Post Carbon Newsletter #25 March 2007

1. Climate Change Goes to Washington
2. Global Public Media
3. Relocalization Network
4. Energy Farms
5. Featured Post Carbon Group
6. Tech Report
7. Job Postings
8. Forthcoming Events
9. April Preview

1. Climate Change Goes to Washington

For the first time in 6 years, the U.S. Congress is openly grappling with the thorny issue of what to do about climate change. In a series of reports on hearings in the House and the Senate, Post Carbon's Richard Bell has been charting the rocky path from denial to acceptance, and maybe, just maybe, to action, highlighted by the near rock-star appearance of former vice president Al Gore.

Looking beyond Capitol Hill, Post Carbon Fellow Richard Heinberg takes a look at how we might bring together the climate change movement and the Peak Oil movement. And in an alarming analysis of a soon-to-be released study, Heinberg reports that the world's coal reserves may not last nearly as long as most forecasters have claimed.

2. Global Public Media

Whether you’re looking for inspiration for growing your own food in your own back yard, or are in the market for an electric car that goes 0-60 in 5 seconds, Global Public Media was talking this month with people who are changing the world for the better.

Transportation is one of the keys to stabilizing the atmosphere, and transportation engineer and Burnaby city planner Stuart Ramsey talks about smart urban transportation strategies.

Meanwhile, Post Carbon Communications Director Richard Bell continues his reports from the Congress, where the Republicans are mounting a sometimes painfully awkward rear-guard action to deny the reality of global warming.

3. Relocalization Network

The number of groups in the Relocalization Network is growing steadily to nearly 150 groups! This month we are welcoming three new groups to the Network: Seed to Seed Post Carbon Learning Center in Texas, Groton Local in Massachussets, and Post Carbon Lacombe in Alberta, Canada.

As March rolls by, the Network continues to buzz with activity. Post Carbon Eugene in Oregon is making the final arrangements for their Lane County Relocalization Conference to be held on April 27th and 28th, 2007.

In New Zealand, Project Port Lyttelton is holding a members networking gathering for their Time Bank on April 11th.

Visit http://relocalize.net for updated news and events posted by all the local groups around the world.

4. Energy Farms

Chris Reports from Brookside Farm This March we acquired the tools that we are going to use to ready the soil for our energy, compost, and annual crops. When selecting tools, our goal is to utilize intermediate technology that maximizes the amount of work done while involving little to no petroleum inputs. Our tools are built to last, easy to find, and quick to learn. Below is our “bed-prep” method that employs two new tools: First, we use a Glaser wheel hoe to break the sod layer and loosen the top section of the soil. We rake behind the wheel hoe to remove loose sod. Finally, we use a Broad fork to loosen the soil to a depth of about 10 inches. The broad fork will aerate and loosen the soil without completing overturning and disrupting the microbial life. Read more from Christoffer about Brookside Farm   Mark Reports from the University of British Columbia Farm At the Vancouver energy farm, the first block of miscanthus - about 100 plants - has been transplanted in the new field. Further plantings will have to wait until the snow melts at the supplier's nursery in central BC. New beds are laid out for 2007 plantings, using the same 100 ft^2 (9.3 m^2) bed size last year for the sake of easy comparison. The standing over-winter grain crop is being side-dressed in preparation for its spring growth. We were also excited to finally locate the old small electric threshing machine that was rumored to be at the university. The presence of this equipment opens up considerable potential for the next harvest. --Mark Bomford, UBC Farm , Vancouver, B.C.

5. Featured Post Carbon Group -- Seed to Seed

The Seed to Seed Post Carbon Learning Center in McKinney, Texas, joined the Relocalization Network ranks this month. Rachel Lueke has taken on the ambitious role as coordinator for the center with a strong commitment to making the center into a useful and innovative resource for community education and development for all ages. In its mission statement, the group lays out its focus on education:

"By providing essential learning scenarios that will unify current knowledge, technologies, and socio-economic conditions with ecological concepts in order to develop human and social capacity to imagine, and construct regenerative living/ learning environments. Our center will serve as a community touchstone for people coming together to co-create through 4R’s of development: Relationship, Relocalization, Regenerative Design, and Return of Surplus."

Welcome aboard!

6. Tech Report

Mack Hardy, Post Carbon's Technical Director, talked at the Vancouver PHP Users Group last week, about the improvements to the list-forum system we have been working on. If you are interested in the technological side of the PostCarbon websites, you can find more information about the talk here.

The tech team has made several upgrades to the Post Carbon sites this month.

Global Public Media has been upgraded so users can now search content and browse the data by keywords and topics. In the coming days, users will be able login via single sign on to post comments and vote on content.

Relocalize.net group home pages will be upgraded in the coming month, providing groups with custom menus, banners and images. The new group pages will also layout the group content in a more logical manner, with context specific "Add New" buttons at the top of section headers and columnar layout of the data. For more detail on the planned improvements, click here

7. Job Postings

Post Carbon Institute is currently hiring for the following three positions:

*Relocalization Network Manager

*Global Public Media Coordinator

*Web Services Programmer

For job descriptions, responsibilities, and qualifications for all three positions, click here.

8. Forthcoming Events

Solar Living Institute presents two courses :

National Day of Climate Action
April 14, 2007 Nationwide.

Join well-known environmental writer Bill McKibben in this effort to hold hundreds of community-based activities to call for fast action to deal with climate change. More than 700 communities have already signed up for what could be the single biggest day in U.S. history for climate change activists. Visit www.stepitup2007.org for more information.

Lane County Relocalization Conference

April 27-28, 2007, Eugene, Oregon

Global challenges demand local integrated solutions! Post Carbon Eugene invites you to join together with other local concerned citizens and Lane County planners for an exciting culture changing opportunity. Special guest speaker is Post Carbon Cities Program Manager Daniel Lerch, author of Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate
Uncertainty.

9. April Preview

The Post Carbon Cities program will be officially launched in April. For a preview, click here.

See a feature on the latest farm in the Energy Farms Network.