Movement and media – Jan 31

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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletinhomepage

Changes at Post Carbon
Post Carbon Newsletter – January 2009
Post Carbon Institute

… the time has come to act. To change. And we at Post Carbon Institute are doing both.

I’m excited to announce new partnerships and new strategies that will significantly further our ability to help citizens, groups, businesses, and governments around the world manage the transition towards resilient, sustainable communities. These include:

Climate change, peak oil, peak water, peak topsoil, peak food… peak everything. All of the bills for society’s century-long industrial fiesta are coming due at the same time, and at a moment when the world is collectively broke due to a profound global economic crisis.

Solving these crises is going to take all the coordination, collaboration, and concentration we can muster. In the face of these new challenges and opportunities, Post Carbon Institute is shifting its programmatic focus.

We have made lasting impact and inspired countless people through the development of Global Public Media, the Relocalization Network, Solar Car Share, the Energy Garden, and Post Carbon Cities. As we concentrate our energy on becoming the “think tank for the transition,” we pass the baton to those making tremendous strides in developing on-the-ground, replicable models of re-localization. And we give our deepest appreciation to staff who have brought us here: Shelby Tay, Laurel Hoyt, Andrew Calvo, Jason Arnold, and especially our founders, Celine Rich and Julian Darley. We wish them all the best in their new endeavors.

… Asher Miller
Executive Director
(29 January 2009)

New issue of Culture Change
Jan Lundberg (ed), Culture Change
Several new articles featured, such as…

Making the Best of a Slow Apocalypse
by Joe Bageant
We just concluded an election in which both parties talked about hope, one more so than the other. Hope, that murky, undefined belief that some unknown force, perhaps Jesus, or modern science, or some great political leader, or other — as yet unknown force — will reverse our national or personal condition…

“It’s (not) the Economy, Stupid”
by Dan Bednarz
As societies throughout the world wobble on the edge of socioeconomic chaos, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert avers, “The economy is obviously issue No. 1.” Well, that’s the proximate problem, but what else is going on? What has made the continuing decline so massive? Why is it that “…the current economic crisis has totally scrambled the intellectual assumptions of almost every policymaker”?(1)

Slouching Towards the Barackalypse
by Albert Bates
Image Watching the drama unfold in Washington last week, and listening to the sound as it echoed around the planet, I was struck by how bi-polar our shared political reality has become.
Many of us, probably the majority, are still hoping and praying that now that the wicked witch is dead, the Wizard will whisk us back to Kansas and Auntie Em will have a hot apple pie waiting.

Secession: Why I Support A Second Vermont Republic
by Ian Baldwin
Image Ian Baldwin is an artist who co-founded the EF Schumacher Society (USA) and co-founded Chelsea Green (publisher of Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update). He is also co-founder of Vermont Commons that first published this essay. – ed.

(31 January 2009)
Similar themes, but slightly different tone than Energy Bulletin. The more, the merrier! -BA

Some Observations On Social Media
Julian Darley, Blog
One of the advantages of living in San Francisco is that you can meet people who are in the thick of all things online and web 2.0. Over the last couple of days I have been to three different events with a social media or social networking focus. I shall be writing about these matters in more detail in the future, but for now, a few things seem clear(er):

1) Although there is a torrent of information about social media both online and offline and there are even ways of making money from it (indirectly) if you are good at SEO (search engine optimization) and SMO (social media optimization), the key for most people will be to stick to what you love – blog, talk or tweet about what you are really interested in and like doing. Be natural, don’t try to fake it and don’t try to sell anything too overtly – think about giving rather than taking.

… 6) There is no substitute for real life. Believe it or not. But that can be a huge advantage of social media – it helps bring people together in real life, for talking, laughing, dancing, eating, you name it, and it keeps you connected in between. You don’t have to join a mailing list, and you see (parts of) all kinds of conversations that can keep you in the loop, keep you feeling connected and belonging, and very often inform you of an event you had not heard of. In some ways, it’s like being in an old fashioned pub – you hear a snatch of conversation and go over and listen or you see someone you were not expecting and are able to connect. People seem very friendly about this and non-cliquish, thank goodness.

In sum, there is a refreshing air of conviviality and inclusiveness about social media, especially twitter, which is so lightweight and inviting without being burdensome. Social media is about joining and belonging, and more than ever, in our fractured contractarian societies facing great economic hardship, anything that helps people connect in diverse yet guilt-free ways can help increase life chances and work chances.

I am willing to bet that through social media trust, social capital and mutual reciprocity are all being augmented, along with an increased awareness of common pool resources, but I don’t have the data to prove it (yet), but I can say that social media are fun and an extraordinary resource and definitely increase levels of serotonin and oxytocin by somewhere between one and 100%. Or maybe more.
(22 January 2009)