January 2006: Post Carbon News
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Post Carbon Newsletter #11 January 2006
1. New Post Carbon Store
2. Feasta's proposed emissions rationing system
3. Relocalize Now! nears completion
4. Denver World Oil Conference Recap
5. PCI Forums/Mailing List Coming Soon
6. Featured Group: Tidewater Post Carbon Network, Virginia, USA
7. Calendar of Events
8. PCI Fundraising Update
9. Next Newsletter Preview
1. New Post Carbon Store
Post Carbon Books- click to enter.
Visit the Post Carbon Institute's new store, Post Carbon Books - a vast improvement on our faithful old store! In the left column you'll find info about the products, store policies and our affiliate program. The right column has new and featured products as well as bestsellers. Click "login" under the Post Carbon Books banner to begin ordering! Please note, for security reasons user accounts are not able to be transfered from the old store, so all visitors will need to create a new login. Also, this new store account is not the same account as the one you may have in the main Post Carbon Institute site.
Remember, every order you place through Post Carbon Books helps us to continue our work!
2. Richard Douthwaite on Feasta's proposed emissions rationing system
When resource depletion causes oil and natural gas prices to soar, who will get the benefit? The oil producers, of course, and, as a result of the recent 300% increase, they are already reporting massive profits.
"That's what happens in a market economy" says economist and PCI board director Richard Douthwaite. "The trouble is, the poorest people in the poorest parts of the world will get squeezed very badly as the price goes up and up. Already many can't afford kerosene for lighting, bottled gas for cooking or the increased bus fares. There have been riots in some countries."
So Douthwaite's organisation, Feasta, is proposing an emissions rationing system to share out increasingly scarce oil and gas and to limit the output of coal. "We are starting with the EU and hope that, from 2008, each resident of the 25 countries will get his or her individual emissions entitlement every six months. Then, from 2012, we want the system to be extended to the rest of the world." Read more...
3. Relocalize Now! nears completion
Julian Darley, David Room, Celine Rich and Richard Heinberg are pleased to announce that work is nearing completion on their new book, Relocalize Now! Getting ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil. In response to the growing energy crisis and ecological collapse, this practical guide outlines the key ideas of "global relocalization": we suggest ways that people can begin to develop local money, energy and food systems with the goal of greatly reducing our energy use, increasing community self-reliance in producing the things we need and bringing real energy security via reliable renewable energy. The book is in the final edit process - stay tuned for the press date! See http://www.postcarbon.org/store/relocalize for more info.
4. Denver World Oil Conference Recap
Called the "Oil Depletion Woodstock" by Randy Udall, ASPO-USA's first World Oil Conference on November 10 & 11, 2005, sold out to a national audience of more than 425 attendees. Speakers included Randy Udall & Steve Andrews of ASPO-USA, Chris Skrebowski of the UK Petroleum Review, Tom Petrie of Petrie Parkman & Co., BP Retired Chief Petroleum Engineer Jeremy Gilbert, oil industry analyst Henry Groppe, physicist Dr. Albert Bartlett, energy investment banker Matt Simmons, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Roger Bezdek, President of MISI, Charles T. Maxwell of Weedon & Co. and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. Post Carbon Institute founder & director Julian Darley gave a forthright presentation reinforcing the unfortunate connection between peak oil, destructive economics and climate change. Post Carbon Institute's sister organization, Global Public Media, has audio presentation highlights and post-conference video interviews by Julian Darley with some of the main speakers. Click here for GPM's coverage.
5. PCI Forums/Mailing List Coming Soon
Post Carbon Institute’s software development team have been busy creating a new Forums/Mailing list system. It allows html email, embedded images (like the ones in this newsletter) and attachments to be posted via email, but alternatively messages can be posted via a web interface, and all messages can be viewed in a web archive. The system is being tested in standalone form at the moment. We intend to integrate it into the main Post Carbon web sites as soon as possible.
6. Featured Group: Tidewater Post Carbon Network, Virginia, USA
Tidewater Post Carbon Network is a newly formed open network of individuals and organizations in the Hampton Roads Area of southeast Virginia, which is on the lower end of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. It is an area of great beauty with many open waterways, marshes, shorelines, and diverse species and habitats but unfortunately, it also suffers from the blight of rampant industrialization, population growth, and uncontrolled sprawl. The Tidewater network is working toward achieving a localized, community-based, sustainable economy without mass use of private transportation, container ships, the massive military presence, and the endless expansion of malls, asphalt, and new subdivisions. This network is participating in the agenda of the Post Carbon Institute with a commitment to community education, nonviolence, integrity and courtesy in dealing with others, as well as promoting the relocalization of our energy infrastructure, our economy, and our communities. Tidewater Post Carbon Network calls for any individual in the area to join the move toward a locally self-sufficient, community based way of life and socioeconomic order, networking with others throughout the world, in order to develop the resilience and adaptive flexibility needed to survive the drastic changes that will occur as we enter petroleum decline. We’ll keep you updated on our progress as we grow!
