Post Carbon Newsletter #24 February 2007

1. Post Carbon Moves HQ to California
2. Global Public Media
3. Relocalization Network
4. Energy Farms update
5. Featured Post Carbon Group
6. Tech Report
7. Calendar of Events
8. Next Newsletter Preview

1. Post Carbon Moves HQ to California

After many months of planning and preparation, Post Carbon Institute has opened a new office in California. Founders Julian Darley and Celine Rich have moved from Vancouver, Canada to this new office, in Sebastopol, which is now the headquarters of Post Carbon.

The Vancouver office remains (at 640 West Broadway) and continues to be the centre of our technical work, much important administrative work and the home of the Relocalization Network team.

With the support of our growing team, we look forward to being more visible and engaged, not only in California but in the world.

To reach our California office call 707-827-3221.

2. Global Public Media

February was a big month for climate change at the U.S. Congress, and Post Carbon’s Communication Director Richard Bell has been covering the latest hearings. The highest profile hearing was in mid-February, featuring Sir Nicholas Stern, author of last fall’s highly influential Stern Review of The Economics of Climate Change. Stern told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the long-term cost of failing to deal with climate change now would be at least 5 times as high as dealing with climate change later.

We cross-posted this item on the very popular political website Daily Kos. The Stern posting, titled "The Biggest Market Failure the World Has Ever Seen," (a remark by Sir Nicholas) was the top recommended diary on Daily Kos for most of the morning and early afternoon, generating a very healthy 376 comments. Bell has also been blogging away, touching on everything from a new "green wedding" magazine to a plan to use nuclear reactors to supply heat for processing Canada’s tar sands.

Global Public Media contributors also covered a wide range of other issues, including additional Congressional hearings on global warming (complete with polar bears), "Five Axioms of Sustainability," and a look at the role of the giant agri-business company Cargill.

Read an overview of February news on Global Public Media here.....

3. Relocalization Network

February has been a month of collaboration and organization of events across the Relocalization Network. Post Carbon Eugene in Oregon is working on planning for their upcoming Lane County Relocalization Conference to be held on April 27th and 28th, 2007.

In Pennsylvania, the Earth Charter Lifeboat Academy (ECLA PA) is working with Energy Coordinating Agency to plan an upcoming rally on global warming. Over in New Zealand, Project Port Lyttelton has been working with Timebanks USA to internationalize their online time banking software as part of the Relocalization Network's recently launched Time Bank Pilot Project.

And across the Relocalization Network, groups are getting ready for April 14th, the US National Day of Climate Action, a nation wide campaign to bring forth the message: "Step it up, Congress! Cut Carbon 80% by 2050." For more information, visit www.stepitup2007.org. There are already over 700 events planned in 48 states across the country, with more events being posted every day. Click on the map to start or find an action near you! (For more info on April 14th and other climate organizing, see this blog item, "Get Down with Climate Change."

Visit www.relocalize.net to stay up to date with all the local group activities around the world.

4. Energy Farms update

Brookside Farm At the Brookside Energy Farm in Willits, California, Post Carbon Fellow Jason Bradford and Energy Farm Development Specialist Christoffer Hansen have been hard at work preparing the soil for spring crops, with much welcomed help from Rachael Adaire, who is part of Mendocino College’s Regional Occupation Program. Here’s the latest from Christoffer in Willits Vancouver Farm At the Vancouver Energy Farm, Mark Bomford, the manager of Post Carbon’s Energy Farm on the UBC campus, is continuing his behind-the-scenes winter work of planning and preparation for the 2007 growing season. Among other things, Mark has hooked up a nifty wireless linkup that relays internal temperature and moisture data from the aerobic compost system to a computer 600 meters away, data that he’ll eventually be sharing over the internet. Read more from Mark in Vancouver

5. Featured Post Carbon Group -- Post-Carbon London (Ontario)

Post-Carbon London got started in the summer of 2006, focusing initially on educating people about how to address peak oil locally. The group has done a number of film screenings and lectures, and has been actively engaged in getting peak oil issues onto the table in municipal elections.

Toban Black and the Post-Carbon London steering committee sent us an update on the group’s activities so far, and their plans for the future:

Post-Carbon London organizers began meeting in the summer of 2006 to discuss how to address peak oil locally. We decided to focus our efforts on informing the community about peak oil. To this end, our group organized a series of fall events, the first of which included a screening of The End of Suburbia and a discussion between the audience and film producer Barry Silverthorn.

Read More.....

6. Tech Report

One of Post Carbon Institute’s most important missions is developing better services on our family of websites, and putting good communication and organizing tools in the hands of Local Post Carbon Groups. It’s the nature of this work that the better it’s done, the more invisible the tech team becomes. As you can see below in this report from Mack Hardy, our Technology Manager, Mack and his team have been working hard on a range of good projects. Working with Mack are Zoe Neill-St.Clair, Technical Coordinator, and Tim Whiteway, Web Support Coordinator as well as several long-term contract programmers. Here’s Mack’s report:

Read More....

7. Upcoming Events

"Transforming Energy: Inverting Power, Transitioning to Renewables and Preparing for Climate Change"
March 26-30, 2007, Binna Burra, Lamington National Park, Beaudesert Shire, Australia
Visit The Ethos Foundation for more information.

Living Today For Tomorrow Sustainable Living Symposium
March 31, 2007, Loyalist College - Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Visit www.fofc.ca/symposium2007.htm for more information.

"Peak Oil and Community Life in California: A Public Policy Seminar",
set for March 24th, 2007, sponsored by the Arts & Humanities
division of the University of California Extension, Santa Cruz. It is a
one-day event, held in Sunnyvale, California.
Featured speakers will be Richard Heinberg, Julian Darley and Jason Bradford.
http://www.relocalize.net/node/5973

8. Next Newsletter Preview

• News of the expanding Energy Farms Network