Hello from Central Ohio Relocalization Effort!

It looks as if you have a growing relocalization chapter - that's great. However on the Post Carbon Cities website I just read an interview with the folks representing the City of Minnesota Sustainability Program.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/sustainability/

Now, they are also looking at Peak Oil, according to this interview. However, they are promoting corn ethanol. A Relocalization Chapter in CA is working on a video that they will make available soon. It is called The Myths of Biofuels. Here is a link to the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OriWEUW_TZI
We hope to use this video to help educate Ohioans. Our governor seems determined to turn Ohio into a huge corn plantation at the expense of other crops.

This article appeared on Alternet - "Ethanol Booms, Farmers Bust".
http://www.alternet.org/environment/52073/
The comments by a Minnesota and an Ohio farmer that follow the article titled "the devastation" and "not only in minnesota" are quite revealing.

There is an effort in Washington, D.C. to stop the corn ethanol frenzy called the Ethanol Transparency Project. I know the President of the Agribusiness Council personally and am giving him as much support as I can.
http://www.agribusinesscouncil.org/Ethanol.htm

Best to all of you and your efforts in MN!

AL

Preparing for Peak Oil A workshop at the 2006 Living Green Expo 2:00 p.m. Sunday, May 7, Minnesota State Fairgrounds Peak oil brings oil depletion and energy scarcity. To cope, we focus on using less energy, meeting local needs locally, and the evolution of alternatives. There are several compelling concerns underscoring the need for energy transition: • Climate Change: reducing carbon emissions which cause global warming and abrupt climate change; • National Security: reducing the risk of conflict brought by so many nations competing for worldwide fossil fuel resources; • Sustainability: reducing our level of consumption and our ecological footprint. There is one concern, however, that makes energy transition both a critical issue and a trigger for change: • Peak oil, oil depletion, and energy scarcity. Oil is a finite resource – there is only so much available. After peak, worldwide oil production will be on the downward slope. This diminishing supply is known as oil depletion. According to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, existing oil fields in Saudi Arabia sustain a decline rate of 5 percent to 12 percent. Many other major oil fields in the world (including Kuwait, Mexico, and the North Sea) are in decline as well. This translates into higher prices, energy scarcity, and the need to transition away from petroleum. The economies of industrialized nations depend on oil for transportation fuels, heating fuels, and products made from petroleum feed-stock: cosmetics, food preservatives, plastics, herbicides and pesticides. That will need to change. James Schlesinger described the need for transition in his testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (“High Costs of Crude: The New Currency of Foreign Relations,� November 16, 2005): In the decades ahead, we do not know precisely when, we shall reach a point, a plateau or peak, beyond which we shall be unable further to increase production of conventional oil worldwide. We need to understand that problem now and to begin to prepare for that transition. James Schlesinger served as Director of the CIA, Secretary of Defense (for President Richard Nixon), and the first Secretary of the Department of Energy (for President Jimmy Carter) during the energy crisis of the 1970’s. A report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put it this way: World oil production is at or near its peak and current demand exceeds the supply. Saudi Arabia is considered the bellweather nation for oil production and has not increased production since April 2003. After peak production, supply no longer meets demand, and prices and competition increase. The proved reserve lifetime for world oil is about 41 years, most of this at a declining availability . . . We must act now to develop the technology and infrastructure necessary to transition to other energy sources and energy efficient technologies. Policy changes, leap-ahead technology breakthroughs, culture changes, and significant investment is requisite for this new energy future. Time is essential to enact these changes. The process should begin now. Eileen Westervelt & Donald Fournier, “Energy Trends and Implications for U.S. Army Installations.� U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, ERDC/CERL TN-05-1, September 2005. The American public is becoming concerned about energy. Witness the latest polls. A February 2006 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found: • 85% of Americans surveyed agree with the President’s assertion that America is addicted to oil – including 82% of both Republicans and Democrats along with 90% of independents; • 82% want increased federal funding for research on wind, solar, and hydrogen technology. A February 2006 survey prepared by Opinion Research Corporation for Civil Society Institute and 40MPG.org found: • More than three-fourths of Americans (77%) agree that the President’s top priority for the rest of his term should be developing alternative or renewable energy sources and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. A CNN/USA Today/Gallop poll conducted in March 2006 found: • 71% of those polled said Bush is not doing enough to solve the nation’s energy problems; • 77% fear that the supply of oil will not be able to keep up with global demand. But the challenge we face has broad implications for our society. Paulina de Gonzague described our challenge this way at the City of Ottawa’s Peak Oil Forum (“Crude Awakening: Preparing Ottawa – Gatineau for Peak Oil,� January 2006), “It’s like a chess game: once you know the rules, your mind becomes very creative about your opponent, which is the unsustainable way we’re now behaving.� There are some basic tenets for our transition: • We can no longer afford to use so much energy. • We need to powerdown. We need to evaluate the energy cost of the food we eat, the clothes we wear, our means of transportation, plans for growth in our community, and so on. • We can no longer afford to depend on distant, remote resources. • We need to meet local needs locally. Cheap products shipped from China, Malaysia, and Singapore may not be cheap anymore. Fruits and vegetables shipped 1,500 miles from farms in California and Florida may become increasingly expensive. It may make sense to get more of what we need from the surrounding region, reducing transportation costs and ensuring supply. It may make sense to promote community self-reliance through community economies made up of community enterprises. • We can no longer afford business as usual, doing things the way we used to. • We need to encourage the evolution of alternatives. There is work being done on a wide range of alternatives, but nobody has connected the dots. We need to assemble the information on what works for our community. We need to evaluate what alternative systems deserve community support. Perhaps the most crucial dimension of the post petroleum transition will be the manner of our acceptance. There is no quick fix. There is no readily available alternative that can do all the things that petroleum does for us. In a sense, we are being offered an opportunity to redesign our society and our way of life. The design challenge is one of sustainability by necessity. But the design challenge presents a great deal of promise. This will entail the coming together of communities for a common purpose.

So are there any groups in the Twin Cities area that actually meet in person and are dedicated to discussing and achieving sustainability and a comfortable life without our heavy, dependent usage on fossil fuels? Does anybody want to meet in person? It seems like more could be done if there was an actual group rather than an online collective of individuals.

Minnesota lies at the confluence of two great ecoregions. The Great Lakes ecoregion, with 40 million people, contains nearly one-fifth of the world's fresh water. It has its own inland waterway through the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes to the Port of Duluth. The North American Prairie ecoregion, with 33 million people, represents the most productive agricultural region the world has ever seen. It has its own inland waterway, the Mississippi River, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of St. Paul. If you had to pick a place to live during times of energy scarcity, this would be it. Minnesota is a net-metering state: by law, any electricity produced by utility customers has to be purchased by the utility at the retail rate. Minnesota already produces more ethanol than it can use. Say what you want about ethanol's energy efficiency. It takes more energy to produce electricity, too. Then there are the local organizations: - Clean Energy Resource Teams are working on regional strategies for renewable energy; - Institute for Local Self-Reliance is working on the New Rules Project (relocalization) and the Carbohydrate Economy; - Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy (me3) is acknowledged nationally for its advocacy on renewables (Peak Oil was on the front page of the summer 2004 newsletter); - RENew Northfield is a group of citizens who decided to make their community energy independent. They didn't stop with wind power - they have their own bio-diesel buyers' club. And the list goes on.