Relocalize Newsletter #26 : : November 2008

Read this newsletter on the web \| Change your subscription
November 2008: Heating Matters
For those of us in the Northern hemisphere, winter is here again. For many years relatively cheap energy has allowed large numbers of us to take centrally heated homes, offices and stores for granted. As we become aware of the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and also find ways to cope with the economic crisis, this is a time to find new ways to get through the cold months. In this month's newsletter we bring you some ideas around joining together as a community to reduce energy usage as well providing some online resources to help you find ways to improve your own home's energy efficiency. In addition, catch up with some of the activities that are going on around Relocalize.net, and finally take an opportunity to check out the latest from Global Public Media. Happy Thanksgiving!	IN THIS ISSUE: Preparing for the cold Permaculture and Home Heating Online Resources Activities and Projects New on Global Public Media

1. Preparing for the cold

Many of us live in temperate climates where winters are cold. Since we are not able to take the route of hibernating for the winter season (appealing though it might be sometimes) most of us must rely on some kind of fuel to keep us warm. Indeed we have been doing this for thousands of years, and now the rising cost of fuel is making this dependency ever more apparent.

What to do when it gets cold out?

In shifting away from our fuel dependency, we will be returning to one of the fundamental lessons that we learned in kindergarten: it’s better to share. When it comes to staying warm, inviting people over to your home is like carpooling with shared costs and shared benefits. Nothing heats up a house better than fresh bread in the oven and bodies chatting! Increasing social ties and developing strong community networks is essential to relocalization and building community resiliency...Read more.

2. Permaculture and Home Heating

By Sonya Wallace, Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre

In Australia another winter is over. As they prepare for summer Sonya Wallace shares some tips for those of us preparing for winter.

Heating your home during winter – how do you do it in a way that is sustainable and least harmful to the environment? I was faced with this dilemma a couple of years ago. Okay, I’ll admit upfront, I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia. It never snows here, although we do get a night or two of frost each year. By many people’s standards, it’s not cold at all. But it’s all relative. Our homes in Queensland are built very much for our sub tropical climate and lose heat quickly – which isn’t good during winter when it is cold.

This winter we had a visitor from the UK staying here and she found it very cold so I did feel justified! We needed to stay warm in winter, but I didn’t want to contribute to carbon emissions, climate change and be reliant on declining supplies of fossil fuels – what to do?
I did like the idea of a wood fired heater, but thought that would be out of the question – that was until I read an article by David Holmgren in 2005. David Holmgren is the co-originator of permaculture together with Bill Mollison.

Permaculture is based on ethics and principles that if applied, provide efficiencies, energy savings, responsible resources management and care of the planet...Read more.

Photo: kellypretzer

3. Online Resources

Conduct a Do-It-Yourself home energy audit
Browse DailyGreen: DIY Home Energy Audit and view a checklist by the U.S.Department of Energy.
Find ways to reduce your energy use
The Australian Department of Energy released a brochure that suggests some measures for reducing energy use in flats and apartments. The US Environmental Protection Agency also has some tips for troubleshooting common household problems that involve little out-of-pocket costs.
Learn the basics of home heating
Browse Treehugger's guide on How to Go Green: Home Heating
The Washington County Peak Oil group in Oregon have put together some useful resources for people trying to make positive changes on a personal level and to help other relocalization groups working on smart energy use in their community.

Photo: Per Ola Wiberg

4. Relocalize.net Activities and Projects

Organize a potluck: Transition Whidbey in Washington is preparing for their upcoming event, Potlucks with a Purpose, "[bringing] our community together every month to share good food, fun, and conversation plus excellent programs and information about sustainability."

Join a study group or form a book club: Portland Peak Oil has formed a permaculture study group and will be meeting to discuss the first chapters of the book, "Earth User's Guide to Permaculture" by Rosemary Morrow.

Attend local committee meetings: Members of Post Carbon Eugene will be attending the next meeting of the Neighborhood Leadership Council's Sustainability Sub-Committee, whose mandate is to "provide a city-wide forum for the exchange of ideas and recommendations for more sustainable practices within neighborhoods."

Get together for a movie night: Washington County Peak Oil members in Oregon are planning a screening of the film What A Way To Go for their December Education and Action meeting.

Start planning: Post Carbon London in Ontario held their monthly meeting at the local library to talk about resiliency planning. Read Senior Post Carbon Fellow Richard Heinberg's MuseLetter #192: Resilient Communities: A Guide to Disaster Management.

Visit relocalize.net for more projects, events, news and resources.

5. New on Global Public Media

	Peak Moment: Two Views of a Post-Oil Future From the ASPO-USA 2008 conference: two long-standing peak oil awakeners: author James Howard Kunstler (The Long Emergency) and Post Carbon Institute Founder, Julian Darley. Darley is big on sharing: Sharing ideas to quickly inform a public largely unaware of peak oil. Sharing cars as a quick way individuals can get fuel usage down. He notes the "Re" in Relocalization means positive actions we can revive from the past to enable the powerdown transition.
	Deconstructing Dinner: The Local Grain Revolution III Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. A total of 180 members and one business from the communities of Nelson and Creston, British Columbia, are blazing a trail towards a local grain economy. On this Part III of the series, Host Jon Steinman sits in on the July 14 meeting of the CSA steering committee with the hope that audio recordings from the meeting can help guide other communities towards launching a similar project.

	The Food and Farming Transition The only way to avert a food crisis resulting from oil and natural gas price hikes and supply disruptions while also reversing agriculture’s contribution to climate change is to proactively and methodically remove fossil fuels from the food system. The removal of fossil fuels from the food system is inevitable: maintenance of the current system is simply not an option over the long term. Only the amount of time available for the transition process, and the strategies for pursuing it, can be matters for controversy.

	Crop to Cuisine: Farm Aid's moe. & Local Food Superheroes This week on Crop To Cuisine, we hear from moe. Well, not the entire band. But Al Schnier, guitarist, keyboard and vocals for the band shares his thoughts on the local food movement. He also tells us about their participation in Farm Aid 2008.

	Deconstructing Dinner: Co-operatives: Alternatives to Industrial Food V (Common Ground Food Coop) The Common Ground Food Co-op in Urbana, Illinois is a very promising and inspiring sign that communities can indeed come together and build or expand upon their very own co-operative grocery store. This broadcast is the 5th in the series. Part I Part II Part III Part IV.

	Ron Cooke: Oil Depletion: Obama Faces Hard Political Decisions Washington insiders are well aware of oil depletion. It has been the subject of at least four reports funded by the United States Government, more than a dozen books, and multiple independent reports. Congress has taken testimony. Key figures in Washington have made speeches. Although there are some differences in the details, they are trivial in comparison with the broader perspective.