Reinventing Collapse June 27, 2008
Posted by Graham in : General, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Population, Powerdown, Yurts, book review, collapse, survivalism , 2commentsBook Review
Reinventing Collapse- The Soviet Example and American Prospects
New Society 2008
When I met Bill Mollison at the International Permaculture Convergence in Croatia three years ago, all he wanted to talk about it seemed was cannibalism. He had traveled in Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union and told me that, in Moscow, the joke was, if you go to the provinces, be careful what they serve you up for meat.
There had been widespread hunger and general hardship, resulting in a dramatic decline in life expectancy, an underclass of the homeless and unemployed and those unable to care for themselves, and a loss of hope in the future.
Despite this, things could get much worse in an even more energy dependent USA.
“Reinventing Collapse” is perhaps the most important and disturbing- as well as amusing- peak oil book you will read. A Russian emigre who had the opportunity to observe the collapse of the former Soviet Union from the vantage point of someone living in America, Orlov sees a similar process unfolding in an America all but oblivious to how quickly things may change there. Peak oil will result very soon in the vast nation beginning to fall apart at the seams as the lifeblood of its economy drains away with no backup available. Big systems like agriculture are so energy intensive that they will quickly collapse and there is barely any resilient, self-reliant communities left. (more…)
Crash Course- Preparing for Peak Oil June 23, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Food, Green Building, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown, survivalism , 1 comment so farBook Review
Crash Course- Preparing for Peak Oil
by Zachary Nowak
Green Door Publishing 2008
Peak Oil is upon us, and collective action on a large scale seems unlikely. Technical solutions are chimerical. Each of us must decide what the future may hold and begin working on a plan to face that future.
When Zachary Nowak began drafting this essential resource list oil was pushing $70 a barrel. Now nearly double that, peak oil seems ever more of a reality and its consequences are being felt even in the oil-guzzling west with an growing sense of urgency: the party really is over and all the chickens are coming home to roost (to mix metaphors): food riots, truckers strikes, inflation, rising unemployment, bankruptcies and the looming shadow of global recession.
It increasingly looks as if the time to prepare may have been yesterday, but as the title suggests, a crash course of emergency and more long-term preparation is still possible and Nowak provides an entertaining primer in the basics. (more…)
Energy Famine June 16, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Peak Oil, Powerdown , 1 comment so farEssential reading: Rob Hopkins Interviews David Fleming. David Fleming, creator of Tradeable Energy Quotas (TEQs) and author of “The Lean Economy” gives the most enlightening and clear explanation of how nd why oil prices are being driven skywards, what we should be doing about it… and what is likely to happen if we dont.
“The human race has been so entranced with admiration for its own intelligence that it has never worked out how to apply it.”
Future Scenarios May 26, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Human Ecology, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown , 1 comment so farThanks to Adam Grubb (Fenderson), founder of Energy Bulletin for sending me the link to David Holmgren’s new site Future Scenarios- Mapping the cultural implications of Peak Oil and Climate Change, which is launched today. You can read the press release here. The site is an important new resource developing the ideas of permaculture co-founder David Holmgren who has done more than anyone to articulate an ecological understanding for the human situation and promoting practical sustainable design solutions. In terms of bringing together a synthesis of ecological science, cultural anthropology, thermodynamics and sustainable design, Holmgren surely ranks as one of the great thinkers of the modern and post-modern world:
“Let us act as if we are part of nature’s striving for the next evolutionary way to creatively respond to the recurring cycles of energy ascent and descent that characterise human history and the more ancient history of Gaia, the living planet. Imagine that our decendants and our ancestors are watching us.”
The site contains a wealth of analyses and ideas to help understand the world we live in and prepare for a range of likely scenarios that we can see unfolding as the price of oil climbs and humanity passes the historical point of peak Energy.
See also Permaculture Principles
Transition Town Kenmare May 2, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Peak Oil, Transition Towns , add a commentThere was a great turn out for the first meeting to start the Transition process in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, which took place Thursday night May 1st at the Brooklane Hotel.
