35 reasons you might want to attend the 2011 ASPO-USA conference

September 23, 2011

1. To hang out with me, of course ;-).

2. To make your voice heard in Washington about this issue – because we don’t have much time to begin to act, and every person here who says ‘I care deeply about this’ helps reinforce our message of the centrality of this issue.

3, To hear Wes Jackson talk about what we’re going to eat in the coming decades.

4. To get the latest in the emerging story on Shale Gas reality.

5. Because where else can you hear Nicole Foss and Jeff Rubin arguing deflation vs. inflation in the hallways?

6. Because our future depends on getting the word out and we need your help.

7. Because if you want to do with your retirement funds in this economy there are more experts here per square foot than anywhere else.

8. Because China, India and imports will shape the energy future and Jeff Brown and Ming Li can tell you how.

9. To hear Chris Martenson talk about the latest financial developments.

10. Because you can eat your lunch next to Dmitry Orlov, Naomi Davis and Bob Hirsch.

11. To find out whether Kurt Cobb’s peak oil thriller _Prelude_ is going to be made into a movie.

12. To figure out what the next steps in transportation for a low-oil future are, land, air and sea.

13. To see people who disagree radically on climate change working together to help us burn less energy.

14. To make a visit to your congressperson and make it clear that this is a central issue for you.

15. To hear Charlie Maxwell explain emergent trends in energy with analogies from Virgil – in the original Latin, of course.

16. To hear Jeff Rubin explain what’s wrong with the economy, sans Latin, but with vast exuberance.

17. Because the Middle Eastern Spring shows that we can’t count on geopolitical stability – and we need to understand where we’ve been and where we’re going.

18. To bring new activists and their work into the forefront, to build the message and spread the news to new audiences.

19. Late night conversations with people who really get it.

20. Your chance to show what you’ve been doing to someone who might help your work grow and reach new audiences.

21. To understand what’s happening in the renewable energy industry with the people who are making it happen.

22. Because businesses and personal economies must change in a world of resource declines, and we can suggest ways to make those changes gracefully.

23. To see The Oil Drum’s best – Dave Murphy, Gail Tverberg, Art Berman – all together talking about our oil picture.

24. Because in a plummeting economy, we all have to figure out together how to move forward. What’s should you do next? You can ask your questions of Jeff Rubin, Nicole Foss, Chris Martenson and others!

25. To hear all the latest peak oil jokes (What, you didn’t know there were peak oil jokes?)

26. To find out which politicians and leaders want to know more about this and are sending their aides – or coming themselves – to get the real energy story.

27, To not only meet that speaker you’ve always wanted to meet, but drink a beer with her/him.

28. To hear the latest update on reserves straight from Chris Skrebowski’s and Jean Laherrere’s lips.

29. To bring ideas for localized responses from Aaron Newton, Naomi Davis and John Greer home to build new local resilience.

30. To hear the funniest presentation ever about the end of your way of life, given by Dmitry Orlov.

31. To come together with other teachers at all levels to talk about building a national peak oil education movement.

32. To stand with us on one of the most critical issues of our time.

33. To meet new people who are fighting the same battles you are.

34. To be part of ASPO-USA and to help move Peak Oil into the mainstream.

35. To see, hear, meet and talk with the most amazing collection of energy, environmental and economic experts you’ll ever see in one place.

There are at least another 35 good reasons I don’t have time to list!
Early registration ends October 7 – please come if you can, and sign up now – we really need you there to lend your voice!

Hope to see you there,

Sharon

Sharon Astyk

Sharon Astyk is a Science Writer, Farmer, Parent of Many, writing about our weird life right now. She is the author of four books: Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front, which explores the impact that energy depletion, climate change and our financial instability are likely to have on our future, and what we can do about it. Depletion and Abundance won a Bronze Medal at the Independent Publishers Awards. A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil co-authored with Aaron Newton, which considers what will be necessary for viable food system on a national and world scale in the coming decades, and argues that at its root, any such system needs a greater degree of participation from all of us; Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Preservation and Storage which makes the case for food storage and preservation as integral parts of an ethical, local, healthy food system and tells readers how to begin putting food by, and the newly published Making Home: Adapting our Homes and Our Lives to Settle in Place, which "shows readers how to turn the challenge of living with less into settling for more".

Tags: Education, Energy Infrastructure, Energy Policy, Fossil Fuels, Industry, Oil