natural Gas Grew at about 7.5% annually in 2011

With a doubling period of 10 years, gas production is definately up. The huge volume of gas coming on line is driving prices down to a point where it is now practical to use it for purposes formerly reserved for coal.
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=6030

Up to 350 new wells are coming on line monthly in Eagle Ford area of Texas

New well starts in the Eagle Ford region in Texas increased 110% from January through March 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, according to reporting and analysis by BENTEK Energy LLC (Bentek).

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=5950#

Gas Prices Headed Lower CNN Money reports that "While much hype was made earlier this year about how gas had run up further and faster than any time before and may even reach a new all-time high of over $4.11 gallon, prices have been slowly declining since touching $3.95 a gallon at the beginning of April. Gas prices currently sit at $3.84, according to AAA."

"If we don't have any supply issues or refinery outages, we've seen the highs for the summer," 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/26/markets/gas-prices/index.htm?iid=Lead

Times reports that the energy market is booming in the US

Times article reports that energy market is improving in US

But wait! There is more!

From WSJ last week: "With domestic electricity demand rising 10% per year in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom now devours more than a quarter of its oil production... IEA figures show that Saudi Arabia now consumes more oil than Germany, an industrialized country with triple the population and an economy nearly five times as large...

Natural Gas >>>Diesel

Royal Dutch Shell PLC is considering building a giant plant in Louisiana that would convert natural gas into diesel fuel. The link below requires a subscription but you can google to find out more about the trend of converting gas to diesel. It is not a new technology but requires a fairly high cost of the liquid fuel and a cheap cost of the gaseous fuel to make it profitable. Apparently we are nearing that point now.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304072004577323770856080102.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Cynthia Morgan is a well regarded hypnotherapist in Los Angeles. She was recently interviewed for an article in Westside Today for an article about how one’s state of mind can bring opportunity where some believe there is none. ( http://www.westsidetoday.com/m1-770/mind-over-matter.html ). She states in the article that one “…cannot have emotional health without healthy thoughts. Emotion follows thought. It’s not the other way around. First the thought, then the emotion. In order to change the emotion, you must go back to the thoughts you are thinking. And not just conscious thoughts, but rather thoughts in your subconscious mind”.   

This idea touched on an area that interests me. As an environmentalist and a designer I think it is important to attempt to understand the impact of environment on our formation as human beings. Environmentalism, to be real, must go beyond the surface of 'saving the planet' to an understanding of how we relate to the environment. Karl Menninger was a well known child psychologist who's family founded a foundation and clinic in Topeka and in Houston. The Foundation does a lot of work with emotionally disturbed children. In tracking this topic, during his career Karl performed many studies of the effect of environment on childhood development. Some of his most well known studies were of identical twins who were separated at birth. Although genetically different, when raised in differing environments, they developed very differently with differing interests and habits. Of course there are also the effects of violent environments, war zones, religious extremeism and so forth.  

Karl's thesis was that environment affects the development of personality which is, to a certain extent, a reflection of how we relate to our surroundings and situations. This also implies that we can shape humanity through the environment that we create for living, at all scales. The home environment affects the development of a person while the global environment affects the development of humanity. Quite simply, environment is another lens through which we see different things when looking at the same thing from different places.