Newsletters
Post Carbon Newsletter - June 2009
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Post Carbon Newsletter - May 2009
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We've been gearing up this past month for the release of Richard Heinberg's next book, Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis, which will published in June by New Society Publishers. His schedule has kept him busy with presentations and interviews, including one we feature this month with the Italian magazine 
Post Carbon Newsletter April 2009
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The drop in housing prices wasn't quite as steep this month as previously. The price of oil has been pretty stable compared to last year's rollercoaster ride. It's tempting to think that things are starting to return to normal...
Post Carbon Newsletter - March 2009
|
There's no lack of solutions being proposed for the global economic crisis. Ideas similarly abound on how to best solve the energy, climate, food, water, and other various resource crises facing the world today.
Post Carbon Institute has evolved its mission in response to the rapidly unfolding global economic and environmental crises. We're looking beyond peak oil to the wide diversity of challenges facing humanity: among them, the depletion of fresh water and arable land, the steady increase of global population (and with it, consumption), and of course, the regularly-worsening predictions for climate change.
How can we continue feeding humanity in a future of declining resources and environmental crisis? Senior Fellow 
Post Carbon Newsletter - February 2009
 As the US economic stimulus package finally leaves the starting gate, both the Obama Administration and the media are speaking more openly about a stark reality: the global economic crisis is deep, severe, and will last more than a few years.This month's featured articles dig in to the depths of the crisis, starting with Post Carbon Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg on the always-difficult subject of population. Program Director Daniel Lerch discusses the significance of last summer's record oil price and record stock market plunge. Heinberg and Matt Savinar then explore the crisis in greater detail in an hour-long radio interview. Next there's an update from Transition United States, the new US arm of the international Transition Towns movement and a Post Carbon Institute partner. From our sister site Energy Bulletin we highlight three articles on the challenges we face in both understanding and confronting the global economic crisis. Kurt Cobb suggests our modern lifestyles have not adapted us to deal well with long term societal challenges. Dmitry Orlov applies first-hand lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the teetering American economy. And John Michael Greer continues his exploration of "the ecology of social change." And finally, we list a set of new features from Global Public Media. First, there's the second installment of a Richard Heinberg Museletter on energy limits to growth and the path to sustainability. Then "Reality Report" host Jason Bradford interviews Matthew Stein, author of When Technology Fails. Transition US co-founder Jennifer Gray is interviewed by "Peak Moment" host Janaia Donaldson about how this dynamic initiative got started and where she sees it going. And finally, "Crop to Cuisine" host Dov Hirsch talks about one local resource that doesn't seem to be anywhere close to peaking: beer. Photo credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Read the latest commentaries by our Fellows and staff anytime on the front page of our website. Here are some selections from the last month:
 Many exciting developments have emerged over the past few months, not to mention settling into a new office in Sebastopol, California! As a newly established non-profit organization, we are working in close partnership with the Transition Network, a UK based organization that is supporting Transition Initiatives around the world, as well as the Post Carbon Institute, based in the US. Our mission is to catalyze, inspire, encourage, network, support and train communities throughout the U.S. as they consider, adopt, adapt and implement the Transition model... Read moreA selection of articles appearing at Energy Bulletin this month. Please state the nature of your emergency by Kurt Cobb  When a 911 operator answers a call, the operator often begins as follows: "Please state the nature of your emergency." As anyone who has called 911 knows, how you describe your emergency has everything to do with how the police respond... Read morePhoto credit: flickr/Al Howat Social collapse best practices by Dmitry Orlov  Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for showing up. It's certainly nice to travel all the way across the North American continent and have a few people come to see you, even if the occasion isn't a happy one. You are here to listen to me talk about social collapse and the various ways we can avoid screwing that up along with everything else that's gone wrong... Read morePhoto credit: flickr/alfuso Toward Ecosophy by John Michael Greer  Two weeks ago, in The Ecology of Social Change, I suggested that the great flaw in most of today's schemes for social change is their failure to grasp the ecological dimensions of human society. That flaw has been almost impossible to avoid, because it is not simply a matter of consciously held beliefs; many of the people drafting plans for social change these days have learned quite a bit about ecology. It’s the unexamined and often unconscious presuppositions underlying most such plans that blind them to ecological reality – and the struggle to confront one’s own presuppositions is very challenging work... Read more
Post Carbon Institute Speakers Schedule Energy and the Future of Calgary: Sustaining Robust Cities in an Changing Energy Future May 7-8, 2009, Calgary, Alberta, Canada  A Conference for Thoughtful Leaders in Industry, Business, Policy, Governance, Education and CommunityPost Carbon Program Director Daniel Lerch will be a featured speaker. This unique Gaining Ground conference links the energy future to the key urban topics of land use, economic development, transportation and mobility, and infrastructure. It challenges Calgary--and all cities--to consider their choices and futures as the requirement for urban sustainability intensifies. Featured Events Power Shift Conference 2009 February 27th - March 2, 2009, Washington D.C. Convention Center  The Climate Crisis Coalition will be participating in Power Shift Conference 2009, the largest student conference on climate change in the country. Over 10,000 students will gather in Washington, DC throughout the weekend to develop strategies, lobby Congress, and demand that our leaders stand up to dirty energy, create green jobs, and re-engage globally to tackle the climate and economic crises.Author, poet, and farmer Wendell Berry will be joined by authors and activists Bill McKibben, Gus Speth, Terry Tempest Williams, and Janisse Ray to speak on the climate crisis, and, as always, they will inspire young people to take climate action. Oil and Investment Summit 2009 March 17, 2009, New York City, New York  The Peak Oil Investor Summit is an intensive one-day summit put together by and for the financial community to find out what peak oil is, and how to both protect your capital and identify profit strategies. |
||||||||||||||
Post Carbon Institute encourages the following courses of action:
|
Post Carbon Newsletter - January 2009
Last week, the 44th President of the United States was sworn into office, heralded by many—whether for his ancestry or the promise of his campaign—as the embodiment of change. In an inauguration address notable for its sobriety, President Obama spoke articulately of the "gathering clouds and raging storms" that threaten this country. And he called upon us to act:
"Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America."
Indeed, the time has come to act. To change. And we at Post Carbon Institute are doing both.
I'm excited to announce new partnerships and new strategies that will significantly further our ability to help citizens, groups, businesses, and governments around the world manage the transition towards resilient, sustainable communities. These include:
- Partnership with Transition United States to inspire and support communities in their efforts to address the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change
- Adoption of EnergyBulletin.net, a clearinghouse of information and insight about the peak of global energy supply
- Publication of "The Real New Deal: Energy Scarcity and the Path to Energy, Economic, and Environmental Recovery," written for the incoming Obama Administration
Climate change, peak oil, peak water, peak topsoil, peak food... peak everything. All of the bills for society's century-long industrial fiesta are coming due at the same time, and at a moment when the world is collectively broke due to a profound global economic crisis.
Solving these crises is going to take all the coordination, collaboration, and concentration we can muster. In the face of these new challenges and opportunities, Post Carbon Institute is shifting its programmatic focus.
We have made lasting impact and inspired countless people through the development of Global Public Media, the Relocalization Network, Solar Car Share, the Energy Garden, and Post Carbon Cities. As we concentrate our energy on becoming the "think tank for the transition," we pass the baton to those making tremendous strides in developing on-the-ground, replicable models of re-localization. And we give our deepest appreciation to staff who have brought us here: Shelby Tay, Laurel Hoyt, Andrew Calvo, Jason Arnold, and especially our founders, Celine Rich and Julian Darley. We wish them all the best in their new endeavors.
Please stay tuned over the coming months as we share further news, insights, and opportunities.
