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Towns prepare for ‘peak oil’ point
Mark Stephen, BBC Radio Scotland’
Globally we are addicted to oil. Not only are we addicted, but we use it like there was no tomorrow.
…This point, where the world’s oil production starts to fall forever, is known as peak oil. As a concept it’s not yet as well known as climate change or global warming, but it will be. Some forecasters say we’ll hit peak oil in 20 years, some people say we already have. What is a certainty is that we face a future where oil will become increasingly scarce.
Which is where the concept of transition towns comes in.
Transition towns are communities which have accepted that peak oil will happen and have started to take steps to ensure that when it does start to impact, they’re ready for it.
They’re not wild-eyed survivalists, they’re just ordinary men and women with an eye to a potentially difficult future. They believe in relocalisation, growing their food locally – even if that means digging up the local playpark and planting fruit trees or vegetables.
Slightly tongue in cheek, Totnes in Devon wants to become the Nut Tree Capital of the UK. It’s a PR stunt but one with serious intent, designed to focus people’s attention on where their future food supply will come from.
They believe in re-skilling, of teaching people how to feed themselves, to use local resources, to build with what they have to hand.
…In this month’s Investigation programme on BBC Radio Scotland, Mark Stephen visits Totnes, one of a growing number of transition towns south of the border.
He also travels to Dunbar in East Lothian to meet the people who want to make sure that Scotland is not left behind.
The Investigation will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland at 0850 BST on Monday, 6 August.
(5 August 2007)
Review: Escape from Suburbia
Carolyn Baker, Speaking Truth to Power
The 2004 documentary, “End Of Suburbia”, produced and edited by Barry Silverthorn and written and directed by Greg Greene, was a stunning and chilling cinematic landmark which placed the issue of Peak Oil and its consequences squarely on the world stage and connected the dots between the unsustainable suburban lifestyle and perilous issues of the twenty-first century such as food production, population die-off, and economic meltdown. Recently, Greene and producer, Dara Rowland, have released the sequel, “Escape From Suburbia” which examines the journeys of several individuals who have fled or are in the process of fleeing from civilization. It highlights how they are building new lives and new subcultures which offer the possibilities of deepened humanity and sustainability. Unlike “End Of Suburbia”, “Escape” spends less time interviewing the usual Peak Oil experts and follows the escape routes of ordinary people who are passionate about removing themselves from a culture of over-consumption and extinction.
After a brief explanation of Peak Oil, the film opens with the departure of a baby-boomer man and woman from their suburban home in Portland to an ecovillage in Canada, then moves into focusing on two gay men from New York City, Philip and Tom, who are eagerly planning their escape from the Big Apple to a venue where they can utilize the plethora of farming and permaculture skills they have intentionally acquired over the past few years. Juxtaposing these “escapees” is Kate from Toronto who strongly believes that her calling is not to escape but remain in suburbia and dig in to green it and make it truly sustainable.
(2 August 2007)
In pursuit of sustainable communities
Kelly Cain, River Falls Journal
As many Journal readers know, UW-River Falls has been engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning process for almost a year.
The “Modeling of Sustainability Principles” will be a hallmark of our future efforts in educational curricula, facility design, campus operations and our outreach work with communities around the globe.
We have intentionally adopted the focus of “Sustainable Community Development” as the context to carry out this effort, rather than simply “sustainability” or “sustainable development.” And SCD will be tightly fitted with our commitment to global literacy, inclusiveness and engaged leadership.
The SCD focus is indicative of our belief that all global issues can ultimately only be solved at the local level – community by community, region by region.
It must be representative of our response to climate change, peak oil, water shortage, biodiversity loss, socio-economic disparity, localized employment, educational access, health care, transportation and commerce and a myriad of other issues.
The vast majority of us have influence generally limited to our own personal, professional, and civic actions that directly affect our own communities. Nevertheless, it is our collective personal decisions and actions that have global implications for sustainability.
Kelly Cain is the Director of the St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Development at UW-RF.
(3 August 2007)
