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Holy Mackeral!!! Washington Post: A Flicker Away From a Blackout

fuggybootnling — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 20:01:12 -0700

Did anyone see this in any Toronto or Ontario newspaper? I sure as hell hope so, otherwise the Washington Post is scooping us on our own electricity grid! Also, did anyone see the lights flicker on May 27th? According to the Post, this did indeed happen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR200506...

Text below...

A Flicker Away From a Blackout
Canadian Engineers Say Rare Glitch Suggests Ongoing Threat to Power Grid

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 21, 2005; Page A15

TORONTO -- At 4:15 p.m. on May 27, the lights flickered across Ontario.

Post Carbon Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Talking with your local citizens

lifetree76 — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 19:40:10 -0800

How have you approached people with Peak Oil and its ramifications? Have you approached elected officials? The press? Environmental groups? How have these interactions gone? Suggestions on best practices?

The Boreal - Post Carbon Institute Branch (Thunder Bay, Canada)

Peak oil / post-carbon speakers

Toban Black — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:15:52 -0700

Hi Toronto-nians,

I'm writing on behalf of a postcarbon group in London, Ontario to ask for some advice.

We're trying to organize a September forum out here to raise awareness about peak oil, and we're looking for speakers who will volunteer their time (as we won't be able to pay them). Do you have any suggestions?

We are in need of at least one speaker who can address peak oil in terms of the geological, economic (e.g. inflation in the short-term), and technological (e.g. hydrogen is far off) issues -- preferably with expertise. In short, we need one or more people to describe exactly what peak oil is -- as authoritatively as possible.

After summarizing peak oil, we plan to begin exploring solutions. We could definitely use suggestions for presenters who can discuss transportation and municipal activism. It seems that we may have found people who can speak about agriculture issues (although no one has been contacted yet).
Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Toban
(tblack2 AT uwo . ca)

Post Carbon Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

What you "can do" Lists

grahamia — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:14:59 -0800

A list posted on www.theecologist.org at http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=432 30 STEPS TO AN OIL FREE WORLD Our addiction to oil is not inevitable. We can all take steps to kick the habit:

1. Walk, cycle, take public transport or consider a car-pool whenever possible.

2. Reduce your travel by air.

3. If you need a car, buy the most fuel-efficient (currently Toyota’s Prius and Honda’s Insight – both hybrid cars that use petrol and electricity) or one that runs on bio-diesel or natural gas.

4. Service your car regularly – keeping the engine tuned and your car tyres at the maximum recommended air pressure saves petrol.

5. Live as close to work as possible.

6. Shop locally rather than in out-of-town superstores.

7. Buy regionally and seasonally produced organic food whenever possible.

8. Switch your investments away from fossil fuel to renewable energy companies, or exercise your right as a shareholder to pressure energy companies to make the transition to renewables.

9. Boycott the products of companies that are obstructing the transition to renewables.

What the government can do:

10. Lobby your political representatives to press them to act, and vote accordingly.

11. Accept a target of phasing out oil & gas use within 50 years.

12. Discontinue all direct and indirect subsidies to the oil & gas industry.

13. Refuse licenses for the exploration and development of new oil & gas reserves.

14. Provide investment, grants, and tax breaks for the development and purchase of clean renewable alternatives to oil and for energy efficient vehicles.

15. Increase investment in public transport.

16. Pedestrianise city centres and introduce congestion charges in cities.

17. Require car makers to ensure an escalating proportion of their vehicle fleet sales consists of petrol-free vehicles.

18. Increase minimum energy efficiency standards for vehicles.

19. Change tariff policies on imports to support the local consumption of goods (particularly food) that have been produced locally.

What businesses can do:

20. Phase out subsidies to industrial food production, which is petrol-intensive, and support conversion to organic methods instead. 21. Oil & gas companies should commit to converting themselves into renewable energy companies, and redirect their investments accordingly.

22. Car makers should commit to mass-manufacture cars now that run on hydrogen fuel cells or other renewable fuels, and that use lighter materials.

23. Companies should convert their truck and car fleets to the lowest petrol-consuming vehicles available.

24. Companies should provide incentives for employees to leave their cars at home and use public transport instead, reduce air travel, and promote telecommuting.

25. Companies should site their offices close to public transportation.

26. Retailers should adopt a purchasing policy that provides preference to goods from short supply routes and regional markets.