Yours,
Asher Miller
Executive Director
1. The Real New Deal
On 13th January Post Carbon Institute released the Real New Deal: Energy Scarcity and the Path to Energy, Economic, and Environmental Recovery. This plan is Post Carbon's proposal for the Obama Administration's response to the economic, environmental, and energy challenges we face. The plan has received widespread backing including endorsements from Bill McKibben, Michael Moore, Debbie Cook, Lester Brown, Randy Udall and Pat Murphy.
From the Executive Summary: Our continued national dependence on fossil fuels is creating a dangerous vulnerability to both long-term fuel scarcity and catastrophic climate change.
The current economic crisis requires substantial national policy shifts and enormous new government injections of capital into the economy. This provides an opportunity for a project whose scope would otherwise be inconceivable: a large-scale, fast-track transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
This project must happen immediately; indeed, it may already be too late...
- Executive Summary
- Part 1 - Overview: Need & Scope
- Part 2 - The Problem
- Part 3 - What Governments Are Saying
- Part 4 - The Solution
- Part 5 - Requirements for Energy Transition
- Part 6 - Conclusion
Add your signature endorsing the proposal
2. Commentary Highlights
Keep up to date on energy issues with Post Carbon Institute's commentary feature. Staff, Fellows and guest contributors post short, daily responses to the news of the day. Below are a few highlights from the past month. Be sure to visit our commentaries page regularly for more.
 |
Slo-mo Splat Richard Heinberg • January 5, 2009 Remember the wall that environmentalists (like the 1972 "Limits to Growth" authors) have long been saying that industrial society would eventually hit? Permit me to make the formal introduction: Industrial society, meet wall; wall, meet industrial society.... Read more |
 |
The Shape of the Recovery Richard Heinberg • January 7, 2009 An article on the Bloomberg website today suggests that Asia will have a "V-shape" recovery from the current economic crisis, rebounding in 2010. This is opposed to a "U-shape" recovery, which would presumably take a little longer... Read more |
 |
Opportunity for FUNDAMENTAL Change Richard Heinberg • January 9, 2009 An article by Neil Reynolds in Friday's GLOBE AND MAIL, titled "Obama's energy quick fix bound for the slag heap," quotes University of Manitoba Professor Vaclav Smil to support its thesis.... Read more |
3. Relocalization Network and Transition United States
We are excited to announce that Post Carbon Institute has launched a partnership with Transition United States to continue to inspire and support communities as they shift quickly away from dependence on fossil fuels. The challenges we now face as a result of peak oil and climate change require all the collaboration and coordination we can muster. Rather than have two similar but distinct efforts to aid citizens as they prepare for a post carbon world, we are pleased to work together with the Transition movement, which has been hugely successful in establishing relocalization projects around the world... ...Transition initiatives are growing by leaps and bounds in New Zealand and Australia and are just beginning in earnest in Canada. Browse the emerging list of official Transition Initiatives worldwide. The Transition model is an excellent compliment to the work that Relocalization Network groups have been doing over the past few years. It is a valuable tool to engage the community and bring enthusiasm and creativity to the discussion about how communities work together. We hope that the relationships that have developed within the network will continue to thrive in this new partnership, and that it will also lead to the initiation and nurture of new projects. Read more...
4. Post Carbon and Energy Bulletin
With social changes coming faster than ever, we need a more robust organization so we can continue to support the community that's grown up around peak oil and sustainability. Read more...
Some favorites from January
Many of the articles during the last month on Energy Bulletin had an upbeat tone, in spite of the bad news about the economy.
Advice to President Obama: an actuary's impractical perspective by Gail TverbergThe suggestion was made to Oil Drum staff that some of us might want to write recommendations relating to President Obama's energy policy. It seems to me that several steps come before energy policy: we need to get the worst of our financial problems behind us and we need to understand where we are, before we can make intelligent decisions going forward. Also, the issues are really broader than energy policy--they include agriculture, education, commerce, and a broad range of other areas affected by reduced energy supplies. Read more...
Did the Amish get it right after all? by Gene LogsdonThere is an interesting development in mainstream U.S.A that just might have significant relevance for garden farming. Record numbers of people are acquiring pets. The dog and cat business is not at all depressed by the recession. (If you are wondering what all this has to do with the Amish, bear with me.) You see evidence of the trend everywhere, especially in advertisements where dogs are shown licking the cheeks of children— this in a society that has an almost manic dread of germs. Pets are the in-thing. Apparently our society is so enmeshed in its mechanical and electronic gadgetry that the human psyche is seeking solace in real life, as in the ancient loving connection that we have always enjoyed with animals. Read more...
Sail Transport Network: Interview with Puget Sound sailor David Reid by Jan LundbergI met David Reid in Seattle in October 2007 when he invited me to speak at the Seattle Peak Oil Awareness monthly meeting. By the time I was giving my talk, taking on questions such as whether there's validity to the techno-fix, Dave's main interest had already zeroed in: "Excuse me everyone, but we've discussed these peak oil questions enough in our meetings. Let's hear about the Sail Transport Network. Read more...
5. Global Public Media
 |
• Talking with Richard Heinberg about the Green New Deal • Natural Gas Cliff and Credit Situation • Reality Report: Bill McKibben We also feature a video of Reality Report host Dr. Jason Bradford's presentation, Scenario 2020: The Future of Food in Mendocino County. |
 |
Latest material from Peak Moment Television includes two more installations from ASPO-USA 2008: • Energy Investment, Energy Return (#136, with Jim Hansen and Charlie Hall) • Peak Oil - Politics, Geopolitics, and Choke Points (#137, with Morey Wolfson, Jeff Vail, Tom Whipple and Terry Backer) This month also featured an interview with John Michael Greer, author of The Long Descent. The Twilight of an Age (#138) |
 |
Deconstructing Dinner continues its series, the Local Grain Revolution, reporting on Canada's first Grain CSA. This month, we have three posts from the Kootenay Harvest Revival: Part I, Part II, Part III |
 |
The Conservation Imperative: Energy Limits to Growth and the Path to Sustainability This issue of MuseLetter is Part I of a brief series of articles about energy alternatives, net energy, and the best options for an energy transition. Later this spring the articles will be published as a booklet by Post Carbon Institute and the International Forum on Globalization. |
 |
Homebrewing for the Planet Crop To Cuisine explores the world of brewing beer at home, speaking with Richard Berkey and Brian Carter, owners of Hop To It Homebrew supply shows. They explain the joys of brewing, and the benefits, ranging from economic to entertainment. The Politics of Food A day before President Elect Obama is sworn in, Crop To Cuisine explores the politics of our food. We speak with Professor and Author of Food Politics Marion Nestle about the incoming administration, and Bart Miller, Water Program Director at Western Resource Advocates. |
6. Events
2009 Sustainable Biodiesel Summit: Localize It! Celebrating Community Scale BiodieselJanuary 31st & February 1st 2009, Moscone Center, San Francisco, California
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg will keynote the event on January 31.
The 6th Annual Sustainable Biodiesel Summit is the place to be to learn why sustainability is important to the industry, share technical experience and exchange best practices tailored specifically to sustainable biodiesel production and distribution. Conveniently preceding the National Biodiesel Board's annual conference and located in the same convention center.
Energy and the Future of Cities: Sustaining Robust Cities in an Changing Energy FutureMay 7-8, 2009, Calgary AB, Canada
A Conference for Thoughtful Leaders in Industry, Business, Policy, Governance, Education and Community
Post Carbon Cities Program Director Daniel Lerch will be a featured speaker.
Led by speakers who study energy in the context of urban systems, and thought leaders who can frame energy concerns in terms of opportunities and challenges, this conference is planned as a region-wide conversation about the future. It's a conversation that every city needs to have, and it's relevant to a wide range of constituent interests. It's an especially relevant conversation for Calgary because the city is a global centre of energy expertise.
