Community – June 16

Sandpoint becomes 2nd Transition Town in U.S.
Portland: Step program for gasoholics (Peak Oil taskforce no longer’apocalyptic’)
To hell with debate, what can the simple folk do?
38 pounds lighter, all from recycling
Community Guide to Environmental Health: comprehensive book, downloadable from Hesperian

Speculators – May 31

Speculation – but not manipulation
Regulators step up probes of trading in oil markets
Commodity policies set for revision
Regulators strengthen oversight of energy markets
Oil traders reduced bets on rising prices as crude hit records
Traders and commodity exchanges fight back

It will take a lot more than gardening to fix our food system

Only rice, wheat, corn, beans, and other grain crops are productive and durable enough to provide the dietary foundation of calories and protein. Grains made up about the same portion of the ancient Greek diet as they do of ours. We’ve been stuck with grains for 10,000 years, and our dependence won’t be broken any time soon.

Peak oil – May 28

Gordon Brown: The oil crisis is a global problem requiring global solutions
We’re not yet at Hubbert’s peak – call it instead ‘de facto peak oil’
California mayor: How will local governments respond to large increases in energy bills?
Russia worried as oil production slides
New: Immer neue Preisschocks (+ Fatih Birol interview in German)