Post Carbon Newsletter #20 October 2006

1. Get Connected at Relocalize.net
2. ASPO-USA conference 2006

3. Jeremy Leggett and Dave Hughes join Post Carbon Institute
4. Oil Depletion Protocol Update
5. Energy Farm update from Willits
6. New Stories on Global Public Media
7. Featured Post Carbon Group: Sustainable Berea
8. Next Newsletter Preview

1. Get Connected at Relocalize.net

There are many ways for you to get involved with the growing on-line community on relocalize.net. The website offers forums, personal blogs and polls as well as a place to post your local events and news. Take a look at our keyword page and browse through the resource section to you get started with projects in your community.

Get involved with the Relocalization Network by starting or joining a Local Post Carbon Group. Search for one in your area and get active!

We have designed a webpage to help you use these features. We welcome your feedback about how the website helps you stay organized and connected in your community.

We are also pleased to announce that we have published the first edition of the Relocalization Network Newsletter. You will be receiving a one-time sample of this online Newsletter shortly. Click here to start your subscription to get future issues of the Relocalization Network Newsletter. This monthly publication includes upcoming news and events as well as information about Local Group activities, Relocalization Network projects, and the . The Relocalization Network Newsletter will keep you current and connected with the Relocalization Network.

2. ASPO-USA conference 2006

In admirably timed autumn sunshine, ASPO-USA held its second annual oil and gas conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Nearly 500 people attended.

Amongst the many compelling speakers, Dave Hughes, a highly respected Canadian petroleum geologist, gave two presentations covering the serious Canadian gas situation and the complexities of Canadian oil and tar sands. Randy Udall gave a very effective presentation in which he referred to "climbing up the heat ladder", highlighting industrial society's insatiable need for energy. Jeremy Gilbert, formerly BP's Chief Petroleum Engineer, gave an intriguing explanation of how oil reserves are actually calculated.

The evening devoted to climate change was much appreciated and reflects the increasingly strong efforts being made to develop coordinated policy responses to energy and climate.

Post Carbon board member Debbie Cook chaired a panel on peak oil responses: Post Carbon Fellow Richard Heinberg presented the Oil Depletion Protocol and Founder/Director Julian Darley gave an overview of Relocalization.

US congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R MD) and Richard Heinberg both received Hubbert Awards for their education work and were very warmly congratulated by the audience.

It was encouraging to see this conference being attended by a diverse audience including officials from New York Dept of Transportation, Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and students from Boston University.

All the presentations will be online shortly through ASPO-USA and Global Public Media.

3. Jeremy Leggett and Dave Hughes join Post Carbon Institute

We are very pleased to announce that Jeremy Leggett has joined the Energy Farms Advisory Panel and Dave Hughes has become a Fellow of Post Carbon Institute.

Jeremy Leggett is renowned for his work on climate change and for forming Britain’s best known solar PV company, solarcentury. In 2005 he drew on his former life as a geologist for BP to write Half Gone (Empty Tank in North America), which drew praise for his writing and brought renewed attention to peaking world oil and Britain’s own dire state of oil and gas supplies.

Dave Hughes is one of Canada’s most authoritative petroleum geologists and has worked for the Canadian government at NRCan (Natural Resources Canada) for many years. He has given dozens of presentations on peak oil and particularly natural gas, concentrating on the difficulties of North America—difficulties which of course affect the world.

4. Oil Depletion Protocol Update

On October 11th, Atlanta Beyond Oil sponsored Richard Heinberg to present the Oil Depletion Protocol during a luncheon in the Capitol Building for elected city and state officials.

At this year’s ASPO-USA conference, Richard gave a presentation on the Oil Depletion Protocol, and on October 27th he met with Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) to discuss the Protocol and peak oil.

Post Carbon Institute is providing the Oil Depletion Protocol book to elected officials, persons of international stature, policy makers, and business and industry leaders around the world to educate people and garner support for the Protocol.

If there is someone to whom you think we should send a copy of the Oil Depletion Protocol book, submit a request by clicking here. You will need the individual’s full name, title, and mailing address.

5. Energy Farm update from Willits

Brookside Farm at Brookside Elementary School in Willits, is Post Carbon Institute's second demonstration energy farm. The school serves over 400 K-2 students and has a Head Start preschool. The school district has made one acre available for the farm on the northwest portion of the school property. There are no charges for this land, but no funding is provided either. The district sees the main benefit of the farm in terms of educational enrichment. The soil is some of the best in the area, called Felix loam, and will require few nutrient inputs.

As the initiators of Brookside Farm, we are well aware of the need to relearn how to grow food, fuel and fibers using current sunlight and to close as many material loops as possible. We are excited to be a part of Post Carbon's network of Energy Farms and look forward to helping the network grow. -Dr. Jason Bradford, Brookside Energy Farm Manager

Click here for more about Brookside Energy Farm.

6. New Stories on Global Public Media

This month on GPM we featured David Korten's talk "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community". Julian Darley of Global Public Media spoke with ASPO USA's Steve Andrews and Dick Lawrence, who were preparing for the second ASPO USA World Oil Conference in Boston on October 26 and 27. We also featured an article by Ron Cooke mulling over the possibility of oil shortages, and Megan Quinn's recap of the Third U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions. Rasmus Benestad discussed climate change with Jason Bradford on "The Reality Report" and video and audio files from several new episodes of Peak Moment Television were added.

7. Featured Post Carbon Group: Sustainable Berea

By Richard Olson, coordinator of Sustainable Berea

Sustainable Berea was established October 2005 in Berea, Kentucky, a college town of about 15,000 people. Membership has grown to approximately 30 people who are organized into working groups:

Energy: The Outpost co-sponsored the Kentucky Solar Tour on October 7, which included several residential photovoltaic and solar hot water systems in Berea. In November the Outpost will host a home energy audit workshop, and will continue working with city officials on a renewal of the net metering program by the Berea Municipal Utilities.

Food: An "edible yard extreme make-over" workshop is being developed for next spring, and Outpost members are putting together a strategy for strengthening Berea’s farmers markets.

Economy: We are compiling a directory of "local" businesses as a first step toward forming a network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) in conjunction with groups in Louisville and other Kentucky cities.

Outreach: A showing of An Inconvenient Truth was the Outpost’s most recent co-sponsored film. We place an ad every two weeks in the local paper regarding Outpost activities and a few educational tid-bits. Our website is steadily improving as a resource for the community.

Fundraising is always a challenge, but in April the founders of Sustainable Berea, Richard and Cheyenne, were married and in lieu of gifts requested donations to several organizations including the Outpost. The approximately $3000 raised for the Outpost suggests that this approach, while not applicable to every relocalization group, is worth considering!

8. Next Newsletter Preview

• Next month we'll feature an interview with new Post Carbon Institute Fellow Dave Hughes and a profile of Energy Bulletin.