27. Companies should shift freight out of trucks and onto rail and waterways.

28. Farmers should convert from industrial to organic farming methods.

29. The plastics & packaging industries should replace their use of oil with corn, soybean, potato starch or limestone derivatives. 30. The clothing industry should use vegetable starch and natural fibres, such as wool and cotton, instead of oil derivatives in their products.

Post Carbon Oakville

Dion Knows about Peak Oil

grahamia — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:20:24 -0800

http://canada.theoildrum.com/story/2006/12/3/121020/783

Stephan Dion knows about Peak Oil. Why is he not talking about it?

Here is why :
Report from theoildrum, posted by Pascal Gagnon, of Roberval, Lac St Jean region, Dec 2006.

He came this summer in our city and the journalist told him about me and my report about peak oil. He told the journalist (and then me thereafter) that he read the following books : Twilight, Beyond Oil, The Party is over and many other reports.

I personaly sent him a copy of the french report I made and he told me it was one of the few french document available in Canada at this time.

So I think he will steer the party and the politics toward the talking of this problem, which is yet to be done here in Canada, especialy in Quebec.

For those who know french, this is from Pascal's site

Bienvenue à Roberval

Nichée au coeur des grands espaces et seule ville de la région située directement en bordure du lac Saint-Jean, Roberval vit en totale symbiose avec le majestueux plan d'eau qui baigne ses rives.

Au gré des saisons, ce lac - qu'on dit vaste comme une mer et beau comme un océan - offre à la ville et à ses 11000 habitants une étonnante diversité d'activités et des paysages sans cesse renouvelés!

Contact: gagnon_pascal at cgocable dot ca
Homepage: http://www.ville.roberval.qc.ca
Bio: Pascal Gagnon, Bsc CS, undergoind a MS in management. Involved in many aspect of Roberval city life. Working to make our place ready for PO

Post Carbon London (Ontario)

Documentaries to screen

Toban Black — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:53:52 -0800

Are there any documentaries that Post-Carbon London should screen? The Post-Carbon organizers could use suggestions. Some of us want to set up screenings, but we're not sure what films to show.

It should be easy enough for us to set up screenings with the library, and the local chapter of the Council of Canadians will probably help us to organize the screening events.

We plan to screen The Power of Community soon and we'll screen Escape From Suburbia when it becomes available. We're also going to try to screen Manufactured Landscapes soon (trailer here). Otherwise, there are no plans at this point.

A Crude Awakening isn't available. Maybe Peak Oil: Imposed by Nature would be worth ordering and screening (here's a clip or a trailer).

A lecture-style piece called Climate Change, Despair and Empowerment has been suggested.

Someone else has suggested that Seeds of Change be screened -- possibly with help from another local green group. This film doesn't seem appropriate to me though.

Another possibility is The Oil Factor. This film would bring out the politics of oil, which people need to become aware of; yet, there are important considerations associated with raising oil politics (like interfering with attempts to create the perception that ecology somehow transcends politics).

Koyaanisqatsi is probably appropriate (clips here), but I haven't seen it for awhile. I worry that this one might present naive ideas.

As I understand it, Darwin's Nightmare presents a problem -- "invader species" -- that could be addressed through relocalization. In other words, I think this one might implicitly promote relocalization somewhat.

Another possibility, which I know nothing about, is Out of Balance.

Post Carbon London (Ontario)

Sustainable Energy Fair @ University of Toronto

BrianSEF — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 03:44:34 -0700

Hello,

My name is Brian Kim and I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. Next Wednesday on April 4th, 2007 from 10am - 4pm, the University of Toronto will be hosting its fourth annual Sustainable Energy Fair. The Sustainable Energy Fair is managed by a group of students like myself from the University of Toronto and is supported by the Center for the Environment, Faculty of Engineering, Division of Geography, and Arts and Science Students’ Union. This day is an exciting event aimed at promoting concepts, products, research and practises related to energy sustainability and preservation of natural resources to the public. The Sustainable Energy Fair will display ideas about our first steps towards a sustainable energy future through interactive and exciting exhibits from student groups, community organizations, companies, and researchers. Participants will be educated on the consequences of today's energy use patterns, the challenges posed by the coming transition, and the impact of their individual choices.