Featured Events
The 2009 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National ConferenceFebruary 4–6, Washington, DC
Just weeks after a new Congress and new administration take office this conference will set the stage for stakeholders from across the country to forge an agenda for realizing the enormous opportunities we can achieve by investing in green jobs.
Peak Oil Investment Summit 2009: Oil, the Economy and InvestingMarch 17, New York
The Peak Oil Investor Summit is an intensive one-day summit put together by and for the financial community to find out what peak oil is, and how to both protect your capital and identify profit strategies.
| • | Please tell a friend about the Post Carbon Institute |
| • | Encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe |
| • | If you are not yet familiar with the Transition movement, learn more here. |
| • | Donate to Post Carbon Institute |
Post Carbon Newsletter - December 2008
It has been a dramatic year! This month we thought to take a look back over global events and our work to bring you the year in review.
We may well look back at 2008 as a seminal year. A new article from Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg brings his perspective on the key events of 2008 in relation to peak oil and climate change. Daniel Lerch from Post Carbon Cities provides an engaging round-up of key government responses to peak oil and new legislation around sustainability, while Shelby Tay shares highlights from a busy year in Relocalize.net. This month's Energy Bulletin section features editor Bart Anderson's choice of the top news stories of the year and the articles which best described them.
Also don't miss our highlights from Global Public Media and our Commentaries feature.
Finally, we would like to say a great big THANK YOU for all of your support throughout 2008. Despite the enormous challenge ahead of us, everyone at Post Carbon Institute feels privileged to be part of this extraordinary community of people working to make the transition to a post carbon world.
With best wishes from all of us at Post Carbon.
Sincerely,
Asher Miller
Executive Director
1. Richard Heinberg
The Peak Everything Year
For those who understand the overwhelming importance of fossil fuel depletion, the signal event of 2008 was without doubt the oil price spike that sent the cost of a barrel of crude rocketing to $147. Knock-on effects were as anticipated: the airline industry contracted, the auto industry went on life support, food prices jolted upward, and the overall economy went into reverse (more on that below). Due to all of these things, the demand for oil subsequently peaked and began to slide, which in turn caused the price to plummet, with no end currently in sight.I am among several commentators who have gone on record as saying that July 2008 will turn out to have been the all-time record month for world petroleum production. With the price so high (in July), all producers were pumping flat out. And now, with the price so low, there is no incentive to make the required enormous investments in future productive capacity, so that when demand picks up again (and it may be a few years before that happens), new additions to supply will not be sufficient to overcome the capacity erosion that will have accumulated in the interim due to depletion and decline in existing oilfields. Say goodbye to Peak Oil: it's history now...Read more
Photo credit - flickr - .bullish
2. Post Carbon Cities
2008 Year in Review
2008 saw a flurry of new government responses to peak oil, plus groundbreaking legislation in California. Also, the oil price spike, the intensifying global recession and the historic US presidential election have all helped create a sea change in our thinking about energy and what it means for the economy.
Government responses to peak oil
2008 was a big year for government responses to peak oil. When we released our government peak oil guidebook Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty in October 2007, the cities acting on peak oil were largely the 'usual suspects': San Francisco, Portland, Austin, and a handful of small West Coast towns.Since then a broad range of cities and towns, as well as some counties and states, have taken up the challenge. Conservative, rural Spokane, Washington became the first North American city to launch a joint peak oil - climate change task force, in February. Towns as geographically and economically diverse as Cleveland (OH), Chapel Hill (NC), Westerly (RI) and Haines Borough (AK) also set up task forces. Whatcom County in Washington started up a joint county-city task force with Bellingham. The state of Connecticut established the first state-wide 'energy scarcity and sustainability' task force, while the state of Minnesota legislature passed a resolution to prepare a peak oil plan which was ultimately vetoed by the Governor...Read more
Photo credits - Daniel Lerch
3. Relocalize.net
2008 Recap
Despite navigating the many challenges presented by climate change, energy uncertainty, and a fragile global economy, this year has been full of positive developments towards relocalization around the world. Since 2004, the Relocalization Network has grown to include over 200 local groups and affiliates all over the world, all working to prepare their communities for an energy-constrained future. These community-based groups receive guidance, educational resources, and online infrastructure from Post Carbon Institute.Groups work within their communities in cooperation with local governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and educational institutions to put the concept of relocalization into practice. In 2008, local groups engaged in many successful activities, including relocalization campaigns, events, trainings, and projects related to food, energy, transportation, and overall community resiliency.
Check out a recap of projects and activities at-a-glance.
Photo credit - Andi Hazelwood
4. 2008 Commentary Highlights
Keep up to date on energy issues with Post Carbon Institute's commentary feature. Staff, Fellows and guest contributors post short, daily responses to the news of the day. Below are a few highlights from the past year. Be sure to visit our commentaries page regularly for more.
 |
Peak oil still relevant? More than ever. Daniel Lerch • December 4, 2008 Before the Thanksgiving holiday we got an email from William M., a reader of our newsletter, asking, "Why if oil supply is decreasing and demand is increasing is the price collapsing? What is happening? Is Peak Oil... Read more |
 |
Long Road Ahead Asher Miller • November 5, 2008 The US Presidential election results are historic. Whatever your political persuasion, I think we can all agree that the election of an African-American,... Read more |
 |
You Can’t Reinvent Food Systems Overnight Richard Heinberg • August 5, 2008 My wife Janet and I have spent the past two days canning fruit. We’re also preserving fruit with a solar food dryer. We’ve been planning for a post-carbon food system for eight years now, gradually developing the skills and tools needed to feed ourselves... Read more |
5. Global Public Media
2008 greatest hits
This year has been taut with anticipation and dizzying with change. Wildly fluctuating energy prices and economic stresses have made ever more people receptive to the material that Global Public Media offers.
Two programs added this year reflect some of the breadth of the issues covered. Crop to Cuisine, based in Colorado, is a radio program about eating locally. The KunstlerCast is, as its name suggests, a weekly podcast featuring conversations with author James Howard Kunstler with topics loosely organized around urban form and energy descent.
Already-existing programs featured series that were well worth following: among them, Jon Steinman of Deconstructing Dinner does great in-depth research for the series Co-operatives: Alternatives to Industrial Food, which is at five episodes so far. And Peak Moment television took us to the annual meeting of ASPO-USA for a series of interviews with leading figures in the peak oil world.
The audience picks this year reflected global upheavals: here are a few of the most-watched, listened, and read.
 |
Saying Goodbye to Air Travel The most-read piece this year was Richard Heinberg's essay on the future, or lack of one, of cheap air travel. Its very popularity (and that of a related essay by Kristen Lagadec) is evocative of the difficult decisions many will have to make in the energy-constrained future. |
 |
Peak Moment: Oil and Gas — The Next Meltdown? As part of the aforementioned series of Peak Moment episodes from ASPO-USA 2008, Peak Moment's Janaia Donaldson talks with energy expert Matthew Simmons about the bleak implications of just-in-time supply in a time of diminishing energy supply. |
 |
Reality Report: Chris Martenson on the current financial crisis What are the roots of the current financial crisis? Scientist and financial expert Chris Martenson explains that it has to do with how money is created in our system, which requires an infinitely expanding economy -- on a finite world. With transcript. (And for those who want to delve deeper into economics, there's a handy review of economics-related Reality Report episodes.) |
 |
How do you like the collapse so far? In this essay, published in June, Richard Heinberg explores the important issue of how we can take in what he calls "traumatic knowledge" and continue to function and do our work. (For more on the psychology of living at the peak, see the Peak Moment interview with therapist Molly Brown.) We hope that Global Public Media can help both provide the hard information necessary to navigating these times, and the doses of hope that allow us to process and proceed. |
6. Energy Bulletin
A round-up of 2008 by Energy Bulletin editor Bart Anderson
A selection of articles appearing at Energy Bulletin.
