Post Carbon Calgary (Alberta, Canada)

While we consume fossil fuels ...

Toban Black — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:21:23 -0700

Andy Rowell at the Oil Change blog -
"Climate change fuelling refugee crisis" (June 17th)
... "the number of refugees is at a record high, fuelled in part by climate change which is causing conflicts around the world." ...

CBC journalism -
"Diseases, heat-related deaths likely to spike from climate change: report" (July 31st)
[via Red Jenny]

Andy Rowell at the Oil Change blog -
"Antarctica: Climate change exposes 'toxic soup'" (May 9th)
"One of the ways climate change will affect us will be in ways we do not expect. We may have climate models, but we cannot predict all the horrors that lie in store." ...

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Andy Rowell at the Oil Change blog -
"Airline emissions 'far higher than previous estimates'" (May 6th)
... "an unpublished study by the world’s leading experts has revealed that airlines are pumping 20 per cent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than estimates suggest" ...

Matthew McDermott at the Treehugger blog -
"It’s Not You, It’s Me: 33% of China’s CO2 Emissions From Export Manufacturing" (August 5th)
... "33% of China’s emissions come from manufacturing goods intended for overseas sale" ...
(A previous post about this - "‘Chinese’ emissions" )

CBC journalism -
"Globalization being undone by high oil costs: CIBC" (May 27th)
"The high price of energy is undercutting the advantages of globalization by raising transportation costs so much that they are forcing businesses to look closer to home, says a CIBC World Markets report." ...

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Andy Rowell at Oil Change -
"Shell seals $4 billion Iraq deal" (September 10th)
"After a 35 year absence Shell has become the first western oil company to land a major deal with the government in Baghdad since the invasion of the country five years ago." ...
(A related post - "Imperialism and fossil fuels")

AP journalism -
"Exxon Mobil Has Biggest Profit Ever At $11.68B" (July 31st)

BBC journalism -
"Oil prices boost Shell's results" (July 31st )

Emily Murgatroyd at DeSmogBlog -
"US oil company revenue higher than the GDP of Canada" (July 31st)

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At my blog -
A list of related links and a little commentary -
"Global warming and other energy & carbon -related crises — as well as associated interests"

Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=563)

Advocates for Local Living - ALL (Fernie, B.C.)

Hell -- In Alberta

Toban Black — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:12:22 -0700

See no evil; Hear no evil; Speak no evil

Protestors questioning the mainstream Albertan approach to tar sands 'development'

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A blog post at Oil Change - "Welcome to Mordor"

"Oil Change’s Kenny Bruno has just visited the region as part of a delegation of environmental groups. Here is his first dispatch, which is the first of three posts from Kenny..

Kenny writes: 'As we approached the tar sands area in a small plane coming from the First Nation community of Fort Chipewyan in Northern Alberta, an experienced visitor tried to scare me: 'You Are Entering Mordor.'

For those unfamiliar with the Dark Lord Sauron’s dwelling place in The Lord of the Rings series, imagine the landscape He Who Shall Not Be Named might choose if he could vanquish Harry Potter and retire to Brobdingnag. Or just think of Hell.

'There are a lot of polluted places on this planet, but the nightmare vision presented by Athabasca tar sands is unique, because the area is a complex of three types of polluting facilities, all on colossal scale.'

There are the monstrous open pit mines, where the 'overburden' (aka forest, plants and soil) has been removed to get at the bitumen underneath. Nearby are the 'upgrader' plants, which look and smell similar to giant refineries you see in New Jersey, Louisiana, and Texas, though the material they process is much thicker. Finally, the 'tailings ponds' which might be better thought of as Tailings Seas, since they are veritable oceans of toxic glop.

All in all, the tar sands cover an area the size of Florida, which is therefore the area proposed for sacrifice by the Alberta government and the oil companies investing $100 billion in the 'dirtiest project on earth.'"

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"Mordor" in a Google images search -
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=mordor...

(As for the above reference to hell in the Harry Potter series, that meant next to nothing to me. I assume that it will resonate with others out there though.)

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Kenny Bruno's follow-up posts about the Albertan tar sands -

“I Wouldn’t Dare Do That Now”
This post is mainly about what Kenny learned from Steve Courtoreille, a Cree councillor

The “You’ve Got To Be Kidding” Department
Some of the post is about public relations greenwash

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At Joanne's Marginal Notes there are responses to the
'See no evil; Hear no evil; Speak no evil'
photo at the top of this post

(I left comments on the post at Marginal Notes, but I doubt you'll find them to be worth reading.)

