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In the Monday October 112, 2009 edition of the Bellingham Herald on page A3:

"Peak Oil" talks set in Denver
(AP)
DENVER-Proponents of the "peak oil" theory are in Denver to discuss the impacts of what they say is the quickly fading supply of world's oil.

Subscribers of the peak oil theory say the world is at or near its maximum oil production and that demand will soon eclipse supply levels.

Oil industry executives, financial analysts and peak oil theorists from around the world are in Denver for a Sunday-through-Thursday conference hosted by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil.

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In the same issue is a section called "Green Living," and has five articles ranging from a "Green Halloween," "living conscientiously as a green consumer," etc.,.

The question I have is how to elevate awareness of our diminishing oil production/unsustainable energy consumption in our local media, beyond characterizing the problem as a "questionable theory" being advanced by "proponents." I have been searching for local mainstream media articles on peak oil/unsustainable energy consumption/and a plan to cope with this problem and this is the article I have found--one that condescendingly presents the information as questionable, and certainly less than credible.

I think we can all agree that this is the big story that will dominate the headlines for decades to come, but it will be an attractive news story only after we have reached the tipping point and the only news about peak oil/unsustainable consumption is of the train wreck variety.

One point of leverage, would seem to be this "Green Living" section. It currently contains only "soft feature" articles plucked from the newswire. Maybe a reporter at the Herald could be enticed to investigate "peak oil" from a local point of view and in so doing, help elevate "peak oil" to peak oil-from fiction to fact.

Another possibility might be to pitch article ideas on the topic to The Weekly or even the Western Front. I've noticed the Herald has no qualms about generating copy by copying other publications story ideas.

So my ultimate question is this: How can we leverage the abilities of the 200+ members of this website toward the goal of getting local media to see peak oil/unsustainable consumption and the power down process as the major concern of our local, state, national and international communities and that it needs the immediate attention of all participants in all of the above communities?

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Comment by Keith Foecke on October 19, 2009 at 6:09am
I had once thought about making a few thousand bumper stickers that simply say "PEAK OIL" and plastering them everywhere. You would be surprised the amount of people who do not even know what peak oil is.

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