• The IEA ReportThe International Energy Agency's report on world energy supplies "World Energy Outlook 2008" was released in mid-November 2008.
This long-awaited report comes from the agency, whose figures form the basis for energy planning by many countries around the world. We had heard that the IEA was going to produce a more realistic and pessimistic report than ever before. Fatih Birol, chief economist for the IEA, had been quoted as saying, "We must leave oil before oil leaves us."
The final report was more contradictory than peak oilers had hoped for, yet it unquestionably painted a grim picture.
For an excellent set of analyses, see The Oil Drum series.
Energy Bulletin ally David Strahan wrote a good summary for the Guardian:
"You can imagine the internal contortions when an old friend was once memorably described as a 60s liberal with Catholic guilt. I got the same impression of grinding gears while reading the International Energy Agency's latest long-term forecast..." Read more
• Oil Supplies: Possible Peak, Prices PlummetThe peak oil picture become very complicated in 2008. Prices had shot up close to $150/barrel. With the onset of worldwide recession, demand dropped and prices fell to below $50/barrel.
Energy Bulletin ally Tom Whipple gives a summary:
"There is a growing consensus among those who follow such things, that the new high of world oil production (87.9 million barrels a day) reached last July is likely to go down in history as the all-time peak..." Read more
• World-wide Recession, Obama's ElectionThe recession that helped get Barack Obama elected will be the most formidable challenge that any U.S. President has faced in recent times.
Under the Presidency of George W. Bush, few had hoped for a significant change in energy policy. With less than two months before Obama's inauguration, the web is full of suggestions and proposals to tackle the recession and energy situation. A broad coalition supports Keynsian-style government spending to kickstart the economy back to normal - "A new New Deal." Others want an envrionmental emphasis, "A Green New Deal".
Richard Heinberg of the Post-Carbon Insitute summarizes much of the thinking among peak oilers with:
"Our continued national dependence on fossil fuels is creating a crippling vulnerability to both long-term fuel scarcity and catastrophic climate change..." Read more
7. Events and Announcements
Featured Events
The 2009 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National ConferenceFebruary 4–6, Washington, DC
Just weeks after a new Congress and new administration take office this conference will set the stage for stakeholders from across the country to forge an agenda for realizing the enormous opportunities we can achieve by investing in green jobs.
Peak Oil Investment Summit 2009: Oil, the Economy and InvestingMarch 17, New York
The Peak Oil Investor Summit is an intensive one-day summit put together by and for the financial community to find out what peak oil is, and how to both protect your capital and identify profit strategies. Get the most up-to-date data and analysis from the world's experts on oil geology, economics, finance and investing. Find out how peaking oil production and higher recovery costs will have impacts beyond conventional wisdom, and make your own decisions about oil supply, trends, risks and opportunities.
Announcements
The Post Carbon Institute office is moving! As of December 15, 2008 you can now find us at 500 N. Main St., Suite 100, Sebastopol, CA 95472. Please be patient as we update all documents, websites, etc., to the new address and convert our phone and internet systems. All phone numbers will remain the same.
The Post Carbon office will be closed for the Holidays from December 25th through January 4th.
| • | Please tell a friend about the Post Carbon Institute |
| • | Encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe |
| • | If you are not yet familiar with the Transition movement, learn more here. |
| • | Donate to Post Carbon Institute |
Post Carbon Newsletter - November 2008
After the historic election here in the US, Barack Obama promised to lead the American people on a path to change. As the President-elect prepares to deliver on this promise, Post Carbon Senior Fellows Julian Darley and Richard Heinberg examine some of his upcoming challenges related to energy and the environment.
In the meantime, winter is fast approaching and households across the continent are beginning to turn on the heat. Rising energy costs are already having an impact on people's lives. What will the winter bring? Laurel Hoyt from Post Carbon Cities discusses the need for new responses to these challenges, while Relocalize.net offers some initial ideas for groups and individuals. The imperative to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels also requires us to think differently about the way in which we heat our homes. Three articles from Energy Bulletin take up this theme.
Finally, take the chance to catch up with highlights from our Commentaries, Global Public Media, and our upcoming Events.
1. Julian Darley
Opening The Power Box: The Race To Store In-Vehicle Electricity Lightly
With the economy now dominating the headlines both generally and in the US presidential campaign, it is worth pointing out that the business, science, and policy worlds are still thinking hard about energy.Aimed at reducing both oil dependency and GHG emissions, both the Obama and McCain teams have plans for clean cars, as the New York Times outlines
Both candidates are in favor of plug-in hybrid cars, and the Times points out that the key to improving the battery-only range of hybrids is, astonishingly enough, the batteries...Read more
2. Richard Heinberg
This article first appeared in the Ecologist in November 2008
Financial vs. Ecological Crash
During the past weeks the world media have been transfixed by the convulsions of the US and global financial system. At stake are billions in bailouts and trillions in derivatives. The viability of banks and currencies is threatened, and ultimately the savings and investments of hundreds of millions of ordinary people.Meanwhile, the news from the environmental front is just as terrifying: this past summer saw the second-highest Arctic icecap melt rate (after last year’s record), and Russian scientists observed the large-scale release of methane (a super-potent greenhouse gas) from thawing...Read more
Photo credit - flickr/markal
3. Commentary Highlights
Keep up to date on energy issues with Post Carbon Institute's commentary feature. Staff, Fellows and guest contributors post short, daily responses to the news of the day. Below are a couple of recent highlights. Be sure to visit our commentaries page regularly for more.
 | Obama Will Need Energy Realism, Not More Economic Alchemy Julian Darley • October 21, 2008 America and the world wakes this morning to a landscape of new possibilities. We also wake up to a daunting list of problems... Read more |
 | Nine Percent Richard Heinberg • October 27, 2008 The Financial Times has leaked the results of the International Energy Agency's long-awaited study... Read more |
 | Climate+Water+Food=? Asher Miller • October 30, 2008 I was relieved to learn that here in the greater San Francisco Bay Area we're finally... Read more |
4. Post Carbon Cities
Of creeping emergencies and Alaskan bellwethers
Chemical emergency. Dam Failure. Earthquake. Fire. Flood. Hazardous Material emergency. Heat emergency. Hurricane. Landslide. Nuclear emergency. Terrorism. Thunderstorm. Tornado. Tsunami. Volcano. Wildfire. Winter Storm. A scary list, but it's too late for Halloween, so what is it?It's a list of types of disasters on the FEMA website, disasters they plan for in their mission to "reduce the loss of life and property and protect the Nation from all hazards, including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters." But what happens when the disaster is not a hundred-year storm, but instead the intersection of ordinary winter weather, a struggling economy, and depleted energy supplies? When it's not just one region or city in a state of emergency, but households across the colder parts of the United States facing what the EIA estimates will be a 15% increase in heating expenditures over last year compounded by ever-rising unemployment?...Read more.