Each year, the Sustainable Energy Fair has seen a phenomenal growth in both community involvement and buzz in the city. Last year, the event garnered more than a 1000 visitors, all taking an interest in a vibrant, multifaceted view of an environmentally sensitive society. This year promises to be an even larger affair. As a first and necessary step, we have made a conscious effort to make this year’s Sustainable Energy Fair as sustainable as possible. Not only has the event pushed for a reusable advertising campaign headed by “no-paper” usage and increased internet presence, Bullfrog Power, a leading green electricity retailer, will supply electricity for the event. Serving local organic food and fair trade coffee, the SEF hopes to promote sustainable practices at all facets of the event. With confirmed speakers, such as David Naylor, President of the University of Toronto, Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party of Canada, and Jose Etcheverry from the David Suzuki Foundation, the event will be packed full of interactive activities ranging from electric bicycles, Segway Scooters, solar cars, smart cars and more. In addition, a panel discussion featuring representatives from the likes of Zerofootprint, Toronto Hydro, and Bullfrog Power amongst others, will take place after the event.

The event takes place on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at Sidney Smith Hall, University of Toronto St. George’s Campus (100 St. George Street). More information can be found at www.sustainablefair.ca

It would be awesome if members of our community could attend our event, as it would be a tremendous value to us and Toronto as a whole to see a group of like-minded, yet active people for sustainable energy. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them. Thank you!

- Brian Kim, SEF Public Relation, briguy.kim@utoronto.ca

Post Carbon York Region, Ontario

What municipalities have passed Peak Energy Resolutions?

lifetree76 — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:45:15 -0700

The mayor of my municipality would like to see examples of Peak Energy resolutions as I continue to campaign and lobby for recognition of this issue. I am particularly interested in the resolutions of Canadian municipalities. I know about SF, Portland, Bakersfield already. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

thank you in advance!

Post Carbon London (Ontario)

Jim Kunstler writing about export cuts by producers and ramifications

lifetree76 — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:11:15 -0700

"Stop wringing your hands about that new strip mall, think hard about how you're going to feed yourself in the coming years . . ."

I get lots of letters from people in various corners of the nation who are hysterically disturbed by the continuing spectacle of suburban development. But instead of joining in their hand-wringing, I reply by stating my serene conviction that we are at the end of the cycle - and by that I mean the grand meta-cycle of the suburban project as a whole.

It's over. Whatever you see out there now is pretty much what we're going to be stuck with. The remaining things under construction are the last twitchings of a dying organism.

It is not an accident that the housing bubble coincided with the phenomenon of Peak Oil. First of all, the housing bubble should more properly be called the suburban bubble, because most of the activity came in the form of "greenfield" housing subdivisions, and included all the additional crap-o-la accessories required by them -- strip malls, power centers, Outback steak houses, car washes, et cetera. The suburban expansion has been based entirely on cheap-and-abundant supplies of oil. Similarly, it was not an accident that the suburban project faltered briefly in the 1970s, when America's oil production entered its long decline, OPEC seized the moment, and oil prices shot up. Notice that the final suburban blowout occurred after 1990, when the North Sea and Prudhoe Bay oil strikes came into full production, disabling OPEC, and a world oil glut finally drove prices as low as ten dollars a barrel in 1999. That ushered in the climactic phase of suburbia, as represented by things like the standard 4000-square-foot Toll Brother's McMansion and the heyday of the super-gigantic SUV to go with it.

The American public has no idea how over all that is. The bottom is falling out under not only the housing market (as in houses up for sale) but on the whole apparatus for delivering future houses, and the car-oriented crap associated with it. The production home-builders, such as Toll Brothers, Hovanian, Pulte, et cetera are going down and they will not be coming back. There will be a great deal of wishing that they might come back, but they won't. Likewise, the commercial builders of all the various forms of suburban retail will be waiting to "turn the corner." But they will discover that the wall they have hit has no corner. It's just a wall. For anyone who wonders how much we do not need anymore retail space in America, have a look at this chart showing the comparative amount of retail square-footage allotted for citizens of each nation:

Those of you considering the purchase of more WalMart stock, take note.

Some years back, when those watching the oil scene began to coalesce in their recognition that a worldwide production peak was imminent and hugely significant, the concept developed that this peak would take the form of a "bumpy plateau," meaning that supply-and-demand would teeter in an uncomfortable relationship for a period of time as markets and economies adjusted to the new reality by oscillating from higher prices to "demand destruction" to recession to recovery to higher prices, and so forth. This was expected to go on for quite a while before the world really headed into a slow permanent decline.

