This alert was forwarded by Onward Oregon. Are the twin challenges of climate change and disappearing fossil fuel reserves a huge threat to America or do they provide the greatest opportunity of our time? How we answer this question will help determine how we respond. Cylvia Hayes, executive director of 3E Strategies,... (read more)

My dear sweet child, as sleep evades me at 4am I quietly stand at your bedroom door looking in at you sleeping soundly; that familiar look of content and comfort and peace gracing your features; so innocent, so full of life, and so unaware of the world that awaits you.... (read more)

When an East Coast politician has a great idea to force citizens to act a certain way, ostensibly for their own good, we shudder. When that politician is a Republican, we shake our heads in amazement. In this case, it's Virginia Sen. John Warner, ex-husband to Liz Taylor and a life-long resident... (read more)

Just as John F. Kennedy set his sights on the moon, Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace. The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president said... (read more)

Saudi Arabia's ability to calm panicky oil markets has been waning for years. With oil prices doubling since last summer, to more than $140 a barrel, Saudi King Abdullah on June 22 convened an extraordinary meeting (BusinessWeek.com, 6/22/08) of OPEC members, international oil industry CEOs, and foreign leaders in an... (read more)

[Ed - Abridged. See full original article via link at bottom] Photographer: Sverre Koxvold On the last day of the [Findhorn Foundation's Positive Energy] Conference, Richard Heinberg was warmly welcomed back for his second presentation. Last night he gave us 'Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines.' Now that... (read more)

Richard Heinberg has posted a blog on the topic of peak oil depression. A good solid read on the debilitating affects of "understanding too much" about the implications of peak oil. Here's an excerpt (original accessible at the link at the bottom): Awareness of Peak Oil, Climate Change, impending global economic... (read more)

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md) continues to beat the drum about peak oil on Capitol Hill. You may have seen him on C-SPAN addressing the House or read some of his speeches. So far he has made about 30 speeches on peak oil [on the House floor], and a book... (read more)

Mr. Wissner of Middleville Stocks Up on Rice, Gold; No Faith in a 'Techno Fix' By NEIL KING JR. January 26, 2008; Page A1 MIDDLEVILLE, Mich. -- It was around midnight one evening in November when Aaron Wissner shot up in bed, jolted awake by a fear: He wasn't fully ready for the... (read more)

Earth Policy Institute News Release http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm “In late summer 2007, reports of ice melting were coming at a frenetic pace. Experts were ‘stunned’ when an area of Arctic sea ice almost twice the size of Britain disappeared in a single week,” writes Lester R. Brown in his new book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing... (read more)

THE world's biggest car maker, General Motors, believes the global oil supply has peaked and a switch to electric cars is inevitable. In a stunning announcement at the opening of the Detroit Motor Show yesterday, GM's chairman and chief executive officer, Rick Wagoner, said ethanol was an important interim solution to... (read more)

Washington County Peak Oil's January Public Meeting launched the year with an excellent start. About twenty attendees enjoyed Buzz Duell, of MC Electric Vehicles, who spoke for about an hour about electric vehicles as a viable solution to petroleum depletion, the current state of the electric vehicle industry, and... (read more)

(Bloomberg) -- The fastest-growing bet in the oil market these days is that the price of crude will double to $200 a barrel by the end of the year. Options to buy oil for $200 on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 10-fold in the past two months to 5,533 contracts,... (read more)

The Oregon Environmental Council has announced the launch of “On the Way to Carbon Neutral,” an online resource that outlines steps businesses can take to develop and implement a plan to reduce their carbon footprint, and resources that are available to them in Oregon. We have added a link... (read more)

A bunch of neighbors in the ’burbs have the peak-oil book market cornered. BY PAIGE RICHMOND OIL FREE: The Washington County Peak Oil Reading Group’sDonna Maebori and Peter Lunsford at the Cedar Hills Crossing outpost of Powell’s Books.IMAGE: Darryl James When the global oil supply dries up, Donna Maebori, 56, and Peter Lunsford,... (read more)

This week, the price of crude oil is trading at a shocking $96 a barrel. By year’s end, analysts predict petroleum will reach $100. And it’s not going to stop there. The world we’ve created runs on oil. But energy experts say the world is running out of oil. Much... (read more)

StreetFilms.org came to Portland to learn about it's world-class bicycling, mass transit, and traffic infrastructure. They made a 30 minute film about it. Perhaps the entire Metro area could implement even more cool transportation ideas? Have a look: ... (read more)

The Energy Watch Group, a major energy think-tank based in Germany, issued a major report on global Crude Oil: The Supply Outlook. Report is available for download here. "The major result from this analysis is that world oil production has peaked in 2006. Production will start to decline at a... (read more)

Speculators, fueled by the tumbling dollar, have driven a barrel of oil above $90 for the first time. For light, sweet crude — the low-sulfur grade refined into gasoline — the price in after-hours trading hit $90.02 for supplies delivered next month. That came on top of a $2.07 rise... (read more)

We laud heroes who save us from dangers that are immediate and concrete. President Franklin Roosevelt lifted the spirits of an America weary from economic depression and later led that nation through a victorious war against the forces of fascism. We celebrate the brave police officers and firefighters of the... (read more)

What if you could add $2.6 billion annually to your local economy? That's what Portland has effectively done by getting its citizens to drive just 4 fewer miles a day, according to a briefing paper by our colleague Joe Cortright called Portland’s Green Dividend. What Joe found has big implications for... (read more)

Masada Group is a new start-up that needs people familiar with business. We are going to attempt to bring hydrogen-combustion vehicles to America and Israel. For more information, contact me at foilemail@gmail.com... (read more)

I invite everyone to check out my new web site, www.curtsommer.org. I apologize if you are receiving this message twice.... (read more)

In a news item posted here last week we asked if the just-published IEA's Medium Term Oil Market Report was essentially admitting that the peak in oil production had been reached. Our conclusion was that, although the report didn't say so directly, its evidence was pretty clear and that... (read more)

Lot's of folks want to know how they can get started in reducing their own energy usage. But how do we begin? What can we do to get started? These questions nag at us constantly. Many people have heard of the Oil Depletion Protocol, but most don't realize... (read more)