Photo credit - flickr/headur
5. Relocalize.net
Conserving Heat
A major challenge facing communities as winter approaches is the rising cost of heating in the face of rising fuel costs and increasing economic hardship. The Washington County Peak Oil group in Oregon have put together some useful resources for people trying to make positive changes on a personal level and to help other relocalization groups working on smart energy use in their community.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Last month, Caren Black and Christopher Padden of the Titanic Lifeboat Academy in Astoria, Oregon, celebrated their second annual Green Fest, for which they pledged to spend the entire month off the grid, with only 1 tank of gas, and no purchases, and invited others to do the same. Once again, they challenged themselves to test their Local Quotient: how well they could do living on just what what was there in their local environment. Following up on our feature in the October Relocalize Newsletter, Caren Black reflects on their month spent focused on ways to drastically reduce their energy consumption:"Each year during October we challenge ourselves and our friends and our community to simplify life, pare down to the basics and rediscover what’s truly important to us. This year I realized that lessons learned this way easily become permanent. Cutting back seemed “no big deal” because we’d never really returned to the way we were living before last October..." wrote Caren Black...Read more
6. Global Public Media
If you appreciate Global Public Media's long-form interviews, please consider volunteering as a transcriber! Transcription makes the important material we broadcast accessible to a much wider audience. If you're interested, please email transcribe@postcarbon.org for more information.
 | Fireside Chat with Julian Darley In this Sustainable Business Alliance speaker series, Julian Darley talks with Bay Area business owners about the impact Peak Oil is having on their business and community. |
 | The Food and Farming Transition The only way to avert a food crisis resulting from oil and natural gas price hikes and supply disruptions while also reversing agriculture’s contribution to climate change is to proactively and methodically remove fossil fuels from the food system. |
 | Reality Report In the 1990s Jay Hanson's web site predicted with uncanny accuracy key trends of the early 21st century with respect to energy, the environment and geopolitics. What did he learn that most of us still don't know, and what does he foresee ahead of us? Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet is the latest book from Michael Klare, Director of the Peace and World Security Studies Program of the Five College Consortium in Amherst Massachusetts. In this show, he discusses the geopolitics of resource competition. |
 | This month Peak Moment continues its thorough coverage of the ASPO-USA Conference with interviews with Jim Puplava and Randy Udall. • Peak Moment: Making Financial Sense of the Coming Energy Crisis (131, with Jim Puplava) • Peak Moment: Peak Oil and Its Effect on Climate Change (132, with Randy Udall) |
 | Deconstructing Dinner: Co-operatives: Alternatives to Industrial Food V (Common Ground Food Coop) The Common Ground Food Co-op in Urbana, Illinois is a very promising and inspiring sign that communities can indeed come together and build or expand upon their very own co-operative grocery store. This broadcast is the 5th in the series. Part I Part II Part III Part IV. |
7. Energy Bulletin
A selection of articles appearing at Energy Bulletin.
Thinking about Heating and Cooling Differently
by Sharon Astyk, from Casaubon's Book, August 13, 2008
Today’s posts will focus on heating and cooling and how to deal with these issues. If you live in the north, heating is probably a growing anxiety for you, because of the rapid rise in cost of nearly every method of heating. Oil prices are now effectively prohibitive for poor and working families - with 100 or 125 gallon minimum deliveries and no credit extended, many households that rely on heating oil (disproportionately in the Northeast) simply won’t be able to afford to heat their houses at all with conventional methods. Gas prices are expected to rise steadily, and besides the rising cost of electricity, there’s the question of whether heavy reliance...Read more
Photo credit: flickr/Mr. Thomas
Disaster in progress: North America's home heating transition
by Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights, April 20, 2008
With natural gas prices creeping higher on a daily basis, some homeowners dependent on natural gas for heat are starting to look for cheaper alternatives. In my area the outdoor wood burning furnace which is designed to supplement existing home heating has become a major source of friction among suburban residents.
The main complaint is the smoke produced by these furnaces as they heat water that is then pumped to the owner's house where a heat exchanger disperses the heat. A loophole in U. S. Environmental Protection Agency rules... Read more
Photo credit: flickr/Travis S.
Retrofitting For Passive Solar
by Douglas J E Barnes, Permaculture Reflections, January 22, 2007
The following is a write up of a seminar given at Noah’s Café in Tokyo. The focus of the seminar was suggesting potential retrofits to the café to reduce the heating costs. More will be written on passive solar design in the future, but for the purposes of this article, we will just look at enough to understand how to retrofit existing buildings.
In cold climates, 20% of the economy can be dedicated in one way or another to keeping warm. For areas below the Arctic Circle, this need not be the case. On a sunny winter’s day at 45°N (or south) latitude, there is around 957 Wh/m2 available to us for heating… if we use it. This is almost equivalent to the energy used by running a 1000W hairdryer for one hour falling on every square metre... Read more
8. Events
Post Carbon Institute Speakers Schedule
The Conference on Michigan's Future: Energy, Economy & Environment
November 14 - 16, 2008, Crystal Mountain Resort, Thompsonville, MIThe Conference on Michigan's Future: Energy, Economy and Environment looks at how rising oil and energy costs are crippling Michigan's economy and proposes solutions to prepare Michigan for the economy of tomorrow. Confirmed speakers include: Richard Heinberg - Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow
3rd Biennial Organic Connections ConferenceNovember 16 - 18, 2008, Grand Salon, TCU Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Featured Speakers: Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, Joel Salatin, “Everything I Want to do is Illegal”, and “You Can Farm”, Xingji Xia, the first organic inspector in China, and Martin Ent, University of Manitoba
H2Oil: Mixing Oil and Water
November 18, 2008, at the Chicago History Museum
Water shortages in the western and southern states; the rising cost of gasoline; the backlash against bottled water - these are just some of the myriad ways in which oil and water have become resources under stress. This opening program will feature Richard Heinberg, author and Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, in conversation with Steve Edwards of Chicago Public Radio.
New England Religious Leaders Summit on the Energy, Climate & Economic Crisis
November 20, 2008 - Plymouth Congregational Church, Framingham, Massachusetts
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg will present via webcast at the New England Religious Leaders Summit on Energy, Climate and & Economic Crisis. Also speaking will be Bill McKibben, internationally-known author on climate issues who will speak on his new global initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Featured Events
Van Jones - The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems
Monday, November 17, 7pm, Santa Rosa, CA
Local activist and author Van Jones offers a substantive and viable plan for solving the biggest issues facing the country—the failing economy and environmental degradation. Provocative, personal, and deeply inspiring, this will undoubtedly be a transformative event!
| • | Please tell a friend about the Post Carbon Institute |
| • | Encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe |
| • | If you are not yet familiar with the Transition movement, learn more here. |
| • | Donate to Post Carbon Institute |
Post Carbon Newsletter - October 2008
Here in the US, election fever is in full swing. The process of deciding on the next leader of the nation has an added poignancy in these difficult times of financial crisis. The right to elect our political leaders and representatives is an important one and something which we should not take for granted, but does democracy end there?
The theme of this month’s newsletter is ‘democracy’. Shelby Tay describes how Relocalization groups are engaging in events to influence policy in their local areas. Daniel Lerch from Post Carbon Cities discusses the relationship between citizens and their representatives that is necessary in order to allow for the major changes needed to respond to peak oil and climate change. Two articles from Energy Bulletin explore different aspects of democracy, challenges to it and how to keep it alive.
Also this month, Julian Darley shows how the California Proposition 10 ballot initiative is one of the biggest 'boone'doggles of them all; and in Delay and Fail, Richard Heinberg exposes the myth of clean coal.
Finally, take the chance to catch up with highlights from our Commentaries, 2008 M. K. Hubbert Award winning Global Public Media, our upcoming events and an important Post Carbon Institute update.