The latest statistical work by Dallas geologist Jeffrey Brown over at The Oil Drum.com, suggests that something else is happening, something that was not anticipated: an imminent oil export crisis. This Export Land Theory states that exporting nations will have far less oil available for export than was previously assumed under older models. (Story here.) The theory states that export rates will drop by a far greater percentage than net production decline rates in any given exporting country. For example, The UK's portion of the North Sea oil fields may be showing a nine percent annual decline for the past couple of years. But it's export capacity has declined 60 percent. Something similar is in store for Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, Venezuela -- in short, the whole cast of characters in the export world. They are all producing less and they are all using more of their own oil, and have less to send elsewhere.

Brown's math suggests that world oil exports will drop by 50 percent within the next five years, certainly enough to trigger a systemic breakdown in market allocation, meaning serious supply shortages among the importing nations. That's us. We import two-thirds of all the oil we use.

The implication in all this is that the activities that have become "normal" for us during the post World War Two era will very shortly become untenable. An economy based on suburban expansion and incessant motoring is on the top of the list of supposedly "normal" activities that will not be able to continue. I would maintain that even if we had 20 years, no combination of bio-fuels and other alternatives would enable us to keep suburbia running. But this latest work indicates that we have much less time to adjust.

This new information is consistent with my view that we had better prepare to make other arrangements for living in this country, by which I mean specifically re-localizing, de-globalizing, with an emphasis on local agriculture wherever possible, the emergency restoration of passenger railroad service and related modes of public transit, the rebuilding of local commercial infrastructures, and a radical rethinking of how we inhabit the landscape under New Urbanist lines.

Perhaps the most imminent danger is that the financial markets, which have been driving our insane, hollowed-out economy, will soon recognize what's in store and implode, creating a crisis of capital that will leave us with no ability to make any emergency investments, such as would be required to rebuild the railroad system. The equity markets sure blinked last week when two hedge funds based on phony-baloney collateralized debt obligations tanked. The collateral underlying this load of hallucinated "wealth" is comprised of contracts made by the insolvent for suburban houses worth far less than the value stated on the contracts -- with every indication that the real value will keep dropping.

In any case, those who keep wringing their hands over the bulldozers leveling the plots of prairie, or cornfield, or desert -- those distressed folks can direct their anxiety elsewhere. Worry less whether one final strip mall will tilt up out in gloaming, and think harder about how you are going to feed yourself and your family in a couple of years when the stupendous motorized moloch of American life begins to sputter, and the Cheez Doodle shipments can no longer make it to your supermarket shelves, and all that is "normal" melts into air.

Chatham-Kent Oil Age Planning Group (CKOAP Group)

Shock Doctrine

grahamia — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:39:22 -0800

Richard Heinberg, Oct 2007, "Individuals and families should take to heart the advice given prior to every commercial airline flight: “Secure your oxygen mask before helping others.” In other words, see to your own survival prospects first. This is not necessarily selfish behavior: communities and nations in which individual members are prepared and relatively self-sufficient will fare much better than those in which everyone is dependent and unequipped. If no one is prepared, who can teach others what to do? Learn the life-skills of the pre-fossil-fuel era; know how to use and repair hand tools; know where your water comes from and how to compost wastes; grow food."

Now surf to http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film to watch the quickest expose of modern conservative economics (neo-con) and start waking up. As Klein says, getting informed in the only way to protect ourselves from the systemic shock treatments being planned, aided or abetted by the economic elites.

yes.

Ian

Sustainable Burlington

PCT makes The Star! Way to go folks! (A request for media outreach ideas.)

prof — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:44:46 -0800

Congratulations to Post Carbon Toronto, and especially Dr Lemon, for getting the ear of Tyler Hamilton, the Star's "Energy Reporter". (I wonder how long they've had one of those?) His article is in the Business section for Jan 3, 2008, at http://www.thestar.com/article/290582.

Calling from Montreal, I would like to see a comparable article produced here, and would be grateful for any tips on contacting and/or addressing the media. I believe the time is ripe and many editors may be receptive to addressing the problem... and this may be key to getting it onto the public agenda.

I had a student who managed to get a short piece in the Montreal Mirror, which was helped by the fact that we were having a screening of The End of Suburbia in a public forum. I would appreciate hearing others' experiences of getting press attention, perhaps to build a list of tactics from which others may draw.

Again, congratulations and gratitude.

Shane Mulligan
Montreal

Post Carbon Montreal