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Monthly Archives: May 2007

Peak opportunity #3- Pathways to Powerdown

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

In the last couple of posts on this subject I had a look at some of the main issues and concepts that need to be addressed if we are to begin to navigate towards a sustainable alternative. While rising energy prices capture everyone’s attention, the overwhelming response is on supply side solutions: the oil is [...]

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End of Term

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

With last week’s end-of-term celebrations and presentations of another batch of Permaculture Design Certificates to the first year students, I have completed my second year as permaculture teacher on the Practical Sustainability Course at Kinsale Further Education College. This unique course, devised by Rob Hopkins in conjunction with college director John Thuillier six years ago, [...]

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Bitter-sweet Harvest

Thursday, May 17, 2007

West Cork bee-keeper Tim Rowe kindly sent me this article he has written highlighting the plight of bees and bee-keepers on account of widespread Colony Collapse Syndrome: BITTER-SWEET HARVEST – a beekeeper’s year. It’s been a strange year. Last summer the honey harvest from my bees weighed over half a ton. That’s stacks and stacks [...]

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Peak Opportunity #2 Too Much Energy is Bad for You

Monday, May 14, 2007

left: Sandra and horse When introducing the concept of Peak Oil and explaining what implications it will have I like to start with an image of renewable energy, but I suspect that that phrase will conjure up for most people images of photo voltaic panels or wind-turbines rather than a horse. David Holmgren has pointed [...]

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Peak Opportunity

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Last week I was invited to speak at an event hosted in Bandon, Co. Cork. The event was organised by Dr. Philip Michael of the Irish Environmental Doctor’s association, with a view to initiating a localisation/powerdown group in the town. Also speaking were Colin Sage of UCC; Alison Wickham of Sustainable Clonakilty; and Klaus Harvey [...]

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