1. Julian Darley
Vote NO On 10: The California Natural Gas and Big Truck Addiction Scam
It is surely not often that reading a dry piece of legal verbiage causes one to take flights of fancy and think of Hollywood, of great movies, and of even greater skullduggery. But California Proposition 10 changes all that. On November 4th 2008, voters will be asked to back this disgraceful farrago of rebates for fake clean vehicles cooked up by T Boone Pickens and his gas-producing friends. So think of ‘Chinatown', ‘The Third Man' and ‘The Sting' all rolled into one. Here's how the story unfolds:
If Prop 10 - misleadingly called 'The California Renewable Energy and Clean Alternative Fuel Act' - passes, California taxpayers (of which I am one) get to shell out five billion dollars spent over a 10 year period to help Pickens and friends get America further hooked on a fast depleting non-renewable natural resource - natural gas, while brilliantly further dooming America's long distance freight transport system to early collapse and obsolescence and doing almost nothing to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other pollutants... Read More
2. Richard Heinberg
Last week, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York, Al Gore suggested that young people should engage in civil disobedience to stop the building of new coal power plants “that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.”
I sympathize with Gore’s intent. Coal is the most polluting of the fossil fuels, and if we burn more of it there is little hope of averting catastrophic climate change.
But is carbon capture and storage (CCS) a solution? The technology exists only in the sense that its components have been demonstrated on a small scale. Deploying it broadly would require the development of an infrastructure that would require trillions of dollars of investment and decades of work. According to Vaclav Smil of the University of Manitoba, in a recent letter to Nature, we would need to handle a volume of CO2 twice as large as the world’s crude oil flows just to sequester one quarter of carbon dioxide emitted in 2005 by large stationary sources... Read more
3. Commentary Highlights
Keep up to date on energy issues with Post Carbon Institute's commentary feature. Staff, Fellows and guest contributors post short, daily responses to the news of the day. Below are a couple of recent highlights. Be sure to visit our commentaries page regularly for more.
 |
Tangled Embrace of the Three E's Asher Miller • September 26, 2008 One of the frightening consequences of the $700,000,000,000 government bailout... Read more |
 |
Complex issues in a world of soundbites Daniel Lerch • October 2, 2008 I've been doing a lot of writing on peak oil and cities recently... Read more |
 |
Bailout Blues Richard Heinberg • September 26, 2008 Ever since Hank Paulson made his pitch for a $700 billion slush fund to prop up teetering Wall Street financial institutions... Read more |
4. Post Carbon Cities
Showing leadership on peak oil
Preparing our communities for peak oil is no easy task. From local zoning codes to national highway bills, just about every policy and infrastructure decision made since World War II has prioritized driving over walking, bicycling and taking public transportation. As a result, today most Americans and Canadians are powerless to meet even their most basic daily needs --whether going to work or buying food-- without using a petroleum-powered car or truck.
Fortunately, policy and infrastructure decisions are just that: decisions. We can choose to set policy as if we're still in a world of cheap oil, or we can choose to set policies more appropriate for the new and very real and world of energy and climate uncertainty. For most people that means electing government leaders who understand peak oil, and letting them figure out what exactly to do about it. As people who work in government know, however, it takes more than winning on Election Day to change policy... Read More
Photo credit: alexbcthompson
5. Relocalize.net Democracy in Action
On a local community level, democracy manifests itself through participatory action, in the form of demonstrating interest in issues that matter. People contribute to democracy in many ways, not limited to casting a ballot. Democracy is aided through open communication where participants have the opportunity to explore different views and are able to gather information to make informed decisions.
With upcoming civic and federal elections, many groups are stepping up to ensure that the issues that matter to them come to the forefront of discussions. In British Columbia, Vancouver Peak Oil is organizing an event with the mayoral candidates specifically to discuss strategies to address peak oil in light of the upcoming municipal elections. In the last civic election in Toronto, Post Carbon Toronto collaborated with various other groups to organize the 'Pledge to Green' campaign. In Berkeley, California, members of Bay Localize participated in a meeting with the Berkeley Energy Commission:
"The last couple of weeks have seen an incredible outpouring of support for Community Choice Energy! In late September, 25 people showed up to the Berkeley Energy Commission meeting calling for greater community control over our local renewable energy mix. As a result, the Berkeley Energy Commission formed a subcommittee to explore how they could move Community Choice forward (read report on the meeting)."
For more information and resources for taking action, visit relocalize.net.
6. Global Public Media
 |
Dr. Abby Gold on Local Foods and Food Deserts in North Dakota and Minnesota Dr. Gold, a nutritionist, talks with Brian Magee about the diets of people in the Red River Valley - an agricultural area that is nevertheless often a "food desert" for its residents. |
 |
Various Musings This month's issue of the MuseLetter is a compilation of several recent short writings. The last of these, a set of frequently asked questions about Peak Oil, is a work in progress that will appear in expanded form at www.postcarbon.org. |
 |
Reality Report
After talking with a Louisiana resident about the impact of hurricanes on the Gulf of Mexico and people's reactions, The Reality Report turned to coverage of the economy. Listen to a rebroadcast of an interview with Joshua Farley, coauthor (with Herman Daly)of Ecological Economics. And learn more about the current financial crisis with Chris Martenson. |
 |
As usual, Peak Moment Television brought us a variety of thought-provoking material this month, touching on psychology, school gardens, and middle-class jobs before making the trip to the ASPO-USA Conference 2008, where they captured excellent interviews with Matt Simmons, Richard Heinberg and Julian Darley.
|
 |
Deconstructing Dinner: Backyard Chickens III This month saw the third installment in Deconstructing Dinner's Backyard Chickens series. To get the collected chicken wisdom of Bucky Buckaw, listen to all three: Part I | Part II | Part III |
7. Energy Bulletin
A selection of articles appearing at Energy Bulletin.
Can Democracy Survive Without Fossil Fuels?
Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights, June 29, 2005
Is it an accident that the great modern revolutions, both American and French, occurred shortly after James Watt vastly increased the efficiency of the steam engine? Recall that the steam engine's primary purpose at the time was to pump water out of coal mines. Its perfection ignited an industrial revolution built on fossil fuels. Those fuels also indirectly ignited huge social and political changes that included modern demands for greater equality and democracy. Can those values thrive without fossil fuels?
Ancient Athens was democratic long before fossil fuels were discovered. In reality, democracy depends on some energy source that makes it possible for citizens to have the time to govern themselves. The citizenry must also enjoy a rough equality that doesn't put some citizens so far above others as to threaten their solidarity. So, what was that energy source? Slaves... Read more
Photo credit: flickr/buddhakiwi
“Democracy Only Works When Ordinary People Claim It as Their Own
Bill Moyers on, Democracy Now, June 9, 2008
... You represent millions of Americans who see media consolidation as a corrosive social force. It robs them of their voice in public affairs, pollutes the political culture and turns the debate over profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered.
The patriarch of your movement warned a generation ago of what was coming. In his magisterial book, Media Monopoly, Ben Bagdikian wrote, quote, “The result of the overwhelming power of relatively narrow corporate ideologies has been the creation of widely established political and economic illusions with little visible contradictions in the media to which a majority of the people is exclusively exposed." In other words, what we need to know to make democracy work for all Americans is compromised by media institutions deeply embedded in the power structures of society... Read more
Photo credit: flickr/in da mood
8. Events
Post Carbon Institute Speakers Schedule
Bioneers
Friday, October 17 & Sunday, October 19, 2008 - Marin Center, San Rafael, CA
Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow will participate on two panels at Bioneers.
Kootenay Energy Conference
October 17-18, 2008 at Selkirk College, Castlegar, British Columbia
Post Carbon Cities Program Manager Daniel Lerch will present via webcast to the Municipal Planners and Leaders Seminar on Friday, Oct 17, 2008, to an invited audience of planners and elected officials.
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg will present via webcast on Saturday, October 18, 2008 to the general audience at the Kootenay Energy Conference, presented by Selkirk College and Kootenay Association for Science and Technology.
