Post Carbon Newsletter #23 January 2007

1. 2007 Preview
2. Relocalization Network
3. Energy Farms update
4. New Programming on Global Public Media
5. Featured Post Carbon Group
6. Calendar of Events
7. Next Newsletter Preview

1. 2007 Preview

2007 is going to be a pivotal year for the convergence of two of Post Carbon Institute’s primary concerns, Peak Oil and climate change. By bringing these two concerns together, we will create more effective arguments for moving forward in both arenas. All of our programs will reflect this new awareness, starting with the two books we are writing:

• Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil (2007, New Society) is intended for people who want to start moving their communities towards local production of food, energy, and goods.
• Municipal Response Guidebook (Spring 2007, Post Carbon Press), researched and written by Post Carbon’s Municipal Response Coordinator Daniel Lerch, is a well documented handbook for local officials who want to change their policies to reduce use of fossil fuels and production of greenhouse gases.

The Relocalization Network continues to grow, and we will be supplying the Network’s Local Groups with a greatly improved suite of online discussion and organization tools, including Local Public Media, which will give groups the tools to create and post video of their work. We expect more farms to join the Local Energy Farms Network, broadening our experimentation with integrating food, fiber, and energy production. We shall be promoting the Oil Depletion Protocol as a powerful international program for reducing world energy consumption and production. And Global Public Media will continue to bring you the best interviews with key thinkers and activists around the world, as well as the articles from Post Carbon Institute’s staff and research fellows.

2. Relocalization Network

This week we are launching the Timebanks Pilot Project. For this project we will be sponsoring Project Port Lyttelton in New Zealand with a one-year subscription to experiment with new online time banking software created by Timebanks USA. To learn more about time banking and to follow Port Lyttelton's progress, visit them on the web at ppl.relocalize.net.

If you have any technical or web questions about relocalize.net, get in touch with Tim Whiteway, our Web Support Coordinator. Tim joined the Relocalization Network Team last November, with a strong background in computer services. And if you would like to join the growing number of Local Groups around the world in the Relocalization Network, please contact us.

3. Energy Farms update

Post Carbon Institute is seeking to expand the Energy Farm Network and is currently exploring opportunities in Oregon, California, Kentucky, British Columbia and Alberta. Post Carbon encourages Relocalization groups to consider creating Energy Farms in their communities. If you want more information about joining or contributing to the Energy Farms Network, click here, or call (604) 708-8404.

The Brookside Energy Farm in Willits, California received an outpouring of community support in January, adding new members, and getting valuable donations of equipment from community businesses, including a photovoltaic tracking rack and panels.

Post Carbon’s energy farm development specialist Christoffer Hansen reports on the latest at the farm. Read more...

Vancouver Energy Farm

Mark Bomford, the manager of Post Carbon’s Energy Farm on the UBC campus, reports that extreme dampness this winter has given him more time to plan for 2007 and talk with other members in the growing Energy Farms Network. Mark and his interns are experimenting with a number of new potential crops, and learning what happens to biogas digesters when the temperatures drop well below freezing. Read more...

4. New Programming on Global Public Media

Richard Bell, our new Communications Director who just opened our Washington D.C. office, had a Global Public Media hit with his January 10th report on “The Geopolitics of Oil,” an unusual hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. More than 8,000 people have downloaded “The Rise of “The Axis of Oil”—Big Trouble for the United States.”

In November we put out a request for programming to be included on Global Public Media. We're pleased to announce the addition of Deconstructing Dinner to the GPM lineup. Creator and host Jon Steinman says Deconstructing Dinner is "designed to educate listeners on the impacts our food choices have on ourselves, our communities and the planet." Produced at Kootenay Co-op Radio (CJLY) in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, the show is heard on radio stations around the world, and now on Global Public Media. If you are involved with or know of a high quality, pertinent broadcast program that deserves worldwide exposure, please contact us to be considered for inclusion on Global Public Media.

Our UK correspondent Richard Scrase provided us with Professor Sir David King's climate change lecture to the London School of Economics. We've also posted several new episodes of Peak Moment Television and Jason Bradford's Reality Report.

5. Featured Post Carbon Group

Leeds Sustainability Network is a network of small businesses, environmental groups, sustainability professionals and individuals in Leeds (UK) who want to help the city to become more sustainable, to help people save money in the process, and maybe even have some fun along the way!

Read more...

6. Calendar of Events

Climate Week of Action

January 29th to February 2nd, 2007 at a campus near you
Rising to the Climate Challenge: Visions of Our Future: America and Canada's youth are calling for five days of demonstrations to jumpstart the second semester of the Campus Climate Challenge and put the heat on a new U.S. Congress and a returning Canadian Parliament to begin aggressive national power shifts on global warming. The first 1,000 campuses who register will be offered the chance to host a free campus screening of "An Inconvenient Truth".

Future Frameworks for Regional Railways Symposium

February 1, 2007 Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
The aim of the 'Future Frameworks' symposium is to explore the capabilities and frameworks for sustainable regional rail. These frameworks recognise the benefits of an integrated and balanced approach between road and rail within regional logistics chains. This conference will be of interest to all who are concerned about the development of sustainable, integrated regional transport systems. For more information click here or contact nlenz@engineersaustralia.org.au.

7. Next Newsletter Preview

• Post Carbon Institute is expanding: we'll have news of the opening of our new office in California.