Release

CNA military advisory board: cut US oil use 30% to reduce “grave national security risks”

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Even a small interruption of the daily oil supply impacts our nation’s economic engine, but a sustained disruption would alter every aspect of our lives — from food costs and distribution to what or if we eat, to manufacturing goods and services to freedom of movement.

A new CNA analysis finds if America reduces its current rate of oil consumption by 30 percent, and diversifies its fuel sources, the U.S. economy would be insulated from the impact of such disruptions — even in the event of a complete shutdown of a strategic chokepoint like the Strait of Hormuz, the international passageway for 33 percent of the world’s seaborne oil shipments.

Members contributing to the report include some of our nation’s highest-ranking retired military leaders with 400 years of collective military experience.

Peak oil – Nov 5

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– ASPO-USA Conference Report: Thursday Afternoon Notes
– The six natural resources most drained by our 7 billion people
– Peak Oil – Herausforderung für Sachsen: Bündnis90/Die Grünen präsentieren Studie des Postfossil-Instituts im Landtag

Planting our perennial future: Corn trees, oil bushes, potato thickets, & sweater swards

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The current industrial model of US agriculture is economically, energetically, and ecologically doomed. Any hope for a livable future requires that we accelerate the creation of resilient, ecologically-viable ‘shadow structure’ replacements for industrial US agriculture in the diminishing time available to us. We already possess the tools, knowledge, and organizational structures to begin such projects at the family and community level. Here are some things I’m excited about.

Van Jones has an answer

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Many Baby Boomers have been recently saying how glad they are to be at the end of their lives and careers rather than at the beginning. Who could possibly muster hope in the face of the declining job market, an assault on the middle class, environmental degradation, financial ruination, dismemberment of public services and the high cost of education?

And yet, after hearing Van Jones speak Wednesday night at Kalamazoo College, I wished I were 20 again.

Mother of invention

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Born of water, wool, soap and human hands — felt is the most immediate textile that can be created from the back of a sheep. The directness of the process, and utility of the finished product has found its way deep into the heart and soul of our kindred featured artisan, Katherine Jolda, a woman whose creative life has manifested fundamentally crucial garments for the 150 mile wardrobe. She has been deemed “a brilliant inventor, natural philosopher, and felt athlete” by those who have both observed and worn her work.

Dmitry Orlov on Fast Collapse & Alex Goldmark on Crowdfunding

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In Reinventing Collapse, Dmitry Orlov compared the US to where his native Soviet Union was in the mid-1980s–near the edge of imperial collapse. He used to expect five stages of gradual collapse; he explains why the Euro crisis now leads him to believe that industrial civilization will fall apart very rapidly.

Do you want to take your money out of Dow Jones-listed corporations and put it into locally owned start-ups? Sorry–that’s against the law unless you’re a millionaire. Federal rules designed to protect small investors keep us from putting our money where our values are–but new sources of crowdfunding are finding some ways to get around them.

Oakland and after: Lessons from the general strike

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There’s a lot to be said about the general strike yesterday in Oakland—in which thousands of people shut down banks and the fifth-largest port in the country—but here’s what I found especially striking about the strike: extreme message discipline. We usually think of message discipline in relation to political campaigns and the conscious attempt to mechanically repeat talking points. But here I found another kind of message discipline—of a more organic variety—in which people spoke about the same issue not out of a pre-designed plan but because their shared experiences were remarkably similar.

Elinor Ostrom Outlines Best Strategies for Managing the Commons

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A breakthrough for the commons came in 2009 when Elinor Ostrom won the Nobel Prize for Economics. The first woman awarded this honor, the Indiana University political scientist not only made history but also helped debunk widespread notions that the commons inevitably leads to tragedy. In 50 years of research from Nepal to Kenya to Switzerland to Los Angeles, she has shown that commonly held resources will not be destroyed by overuse if there is a system in place to manage how they are shared.

ODAC Newsletter – Nov 4

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In a year when chaos is beginning to feel like the norm, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s out of the blue announcement calling a referendum on the latest Euro bailout plan caught even the most jaded observers by surprise. Although it looks as if the idea has now been abandoned, the likelihood of a still more serious financial crisis has surely moved a step closer…

Green, cheap, now

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Sonoma County can have both green energy and lower rates. The key is to focus on building local solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable resources, and focusing on making all aspects of the energy system, from generation to consumption, more efficient.

Fracking turmoil – November 3

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-US to require details of fracking on federal land
-When Transition meets fracking, and wins. The story of Transitions Cowbridge and Llantwit.
-Exclusive: Fracking company – we caused 50 tremors in Blackpool – but we’re not going to stop
-Fracking protesters storm shale gas exploration site