AERO’s 34th Annual Meeting
Nov 1, 2008 in Flathead Lake, Montana
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg will keynote at AERO’s 34th Annual Meeting on Nov 1, 2008 in Flathead Lake, Montana. Richard will speak on Building Resilient Communities. AERO (Alternative Energy Resource Organization)is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to solutions that promote resource conservation and local economic vitality.
American Planning Association, Fall Conference
November 7, 2008-Salt Lake City, UT
Daniel Lerch, Post Carbon Cities Program Manager will present at the Utah Chapter of the American Planning Association, Fall Conference. The meeting will be held at University of Utah.
The Conference on Michigan's Future: Energy, Economy & Environment
Friday, Nov. 14 - Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008, in Crystal Mountain Resort, Thompsonville, MI
The Conference on Michigan's Future: Energy, Economy and Environment looks at how rising oil and energy costs are crippling Michigan's economy and proposes solutions to prepare Michigan for the economy of tomorrow. Confirmed speakers include: Richard Heinberg - Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow
3rd Biennial Organic Connections Conference
November 16 to 18, 2008, in Grand Salon, TCU Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Featured Speakers: Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, Joel Salatin, “Everything I Want to do is Illegal”, and “You Can Farm”, Xingji Xia, the first organic inspector in China, and Martin Ent, University of Manitoba
H2Oil: Mixing Oil and Water
November 18, 2008, at the Chicago History Museum
Water shortages in the western and southern states; the rising cost of gasoline; the backlash against bottled water - these are just some of the myriad ways in which oil and water have become resources under stress. This opening program will feature Richard Heinberg, author and Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, in conversation with Steve Edwards of Chicago Public Radio.
Featured Events
Plan C: Individual and Community Survival Strategies for the Energy Crisis
The Fifth US Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions
October 31 – November 2, 2008 in Rochester, Michigan
At this groundbreaking conference participants will explore strategies for reducing energy use in the areas of housing, food and transportation, including both theory and practice. We will examine the long energy decline of the 21st century, the psychological barriers to rapid change, and the challenge of persuading our communities to embrace local, low-energy living. Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, (via webcast)will be one of the featured speakers.
2nd Annual Climate All Stars Conference
Thursday, November 6th. 8am - 4pm in San Francisco, CA
Don't miss this one day conference where Bay Area Leaders present Real Solutions for Speed and Scale to achieve bold green house gas reductions regionally.
Featuring Keynote Speakers: Adam Kahane, author of “Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities.”; Andrew Revkin, award winning author and New York Times reporter; Fran Pavley, author of landmark legislation on global warming that is a model for other states and countries.
9. Post Carbon Institute Announces New Executive Director, Senior Fellows
Post Carbon Institute is pleased to announce two exciting changes within the organization! After five years at the helm, Julian Darley and Celine Rich, founder and co-founder of Post Carbon Institute, have decided to shift their roles within the organization to devote their time and energies to research, writing, and outreach.
"I'm thrilled to begin working with Celine and Julian on think tank issues," said Richard Heinberg. "The experience that they both will bring to the table as Senior Fellows will greatly enhance our ability to produce research and create policy recommendations that are desperately needed in the world today."
Celine has handed the Executive Director baton to Asher Miller—previously Director of Programs and Relocalization Network Manager—while Julian has formally stepped down from his position as President of Post Carbon Institute... Read more
| • | Please tell a friend about the Post Carbon Institute |
| • | Encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe |
| • | If you are not yet familiar with the Transition movement, learn more here. |
| • | Donate to Post Carbon Institute |
Post Carbon Newsletter #42 September 2008
Relocalization Network : Global Public Media : Post Carbon Cities : Energy Farms Network : Oil Depletion Protocol
Issue #42: September 2008
For many families, September means one thing: It's "back to school" time. The return to the classroom is an annual pilgrimage almost all of us have gone through as children. But, in the broader sense, the practice of going back to school--of relearning or building new skills--is something that follows many of us throughout our lives, whether by interest or necessity.
In this month's newsletter, Post Carbon is taking a closer look at education. We explore how reskilling for a world without cheap, abundant oil should be included in the movement towards green collar jobs and the role of schools in preparing for peak oil. Among this month's commentaries, we also explore how students get around now that gas prices have gone up dramatically.
Also this month, Richard Heinberg examines how we could really reduce the cost of oil. Quick hint: it's not about drilling more. And in his first installment of a series on key aspects of global oil and gas supplies, Julian Darley probes U.S. imports from Mexico.
Last but not least, take the opportunity to catch up with highlights from Relocalization Network, Global Public Media, Energy Bulletin, and our upcoming events.
1. Real Jobs for a New Economy 2. Richard Heinberg 3. The Energy Secret - What Drives The 21st Century & Why Peak Oil Really Matters 4. Commentary Highlights 5. Post Carbon Cities 6. Relocalization Network 7. Global Public Media 8. Energy Bulletin 9. Events
1. Real Jobs for a New Economy
On September 27th, a coalition of environmental and social justice groups will be hosting Green Jobs Now, a national day of action to promote “the green economy.” Lead by Green for All, 1Sky and Al Gore’s We Campaign, this network of events is all about how a movement towards “green-collar jobs” can simultaneously address a few critical issues: climate change, poverty, and job security.
Green jobs are a hot topic these days, particularly in the midst of the presidential campaign season. But what if Van Jones and others leading this movement factored into their thinking an understanding of energy depletion? Would their vision of "green jobs" change? My guess is that it would. And for good reason. Read more
Back to top
2. Richard Heinberg
Want Cheap Oil? Reduce Demand!
This article originally appeared in The Ecologist, September 2008
Ask the major oil companies why oil prices are beyond ludicrous and they’ll tell you there’s plenty of oil out there, there’s just a lack of investment in exploration and production.
Funny, the level of investment in the global oil industry hasn’t dropped off a cliff lately. Yet oil prices have shot up like asparagus in April. What’s going on here?
What the experts are really saying is that a higher level of investment is needed now than previously to yield the same increment of new oil.
Hmmm. Let’s drill deeper, metaphorically speaking... Read more
Back to top
3. The Energy Secret - What Drives The 21st Century & Why Peak Oil Really Matters
The Energy Secret
There are at least two invisible things that tend to be ferociously difficult to understand. One is relations among humans and the other is energy. Especially when the former want more of the latter. And for some reason, understandable perhaps but also unfortunate, we are mostly loathe to try to comprehend where our energy comes from. Thus there is a kind of 'energy secret': we cannot see energy and we don't seem to be very good at understanding it, even though without it there is no life here or anywhere else in the universe.
These difficulties of understanding play out at every level from buying groceries to geopolitics. And yet though energy itself is invisible, its effects are visible everywhere, including this last week in the form of Hurricane Gustav, and a string of storms and hurricanes coming in behind it, lining up to hit the south east US. Gustav, though it has fortunately left New Orleans largely unscathed, has killed many people in the Caribbean. ...
Since the majority of US oil comes from foreign shores, we'll start this series by looking at the most important oil suppliers and the interesting situations above and below ground that will help us to understand where things are heading. Read more
Back to top
4. Commentary Highlights
Keep up to date on energy issues with Post Carbon Institute's commentary feature. Staff, Fellows and guest contributors post short, daily responses to the news of the day. Below are a couple of recent highlights. Be sure to visit our commentaries page regularly for more.
How students get around
Laurel Hoyt • August 14, 2008
The USA Today headline was "Schools move to eject cars from campuses." The article gave... Read more
Airline industry backpedaling on expansion?
Daniel Lerch • August 15, 2008
After my presentation to the Anchorage (Alaska) Municipal Assembly last week, I chatted with a... Read more
Even Giants Are Being Hurt By Rising Energy Prices
Julian Darley • August 8, 2008
In general it may be true that if we were willing - and in some cases able - to pay more for food... Read more Back to top
5. Post Carbon Cities
What role for schools in preparing for peak oil?
