Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletinhomepage
They’re young, they’re green, they’re militant: eco kids re-educating their parents
Michael Odell, Michael Odell
“So, how many trees have you planted, Daddy?”
—
One day last October I found my five-year-old daughter, Rosa, leafing through my passport, which I’d left on the kitchen table in readiness for a work trip. She was studying it with a frown and I assumed she was upset by the boggle-eyed menace of the photo-booth portrait. But she was actually closely scrutinising several pages of blood-red immigration stamps marking multiple entries to the United States of America. The ensuing conversation went something like this:
“How many times have you been on a plane to America?”
“About 40.”
“And how many trees have you planted?”
“No trees.”
“I’m going to tell Miss White.”
… In many ways, her school is quite laid-back, but it has stepped up its commitment to the environment with an application for eco-school status. The Eco-Schools programme was established after the 1994 Rio Earth Summit and now 50% of UK schools subscribe to the programme, whereby pupils audit for energy and water waste, collect litter, or even, in one case, grow their own food and sell it at a local market. They can then apply for bronze, silver and green flag awards.
… But what really struck me about the children was their presentation and debating skills and how confidently they carry the eco message home. Eleven-year-old Layla Hall said that she is firm about making her family cook one evening meal, rather than four separate ones, to save energy.
… Yet maybe it’s a policy that’s working. In 2008 the UK Social Investment Forum conducted a poll of 1,500 parents which showed that 24% of parents cited their children as a key green motivator. Only 2% took their cue from politicians
(1 February 2009)
Humorous look at a coming phenomenon. -BA
Life after the apocalypse (Video and text)
Tanya Gold, Guardian
What if the doomsayers are right … what if society, as we know it, really is about to collapse? Do you have what it takes to make it in a world without electricity and running water?
—
I am standing in a wood with a tall man and a dead pheasant. There is blood everywhere: on my shoes, my hands, my face. Why am I here? Because the man – his name is Leon Durbin – is preparing me for the apocalypse, now.
What would happen if you awoke one morning and everyone was dead? Or if, less melodramatically, the world as we know it – and our teetering financial systems – ceased to function? What if you awoke to find your bubble-wrapped, gilded life was over, and for good? Could you survive? Could I?
I am an urban girl. I have no skills except whingeing and bingeing. I can barely open a packet of Hobnobs without an explosive device. But, unlike you, doomed and dying reader, I have decided to prepare for The End, and I am prepared to share the life-saving knowledge I will accrue. This is your cut-out-and-keep guide to the apocalypse. Put it in a drawer. One day you may need it.
(29 January 2009)
New book: “Ten Things Everyone Ought to Know”
Kevin Moore, InstaBook Publisher
During 2007 and 2008 financial markets went haywire, the meltdown of ice in the Arctic region was the greatest in recent history and food riots erupted across the globe.
Although most people in Western nations vaguely knew what was happening, few understood that the events of 2007 and 2008 were a natural consequence of an economic system that had been operating for centuries. Fewer still recognised where it was all leading.
‘Ten Things Everyone Ought To Know’ provides a unique insight into how we got where we are and where we are headed, by examining ten crucial topics that the majority of people know little or nothing about.
Chapters:
1. The Power of Pre-supposition
2 Fiat Currencies and Fractional Reserve Banking
3. The Myth of Progress and Economic Growth
4. Peak Oil
5. Phoney Wars
6 Great Distractions and Propaganda
7. The Green Revolution and Peak Food
8. Peak Everything and the End of Civilisation
9. Abrupt Climate Change
10. Permaculture and Powerdown
Beyond Dysfunction
About the author
Kevin Moore was born in Southampton, England, where he completed secondary education, attaining 10 O levels and 3 A levels before completing a BSc Honours in Chemistry.
He spent most of his adult life working in New Zealand, involved in industrial chemistry, technical management and education, recognising and attempting to remedy inefficiency and waste. In 1999 he recognised that the failure to heed the ‘Limits to Growth’ warnings of the early 1970s was leading New Zealand towards societal, economic and environmental collapse. From 1999 onwards he has devoted most of his time to research, environmental education and energy education and implementation of permaculture concepts. Kevin is a founding member of ASPO-NZ and is a member of the advisory board.
Through his attempts to bring accurate scientific analysis into both the political and the public arenas he has personally encountered the incompetence, corruption and protection of vested interests that characterise most institutions in New Zealand.
(30 January 2009)
EB contributor Kevin Moore writes:
Energy Bulletin previously featured ‘The End Is Nigh’ and ‘The Thinking Person’s NZ Guide to Surviving the Future’.
I have now published a guide which applies almost everywhere in the world. Topics include: neuro-linguistic programming, fractional reserve banking, peak oil, the myth of economic growth, abrupt climate change, permaculture and powerdown etc. and I have included a chapter ‘Beyond Dysfunction’.
I trust it will be of interest (though I suspect it is now too late to prevent catastophe).