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Portions of the documentary The Refugees of the Blue Planet (which I highly recommend) address poisonous sour gas 'development' in Alberta. These fossil fuels are a form of natural gas that some describe as gas from hell.

The Refugees of the Blue Planet was brought up in this previous blog post -
Socio-environmental refugees --
almost all of which was lifted from Joanne's blog

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Another relevant post at my main blog -
U.S. protestors; Canadian oil and tar sands?

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Toban Black
http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=526

Advocates for Local Living - ALL (Fernie, B.C.)

Local food

Toban Black — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:09:45 -0700

A community garden photo by "sbcg08"

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A Wall Street Journal video clip about urban farming [via Wild Green Yonder]
Most of the video revolves around one guy who farms neighbourhood lawns in Colorado.

A "No Impact Man" blog post about urban rooftop farming (which definitely couldn't "save the world")
The post includes photos and some web links

A blog post from Joshua about chickens in urban backyards [via Red Jenny]
Some of the post is about legislation issues

An article by Karen Von Hahn (in The Globe & Mail) -
‘People Are Looking For Roots’
What I found interesting about this one is the author's commentary on the culture (e.g. the nostalgia) around local foods

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A couple of related posts at my blog:
- Home-grown food
- Suburban farmland in the United States

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Community garden photo from Groundwork Lawrence

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Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=284)

Carp Ridge Ecowellness Centre (CREWC)

It's time to cut our ties to fossil fuels

Toban Black — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:26:44 -0700

Elizabeth Douglass in The Los Angeles Times - "Why The Oil Crunch May Grow Worse"
"Peak Oil: The ‘When’ Doesn’t Matter"

What I appreciate about this article is -
a. The tagline about how "The ‘When’ Doesn’t Matter" -- a message that is repeated at the end of the article (and at the end of the exerpts quoted here)
b. How the article clearly communicates the concept of world peak oil. (See the start of the exerpts below.)

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Exerpts -

Some "dread" "that the world has found all the easy-to-reach oil, and the daily supply of the essential black goo will fall further and further behind escalating global demand."

'As much as you’re uncomfortable with today’s oil prices, these are going to be the good old days,' oil expert Robert L. Hirsch told a recent ... gathering of policymakers and environmentalists."

"'There are more and more people who believe that oil supply prospects are not very optimistic,' said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the Paris-based International Energy Agency."

"Birol counts himself among those who believe the world has reached at least 'a peak of easily accessible oil.' That alone is cause for worry, because many economies are built around the assumption that oil would continue to be cheap and plentiful.

Birol is leading a groundbreaking reassessment of the worldwide outlook for oil supplies, investment and production that many believe will deliver bad news when it is released in November.

"Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a Washington-based consumer group, doesn’t care when the peak will come.

'We should be planning as though we’re there,' he said, 'because from a national interest standpoint, from an economic standpoint and from an environmental standpoint, our dependence on oil, whether it comes from California or Saudi Arabia, is unsustainable.'"

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The rest of the article is OK.
It's misleading, however, when the author suggests that there isn't extensive analysis and documentation to back up concerns about impending or present world peak oil.

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Related writing from Richard Heinberg -
Oil Price Falls! Peak Oil a Non-Problem! (July 30th)
..."The fundamental cause of the recent oil price spike has not gone away. Global demand for oil is still increasing; supply isn’t."...

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Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net/blog/?p=295)

"A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash"

Solita Work — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:39:16 -0700

Start: 2007-03-23 17:00

Post Carbon Calgary (Alberta, Canada)

Plans for the future of this group/network ?

jared_houston — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:22:49 -0800

Hi All,

Wondering what people's vision is the the future growth and operation of this group. Will Post Carbon Calgary (PCC) just exist in website form for discussion purposes, or will we focus on outreach and education, or possibly municipal policy advocacy - there are tons of options?

Personally, I'll like to see Post Carbon Calgary get involved in organizing education events for it's members, and outreach events to the Calgary community about peak oil issues and how they impact Calgary. This is of course after going through a process of strategic thinking about how best our group can have impact with the people/resources.

I really think Calgary can be a center of expertise on this issue, and that PCC can be a very strong outpost for change.

Thoughts?

Peace out,
-Jared Houston

Post Carbon Calgary (Alberta, Canada)

Post Carbon Calgary (Alberta, Canada)

Solita Work — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:21:02 -0800