Our Post Carbon Cities program encourages cities to think about the vulnerabilities they face in peak oil and climate change. After all, local governments are not just responsible for the safeguarding the well-being of thousands of people. They're also employers, debtors, and the owners of millions of dollars worth of buildings, vehicles, equipment and other infrastructure.
Schools operate as mini-cities in their own right. They have hundreds or even thousands of students under their care, and employees, buildings, vehicles and equipment under their administration. From a tiny grade school in rural Texas to the 200,000+ student-strong City University of New York, schools of all sizes face significant challenges in a world without cheap oil -- and would be wise to plan accordingly... Read More
Back to top
6. Relocalization Network
Harvest Party & Climate Relay
In last month's issue of Relocalize, we took a look at energy conservation practices in the '70s and the role of food preservation. Richard Heinberg noted that, as any gardener or arborist knows, when fruit comes in, it comes in all at once. And when harvest time arrives, it always helps to have a few extra hands.
In Bundaberg, Queensland, Sustainabundy members got together to help out with the harvest of local sweet potatoes. Yum!
"Last Saturday, SustainaBundy members rolled up their sleeves and dug for sweet-potatoes at the Rickerts' property for SustainaBundy's first Harvest Party. We had a tour of the property, which included a large variety of fruit trees and vegetables."
Read more.
On the climate change front, group members also collaborated with local organizers to host a leg of the GetUp! National Climate Torch Relay featuring members of the community, young and old, calling on local and national leaders to work towards the goal of cutting Australia’s greenhouse pollution by half by 2020.
"It's been a weekend of festivities and fun for SustainaBundy members, with the Cycle QLD launch on Saturday and the Bundaberg Multicultural Festival on Sunday...1100 cyclists left the starting line near Main Post Office on Saturday, heading for Brisbane. It was a beautiful Bundaberg day and a great turnout to see the riders off. There were some very creative bicycles, even bikes with 3 riders!" Read more
Back to top
7. Global Public Media
The radio show Business Matters interviewed Post Carbon Cities author Daniel Lerch and investment banker Matthew Simmons about peak oil.
• Business Matters: Surviving the Oil Crisis
Two MuseLetters address aspects of coal, as Richard Heinberg delves deeper into the subject for his upcoming book.
• Museletter #196: Coal and Climate
• Museletter #197: New Coal Technologies
This month the Reality Report brings us a two-part interview with David Holmgren, co-creator of permaculture, about his new web project, Future Scenarios. [ Part I | Part II ]
Latest material from Peak Moment Television includes:
• Go-Getter Gets Governments Going on Sustainability (120, with Kris Holstrom)
• Helping Local Food Businesses Thrive (121, with Wendy Siporen)
• An Inside Look at an Emergency Survival Kit (122, with Matt Stein)
• Cultivating a Suburban Foodshed (123, with Owen Dell)
The Deconstructing Dinner show took on the topic of meat production - both in general, and in one particular case of local meat production.
The Livestock Lost series:
• I: Slaughterhouses and the Culture of Meat
• II: Local Meat? "Not in my backyard!"
• III: Local Meat? "Not in my backyard!" (Part 2)
Back to top
8. Energy Bulletin
A selection of articles appearing at Energy Bulletin.
In Berkeley, Calif., lunch has become a learning experience
Chad Heeter, Christian Science Monitor, March 2006
...Chef Ann Cooper is a lunch lady with a mission...
Her arrival last October as the new director of nutrition services for Berkeley's public schools coincided with the district's new School Lunch Initiative, an ambitious long-range plan to put the district's 10,000 students on a path of lifelong healthy eating habits. In California, 28 percent of schoolchildren are overweight or obese, reflecting a nationwide problem.
Berkeley's School Lunch Initiative aims to replace low-quality "heat and eat" processed foods with fresh, locally grown food. The plan also teaches kids about how food gets from seed to plate by establishing school gardens and kitchen classrooms that integrate lessons about food and cooking into the academic curriculum. Organizers hope children will not only learn about the art and science of food, but also adopt nutritious eating habits.
"Teaching kids about food is as important as math or science, "Cooper says"... Read more
Photo credit: flickr/catsper
Teaching a student-led course on peak oil
David Huck, March 2006
When I first read James Howard Kunstler’s Rolling Stone excerpt in April of last year, I knew I needed to know more about peak oil. Could this be true? Was this man right? Thousands of pages later I have a far more nuanced picture, and am now back at college teaching a course on peak oil.
The Experimental College (ExCo) program at 3,000-student Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio allows students to teach topics of interest that are normally not covered in the standard curriculum, giving them the opportunity to be on the other side of the blackboard. When I met up with another passionate peak-nik on a visit in the fall, we decided that this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up... Read more
Schools Look to Save Money With Four-Day Week
Voice of America, July 2008
As we said last week, American schools are looking for ways to save money on bus transportation because of high fuel prices. More children may have to walk, ride their bikes or find other ways to get to school...
...Some schools, especially in rural areas, are changing to a four-day week. That means longer days instead of the traditional Monday through Friday schedule... Read more
Photo credit: flickr/conspirator
Back to top
9. Events
Post Carbon Institute Speakers Schedule
Sustainable Packaging Forum
September 10, 2008 - Denver Marriott Tech Center Denver, CO
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg will deliver the Keynote Address at the 2008 Sustainable Packing Forum in Denver, CO. Richard's talk is titled "Peak Sustainability & The 5 Axioms of Sustainability"
Bay Area Funders' Forum on Energy Scarcity
September 15 2008 - San Francisco, CA
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg will present at the Bay Area Funders' Forum on Energy Scarcity, produced by the Tides Foundation, the JoMiJo Foundation and and the Bay Area Peak Oil Task Force.
Annual Isadore Candeub Memorial Lecture in Planning
Oct 8 2008 - 7:30pm - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Post Carbon Cities Program Manager Daniel Lerch will be presenting the Annual Isadore Candeub Memorial Lecture in Planning at the Edward Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Jersey. 
Bioneers
Friday, October 17 & Sunday, October 19, 2008 - Marin Center, San Rafael, CA
Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow will participate on two panels at Bioneers.
American Planning Association,Fall Conference
November 7, 2008-Salt Lake City, UT
Daniel Lerch, Post Carbon Cities Program Manager will present at the Utah Chapter of the American Planning Association, Fall Conference. The meeting will be held at University of Utah.
Featured Events
ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference
September 21-23, 2008 - Hyatt Regency, Sacramento, CA
ASPO-USA announces its fourth annual high-level conference to discuss impacts of and responses to a peak in world oil production. Conference participants will include Matt Simmons, Jeff Rubin, Jim Buckee, Jeremy Gilbert, Herman Franssen, Kjell Aleklett, Randy Udall, Jim Puplava, David Hughes, Dan Reicher, Vince Mathews, Nate Hagens, and many others.
Back to top
Post Carbon Institute encourages the following courses of action:
- Begin implementing Relocalization strategies in your community
- Please tell a friend about the Post Carbon Institute
- Encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe
- If you're not yet a member of the Relocalization Network, then please sign up
- Donate to Post Carbon Institute
View the Newsletter archives
Having trouble receiving our e-mail? Try adding us (info@postcarbon.org) to your Address Book.
Post Carbon Institute is a 501c3 registered charity chartered in Eugene, Oregon USA
Post Carbon Institute encourages the following courses of action:
| • | Please tell a friend about the Post Carbon Institute |
| • | Encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe |
| • | If you are not yet familiar with the Transition movement, learn more here. |
| • | Donate to Post Carbon Institute |