Transplanting tree seedlings
I have a hunch that readers thought I was joking when I wrote recently about growing tree seedlings in roof gutters. The picture proves that it works.
Gene Logsdon
The Peak Oil Crisis: Prospects for China
Although climate change, decreasing exports, and depleting mineral resources will all eventually impact China’s ability to grow economically, the availability and affordability of oil is still likely to impact first.
Points of departure
I teach at a prestigious (high-on-ranking-lists) Swedish technical university, but when I mention peak oil, the students just don’t “get it”, or refuse to contemplate it. I have thus had to think about starting points I personally take for granted and emphasize these in my talks so as to increase the likelihood of my audience “getting it”. These 4+1 assumptions are interrelated and they form a logical chain that is easy to follow but hard(er) to refute.
My foreword to ‘Local Sustainable Homes’
Next week sees the publication of the next book in the Transition Books series, ‘Local Sustainable Homes: how to make them happen in your community’ by Chris Bird. More details to follow (including how to order your copy), but as a taster, here is my foreword to the book…
The Recession is Over, Now I Start the Depression
Over the past two years economic pundits have said we are in a recession, defined flippantly as starting when your neighbor loses his job. Certainly today, with US unemployment at around 10%, and Canadian unemployment in the high single digits, you may know people who have lost their jobs. A depression is said to be signaled when you lose your own job. That is where I am today.
German military study warns of a potentially drastic oil crisis
A study by a German military think tank has analyzed how “peak oil” might change the global economy. The internal draft document — leaked on the Internet — shows for the first time how carefully the German government has considered a potential energy crisis. (excerpts)
Update: English translation of table of contents and lead paragraphs.
Peak Moment 178: Beyond back yard sustainability
Four years ago (in episode 51, “An Experiment in Back Yard Sustainability”), Scott McGuire asked “how much food can I grow in my back yard to feed my family?” In this episode, we learn the results, and that food supply is not an individual project — it takes a community to feed one another. Scott’s garden later became a CSA (community-supported agriculture) for eight families.
A peak oil reference
Despite the volumes of material that have been written on peak oil, there still did not exist (to the best of my knowledge, anyway) a single online reference that presents this very complex topic in a form that’s both accessible to newbies, and that links to the deeper data and theory. So I built one, on contract with ASPO-USA, based on some of their existing material and my old “Peak Oil Media Guide” from 2008. It’s still a fairly skeletal first draft, comprising only 16 web pages, but hopefully it will grow, and serve as a useful guide to the public, the media, and others.
What next for ecosocialists?
Not long ago, most socialists had little to say about environmental issues, and the environmental movement was focused on individual (change your light bulbs) and capitalist (create a market for emissions) solutions to the ecological crisis.
Why “green wizards” get us nowhere new…
Transition Culture is back! After a month of Cornish beaches, hemp lime plastering, wood store-building, cinema visits, catching up with friends, storytelling festivals, campfires and wrestling with cabbage white caterpillars, normal service is resumed. Nice to see you again, you’re looking well. I’m kicking off again with some reflections on John Michael Greer’s “green wizardry” concept, which he calls “the current Archdruid Report project”, which will no doubt generate some interesting debate.
A summary of Adam Brandt’s “Review of Mathematical Models of Future Oil Supply”
This paper has two goals. First, it provides a systematic review of oil depletion models produced to date. This serves to make obscure past works (often difficult to find) available to a wider audience so as to limit repetition of past efforts. Second, this paper provides synthesizing critique of previous modeling efforts, with the aim of improving future oil depletion modeling.
Carpooling
Across my native USA, I whenever neighbours or townspeople lobby for more bus and rail services, pundits and politicians usually sputter something like this: “Trains and buses are a waste of taxpayers’ money. There’s no reason for them to exist. Look at the ones we have now – they’re mostly empty.”