The meeting was organised by Oonagh Comerford who did a great job in inspiring people to come out. I gave a short talk about Peak Oil, the Kinsale college and permaculture, and how the Energy Descent Plan came to be written, sowing the seeds for the Transition network in the UK and now Ireland. We also watched an Australian documentary Four Corners- Peak Oil? which includes a trip to Ballydehob and an interview with Colin Campbell. It was great to see a thicket of hands go up when I asked how many had home gardens- Kenmare is clearly well placed and ahead of the game in that respect. And there is already a small group who have started a community garden so congratulations all for that. Discussions during the meeting included asking how much land precisely would each person need to feed themselves- “five acres and a cow” was one response- to what might we substitute for wheat as supplies decline. There will be a follow-up meeting on June 4th when the film The Power of Community- How Cuba Survived peak Oil will be shown -we promise!
Powerdown TV Show March 2, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Peak Oil, Powerdown , add a commentI have not been posting very regularly recently and part of the reason is that I have been very busy moving into the now (mainly) finished timber cabin. I am delighted to have moved into this cosy space. Warm, functional and full of light it promises to be a very comfortable and appropriately-sized living space.
Some of my first visitors were the crew from Cultivate who came down last week to interview me for the forthcoming TV show that will accompany the Skilling Up for Powerdown Course.
Right: Davie, Eoghain, Rob in the Cabin.
This innovative 10-week course is the brain child of Cultivate’s Education Officer Davie Philip who has been putting it together over the last year or so as a community learning resource. Davie has just started running it in Dublin for the third time, and it has also been trialled in Kinsale. When finished, it will be a groundbreaking resource for community self-learning on issues of community responses to peak oil and Climate change and will include a book and DVD-rom with a short film specially made to explore each chapter of the course. (more…)
The Transition Handbook March 1, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown, community , 3commentsBook Review
The Transition Handbook From oil dependency to local resilience Rob Hopkins Green Books 2008 Pbck; 240pp The transition Handbook is available from www.transition culture.org
“The concept of energy descent, and of the Transition approach, is a simple one: that the future with less oil could be preferable to the present, but only if sufficient creativity and imagination are applied early enough in the design of this transition.”
-Rob Hopkins, The Transition handbook
The publication of the much anticipated Transition Handbook marks the latest landmark in what has become the fastest growing environmental movement since CND in the 1960s: the phenomenon that is sweeping the UK, the Transition Towns movement. (more…)
Monbiot on Population February 1, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Human Ecology, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Population , 8comments[Update: See John Feeney’s excellent response to Monbiot here.]
A few people have pointed me to George Monbiot’s recent article on population in the Guardian. While it is welcome that Monbiot addresses the issue I wanted to reply because I found it really disappointing, failing to join the dots and in some ways misleading.
The main thrust of the article is that some environmentalists complain the issue of population is ignored- perhaps for political reasons- even though it is the “number one environmental problem” and Monbiot sets out to discuss whether this is in fact true. The basic issue in this debate is, can we really give out as it were about the large populations of the developing world when over-consumption in the West is in fact having a bigger environmental impact? (more…)
Powerdown Roundup November 24, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Food, Gardens, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown , add a commentIt has been a busy few weeks and I only now have a chance to catch up by reporting on a few events I have attended over the last few weeks.
On November 8th and 9th I presented an introduction to permaculture workshop at the Tipperary institute, for final-year students on the Sustainable Rural Development degree course.
After an overview of permaculture design principles and some edible landscaping techniques, students were asked to do a design exercise on a proposed permaculture garden outside the canteen.
Making use of some of their proposals I will write up a design for the garden which the Institute will implement early next year. This is an exciting development for the TI and the garden will be partly managed by students on a new degree course starting next September, Environmental and Natural Resource Managment, which will include a Permaculture component. This is a ground-breaking new course designed to provide relevant third-level training to address the coming environmental and resource challenges we will be facing as we continue down the slippery slope of energy descent. (more…)
Bursting point: The World’s Unsustainable Population November 11, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Overshoot, Peak Oil, Population , 11commentsBursting point: the world’s unsustainable population
from the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine
by Graham Strouts www.zone5.org
“It is a simple logical truth that, short of mass emigration into space, with rockets taking off at the rate of several million per second, uncontrolled birth-rates are bound to lead to horribly increased death-rates. It is hard to believe that this simple truth is not understood by those leaders who forbid their followers to use effective contraceptive methods. They express a preference for ‘natural’ methods of population limitation, and a natural method is exactly what they are going to get. It is called starvation.” ~Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Population is a sensitive subject. It is not only political leaders who are reluctant to address it; most environmentalists also feel it is quite beyond their remit in working towards sustainability. It is often seen as an unmentionable subject, something only touched upon by racists and xenophobes –which is exactly why environmentalists need to engage in the debate. (more…)
