December 2009 Blog Posts (8)

PROJECT FOR A REVOLUTION IN PHILADELPHIA bywriter/financial analyst Gregor Macdonald

"Here is my thesis: were all US cities to decide collectively that energy transition on an urban level had to commence at once, the embedded advantages of Philadelphia would suddenly become glaringly obvious."

Echoing Transition thinking, Macdonald argues that innovative responses to energy decline needs to happen at the city level. He believes that a mayor of a city in major economic decline is the likely candidate to propose bold new approaches. And such a mayor, and such a city… Continue

Added by Rob Olason on December 30, 2009 at 9:14am — No Comments

"The Political Ecology of Collapse, Part Three: The Bomb at the Heart of the System," by John Michael Greer

"Let’s walk through the logic. The most reasonable estimates suggest that, given a crash program and the best foreseeable technologies, renewable sources can probably provide the United States with around 15% of the energy it currently gets from fossil fuels. Since every good and service in the economy is the product of energy, it’s a very rough but functional approximation to say that in a green economy, every American will have to get by on the equivalent of 15% of his or her current income.… Continue

Added by Rob Olason on December 29, 2009 at 10:06pm — No Comments

Fertile Soil & Seeding Winter Dreams

Earthdreams awakening fertile fragrant nourishing living creations....I give thanks to the earth-creation and to farmers & growers who move within the earth's life cycles, and understand the limits of earth-gaia's gifts. I give thanks for farmer's growing passions envisioning the fertile dreams of tomorrow's nourishment!

It's December 21st,2009, and I've just put in my first phone call for seeds, to Bountiful Gardens/Ecology Action, and they don't even have their 2010 catalogue… Continue

Added by Heather K on December 23, 2009 at 3:00am — 2 Comments

Addressing my Carbon Footprint, part 1

I have emitted 32 tons of CO2 this year. Yikes! Next year I expect to reduce that to 18 tons. An average American emits 27 tons; the average citizen of the world emits just 5.5. (http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/)

According to an IPCC report cited by Rob Hopkins in his Handbook, within 20 years we need to be emitting 80% less than now, and within 40 years we need to be sequestering… Continue

Added by Brian Carpenter on December 21, 2009 at 2:06am — 2 Comments

The Ecotechnic Future, a book by John Michael Greer

Hello to Transitioners. I have just completed a fresh new book called 'The Ecotechnic Future', by John Greer, a former resident of WA & OR. In contrast to many other treatises on 'peak-oil', 'post-carbon' and related topics, he writes quite well. The book frames his view of the future in the language of ecology. And this can be useful in framing our own discussions. I published a review of the book for in Amazon.com but since Peter Smith's review is much better than mine, I'll give you… Continue

Added by Thomas Beeler on December 19, 2009 at 11:09am — 1 Comment

What It Looks Like When a Local Authority REALLY Gets Transition...the Monteveglio story...

Italian Community goes "transition"

Added by Rob Olason on December 12, 2009 at 9:00pm — 2 Comments

How Many Cyclists Does It Take To Power A Hairdryer?

The BBC tackles reality programming in a documentary that measures how much electrical energy a family uses by the number of pedaling cyclists required to supply the electricity.

The shocking take away: 80 long distance riders can't keep up to a family of four.

One Long Ride

Added by Rob Olason on December 5, 2009 at 1:28am — No Comments

Incredible Edible Todmorden-a community committed to growing their own food

From the homepage of their website:

"Incredible Edible Todmorden aims to increase the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town. Businesses, schools, farmers and the community are all involved. Vegetables and fruit are springing up everywhere. Public flower beds are being transformed into community herb gardens and vegetable patches."

This is a really interesting holistic approach to involving a community in "resilence building" around food production.…

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Added by Rob Olason on December 3, 2009 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment