*1. Local Energy Farms*
*Post Carbon Forms Local Energy Farms Advisory Panel*
We are now ready to move the Local Energy Farms Initiative into
implementation. To make that happen as quickly and broadly as
possible, our Local Energy Farms Initiative took a big step forward
this month with the creation of an Advisory Panel. A marvelous group
of experts on renewable energy and how to get things done have agreed
to lend us their support!! The panel will advise Post Carbon Institute
and all those associated with us on how to set up the best combination
of renewable energies for a given locale in order to produce reliable
power and fuels.
The panel includes the famous German politician, Hermann Scheer, who
has worked for decades to bring renewable energies into the
mainstream, as well as Tony Marmont who founded and runs the energy
farm in Britain which has inspired our Local Energy Farms Initiative.
We also welcome Carol Werner, head of the Environmental and Energy
Study Institute in Washington - she has worked for over 25 years on
public policy and renewable energy. For the other distinguished panel
members please visit the Local Energy Farms Advisory Panel.
[http://www.postcarbon.org/relocalize/energyfarmpanel
{http://www.postcarbon.org/relocalize/energyfarmpanel}] .
*Local Energy Farm Business Plan*
Local Energy Farm Panel member Richard George, with years of finance
and business experience, has been commissioned to write a business
plan. This will be no ordinary business plan, since we are working on
novel ways of allowing community resources to flow into - and out of -
local energy farms without fuelling the debt-based, interest-bearing
money system. To facilitate this, we envisage setting up Community
Supported Energy (similar to Community Supported Manufacturing
[http://www.postcarbon.org/relocalize/manufacturing
{http://www.postcarbon.org/relocalize/manufacturing}], see also
Newsletter #7 [http:/ /www.postcarbon.org/news/newsletters/sept2005
{http:/ /www.postcarbon.org/news/newsletters/sept2005}] and linking
it to energy-backed local currencies as part of the hybrid solutions
we intend to pioneer.
*First Energy Farm and More Test Sites*
We are very pleased to report that an Outpost member has already
purchased land for an energy farm (see below - Post Carbon News In
Brief) and we hope to begin installations very shortly. With the
first energy farm about to come to fruition and the Business Plan
under way, we are actively looking for more energy farm sites and
would like to hear from those of you who may have land or resources
you would like to make available. Email us at
energyfarm@postcarbon.org {mailto:energyfarm@postcarbon.org}.
*2. Major Gift*
We are pleased to announce that we have recently received a major
grant for $75,000 from an anonymous donor. This grant will enable us
to make the critical shift from being completely volunteer-run to
working with several contract staff positions. In addition, we shall
use the funds to improve our websites and the systems to help the
Relocalization Network.
*3. Post Carbon News In Brief*
*Flathead Outpost member Peter Myers purchases property for local
energy farm.*
Peter Myers scouted a number of locations in Montana and Washington
State, before settling on land in Eastern Washington. "I'm focused on
making an energy farm and leading a sustainable lifestyle," Myers
says, adding that running a school and having a small post carbon
community associated with the energy farm are also important parts of
his goal. "I have two small children and I want them to grow up in a
sustainable way."
*Post Carbon Institute Director Julian Darley visits the Centre for
Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales.*
CAT [http://www.cat.org.uk {http://www.cat.org.uk}] has been in
existence for 25 years and offers a fascinating chance to see
low-energy living in action. The centre has examples of sustainable
energy, organic growing, environmentally sound buildings and more.
CAT has helped the local community to buy, install and run mid-scale
wind turbines - a phenomenon common in Denmark, but unusual in the
English-speaking world, but one which we believe should be promoted
vigorously.
*4. Featured Outpost: The Titanic Lifeboat Academy*
In 2004, Caren Black and Christopher Paddon established a Post
Carbon Outpost called The Titanic Lifeboat Academy
[http://lifeboat.postcarbon.org {http://lifeboat.postcarbon.org}] in
Astoria, Oregon. They provide education and awareness about peak oil,
global climate change, population overshoot and environmental
degradation. Their main focus is on education and teaching
sustainable living. Black and Paddon held a successful conference
this summer called "Doing Something about Peak Oil." They have also
organized a series of three-part workshops to help people devise
workable plans to deal with the coming crises in energy supply.
"Building Your Lifeboat" workshops will begin January 13-15, 2006.
Caren Black writes monthly columns about sustainable living in the
local magazine Hipfish.
[http://www.postcarbon.org/lifeboat/page6.html
{http://www.postcarbon.org/lifeboat/page6.html}] Christopher helps
Caren with articles for an on-line publication [called??] and a radio
show on KMUN 91.9 FM Community Radio [http://www.kmun.org/
{http://www.kmun.org/}] in Astoria. This media work goes a long way
toward increasing public awareness of peak oil and our unsustainable
energy-hogging lifestyles.