7. Calendar of Events
♦ Jan. 14: Julian Darley To Keynote The Boulder Valley Community Conference and Relocalization Resource Expo
On January 14, 2006, The Boulder Valley Relocalization (BVR) will host an all-day event on the University of Colorado campus to increase community preparedness for the challenges and opportunities of the energy crisis. The event will inform citizens about options for achieving long-term community self-reliance in energy, food and economy. The Relocalization Resource Expo will be a major part of the day long event, featuring tools, information, products, practitioners, organizations, citizen group, co-ops, companies, city/county government agencies, authors, artists, media producers and publications that can help citizens prepare for the coming energy crisis. Keynote speakers will include Julian Darley, author of High Noon for Natural Gas: The New Energy Crisis and founder of Post Carbon Institute and Global Public Media; and Boulder's own Dr. Albert Bartlett, Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Colorado. See http://www.boulderrelocalization.org/ for more info.
♦ Feb 4: David Room presentation in Napa Valley, CA
On February 4th, David Room will give a talk entitled "Sustainable Living: The End of Cheap Oil in the Napa Valley" as part of a one day event called The Spirit of the Napa Valley. See http://www.borntoage.com for more info.
8. PCI Fundraising Update
- Plan for Peak update:
Our Plan for Peak fundraising campaign was a success! In just over six weeks, we were able to raise $15,602 in individual contributions from our members and supporters. These funds will help us expand key Post Carbon initiatives and educate others about the critical need to live with much less energy. A big thank you to all of our donors! - Major Grant received:
We are excited to announce that we have recently received a $125,000 grant from the Wallace Global Fund. This generous donation will allow us to better coordinate our municipal level programs and launch an international effort to adopt the Oil Depletion Protocol. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Wallace Global Fund for this invaluable support. Please keep updated on our progress as we grow!
9. Next Newsletter Preview
Introducing new Post Carbon Institute team members: board director Anthony Duggleby and Municipal Action Plan coordinator Ellen Birchler.
The Post Carbon Institute encourages the following courses of action:
- Begin building Parallel Public Infrastructure (we are working on research and guidelines)
- Write letters to the editor of your newspapers and to your local politicians-- (mention Peak Oil and Gas)
- Tell your friends and neighbors what's happening
- Start a Post Carbon Outpost
- Forward this newsletter to others
- Support our efforts by becoming a member
The Post Carbon Institute newsletter is designed to inform you of the work of the Institute, which is to help educate and prepare communities for a world of declining oil production. For North Americans and those in the British Isles and New Zealand, peak oil is compounded by heavy dependence on now declining natural gas production.
Help us get this message out to the rest of the world -- please forward this email and encourage your friends, family members, co-workers, planners, policy makers, and politicians to subscribe.
Post Carbon Institute is an Initiative of MetaFoundation.
Click here to donate to the Post Carbon Institute Fund
Post Carbon Institute is an Initiative of Metafoundation, Incorporated in Eugene, Oregon
Richard Douthwaite on Feasta's proposed emissions rationing system
When resource depletion causes oil and natural gas prices to soar, who will get the benefit? The oil producers, of course, and, as a result of the recent 300% increase, they are already reporting massive profits.
"That's what happens in a market economy" says economist and Post Carbon Institute board director Richard Douthwaite. "The trouble is, the poorest people in the poorest parts of the world will get squeezed very badly as the price goes up and up. Already many can't afford kerosene for lighting, bottled gas for cooking or the increased bus fares. There have been riots in some countries."
So Douthwaite's organisation, Feasta, is proposing an emissions rationing system to share out increasingly scarce oil and gas and to limit the output of coal. "We are starting with the EU and hope that, from 2008, each resident of the 25 countries will get his or her individual emissions entitlement every six months. Then, from 2012, we want the system to be extended to the rest of the world."
When people receive their emissions entitlement (EE) they will take it to a post office or bank and sell it for whatever the market price is at the time, just as if it was foreign currency. Fossil fuel producers will then have to buy enough permits from the intermediaries to cover the emissions from their output. International inspectors will see this is the case.
"This is an alternative to the Oil Depletion Protocol" Douthwaite says. "Its advantage is that that it takes in natural gas and coal as well. Different EEs would be issued for each fuel so that it will be possible to reduce the production of oil at the rate required by the protocol, while the rate at which the demand for gas and coal is cut back will be in line with the rate at which total emissions need to fall to halt climate change."
Douthwaite points out that, the lower the weight of carbon dioxide allocated to each person through their EE, the higher the price they would get. "So, rather than the profits of scarcity going to the giant energy companies, they will be shared amongst all of us and those who use least fossil fuel will come out best" he says.
Details of the Feasta plan can be found at http://www.feasta.org/documents/energy/November2005.pdf.