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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage.
No Impact Experiment: A One Week Carbon Cleanse
Colin Beavan,, No Impact Project
The No Impact Experiment is a one-week carbon cleanse. It is a chance for you to see what a difference no-impact living can have on your quality of life. It’s not about giving up creature comforts but an opportunity for you to test whether the modern “conveniences” you take for granted are actually making you happier or just eating away at your time and money.
Joining is simple! Click here to register for our next program with YES! Magazine kicking off January 2nd. Visit How It Works for step-by-step instructions and register to download our How-To Manual for day-by-day guidelines. Watch inspiring videos from past participants about their lessons from the week and what motivated them to try it.
(December 2010)
How-To Manual for the experiment (PDF – 17 pages). Hat tip to Paul Heft. -BA
Peak oil to drive changes in Dunedin NZ
David Loughrey, Otago Daily Times
Dunedin residents will face radical cuts to car use and fundamental changes in the city’s design when peak oil hits in the next few decades, says the writer of a report on the city’s reliance on fossil fuels.
With 95% of all trips in Dunedin made in private vehicles, changing such behaviour has been identified as the most effective way of lessening demand for fuel in Dunedin.
“Urban villages” and inner city living will need to replace the system of travelling from suburbs to the city for shopping.
“What we are saying is not opinion,” University of Canterbury Associate Prof Dr Susan Krumdieck said of peak oil.
The changes, with their wide-ranging effects on every city resident, were vital, she said yesterday.
Dr Krumdieck’s report Peak Oil Vulnerability: Assessment for Dunedin was released at a Dunedin City Council press conference yesterday.
(7 December 2010)
I haven’t been able to find the report on the web.
UPDATE (Dec 7, 2010) EB contributor Geoff B. writes:
“The NZ Dunedin Peak Oil Vulnerability Analysis Report is available at the following link:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/policies-plans-and-strategies/pe… “
Dr. Krumdieck’s web page at the University of Canterbury.
She delivers a talk on “Transitioneering – Engineering for Energy Descent,” which is available on YouTube. -BA
Bringing Transition to the airport near you
Joanne Poyourow, Transition United States
Hello Atlanta, Boston, Houston, New York, Salt Lake, San Francisco, Seattle … and any other place that has an airport:
Here in Los Angeles, LAX International airport is trying yet again to expand, and we have been working on a response to the environmental impact report (EIR). We’re making our letter public in case you can use any part of it in your backyard. (What is an EIR?)
Transition Los Angeles and our predecessor organization, the Environmental Change-Makers, have been active voices in responding to local Environmental Impact Reports. When these projects solicit public comments, we ask questions, underline problems, and highlight discrepancies regarding the issues of climate change, peak oil, and biocapacity.
When Joanna Macy describes the three types of action required as we experience The Great Turning, she lists “stopping action to prevent further destruction,” as well as “a shift in consciousness.” Responding to EIRs with pertinent peak oil and climate-change points is a form of stopping action. As we raise these points again and again in front of our city’s decision-makers, it is our hope that we can help cultivate a shift in consciousness.
We Transition groups are perhaps the sole champion for these ideas — rallying against further construction and spending in the wrong direction, and rallying for preparedness. Think about it: who else is going to ask the question “how do you plan to complete this massive project without oil?” We have a job to do, to make that position be heard.
OUR LETTER
In our more recent EIR responses, we have structured our response document such that the cover letter is relatively short and gives OpEd type statements. Then we dive into their document and dissect it, piece by piece. …
(2 December 2010)
Bicycle freight: thinking outside the box truck
Elly Blue, Grist
… Freight delivery is often invoked in arguments against bicycling as a legitimate form of transport for business as well as individuals: “What about trucking?” goes the somewhat desperate-sounding line. “Don’t you eat food? It has to get here somehow.”
The truth is, bicycles (and their three-wheeled cousins) are already a major piece of the freight puzzle all over the world. Inspiring images from Shanghai and other cities frequently make the online rounds, and examples can be found everywhere there are roads or trails — from rural coffee plantations in Central America to the streets of any city where small and micro businesses thrive.
In U.S. cities, we have much to learn from the Global South, not least in this arena. Still, bicycle freight has never quite fallen completely by the wayside in America. Bicycle messengers, of course, carry items large and small — things that simply can’t be emailed and that have to get there fast. Most messenger companies employ drivers for long hauls, but inner city deliveries can’t be made expediently when traffic and parking must be navigated in a car.
Some things, though, you just need a truck for. Like trash collection. Right?
Actually, no.
(6 December 2010)