Black and Paddon practice what they preach. Their "Building Your
Lifeboat" workshops focus on community and individual actions. As
part of their personal outreach to their community, they have been
lobbying for wind energy in Astoria. Christopher reports that a group
he works with have recently got approval in principle from the
director of the Port of Astoria to build several wind turbines on
Pier 3 (part of the Astoria Port).
For more information go to: [http://lifeboat.postcarbon.org
{http://lifeboat.postcarbon.org}]
*5. Introducing Post Carbon Board Member: James Howard Kunstler*
James Howard Kunstler is one of America's great critics of suburbia
and its associated sprawling, energy-sucking infrastructure. He is
known for such biting phrases such as "drive- by architecture" -
describing the automobile-oriented, pedestrian-unfriendly design of
strip malls and development along suburban commercial roads - and the
"consensus trance" about the inertia of the American Dream.
Kunstler calls the development of suburbs and their associated
car-addicted infrastructure one of the greatest misallocations of
resources in the history of the world.
Born and raised in New York City, Kunstler now lives in Saratoga
Springs, NY. He started working as a newspaper reporter, leading to a
staff writing job with The Rolling Stone before quitting to work
full-time on books.
Kunstler is the author of four non-fiction works on cities and the
challenges facing American society. Geography of Nowhere is one of
the most powerful - and poignant - analyses of the problems of North
American settlement patterns, a theme he furthered developed in Home
>From Nowhere, and expanded in his comparative analysis of the urban
form in Cities In Mind.
His latest work, The Long Emergency
[https://secure.metafoundation.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=META&Product_Code=longemerg
{https://secure.metafoundation.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=META&Product_Code=longemerg}],
offers a powerful projection of the dawning global energy crisis and
its possible aftermaths.
Kunstler is featured in the documentary, The End of Suburbia: Oil
Decline and the Collapse of the American Dream.
[https://secure.metafoundation.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=EOS&Category_Code=Video
{https://secure.metafoundation.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=EOS&Category_Code=Video}]
See the whole Board [http://www.metafoundation.org/board.php
{http://www.metafoundation.org/board.php}]
*6. New Appointments*
We welcome three new additions to the Post Carbon team.
*Christina Olsen* joins us as Administration Manager in Vancouver to
oversee the day-to-day administration of MetaFoundation, Post Carbon
Institute and Global Public Media. She has a degree in environmental
studies and anthropology from the University of Victoria and has
worked for a variety of environmental organizations, including
Television for the Environment in London, England. You can contact
her at christina@postcarbon.org {mailto:christina@postcarbon.org}
*Liz McDowell* will be joining the fundraising effort as our new
Development Coordinator. She will be working in the Vancouver office
to help Celine implement Post Carbon's ambitious plans for the
future. Liz studied business and international development at McGill
University in Montreal and was the project coordinator for the
Sustainable McGill Project. She can be reached at liz@postcarbon.org
{mailto:liz@postcarbon.org}
*Shelby Tay*, a fourth year environmental science student at the
University of British Columbia, is joining our team as Program
Coordinator. She will be establishing a communication network amongst
new and existing Outpost groups and developing lines of communication
with all members of the Relocalization Network. You can reach her at
shelby@postcarbon.org {mailto:shelby@postcarbon.org}
*7. Global Public Media News*
*Ritawatch:* Post Carbon Institute and its sister organisation,
internet broadcast station Global Public Media, have offered both our
own special reports and other media reports on the progress and
immediate effects of Hurricane Rita, which hit the Gulf of Mexico in
September. Following the recent devastating US hurricanes, we are
currently producing feature radio reports on the new revelations
about the damage. We are particularly featuring natural gas - this is
the fuel which increasingly looks as if it will cause a crisis both in
North America and Europe, even as all eyes are on oil (which will be
problematic enough). Natural gas is very hard to transport to new
places - it takes years and billions of dollars (or pounds) to put in
a Liquefied Natural Gas chain (and is a bad idea anyway - see Julian
Darley's High Noon for Natural Gas [http://www.highnoon.ws/
{http://www.highnoon.ws/}] for explanation). This means that nations
have to rely on their existing gas sources and infrastructure. Thus,
if demand goes up and supply goes down, a crisis will almost
certainly ensue. That is exactly what is now happening in North
American and the British Isles.
For Global Public Media's regular and special energy reporting go to
[http://www.globalpublicmedia.com {http://www.globalpublicmedia.com}].
For Post Carbon's collection of sources on Hurricane Rita :
[http://www.postcarbon.org/features/rita
{http://www.postcarbon.org/features/rita}]
*8. Next Newsletter Preview*
The Oil Depletion Protocol: a far-sighted global and local policy
response to peak oil and gas. The Protocol has been created and
initiated by Colin Campbell, and is now being developed into a full
plan by Richard Heinberg. Post Carbon Institute is proud to be
assisting in this effort, which will become an international campaign
of extraordinary importance.
