Climate Change and the Peak Oil crisis have jettisoned hundreds of towns, villages, and cities across the globe to adopt a strategy for dealing with the changes. These towns are called Transition Towns and many of them have opted to follow the training program and utilize the resources available through Transition Towns - an online wiki site that aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding Peak Oil and climate change, as well as providing a toolkit for community leaders and change agents to aid in the transition from a petroleum-based economy to an economy based on principles of sustainability.
Would anybody in Dillingham be interested in the Transition Towns model and working on a community adaptation plan?
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
My Post-Carbon Present
Our car wouldn't start (again) this morning. So, I bundled up, packed my lunch and a change of clothes in my panier, lowered the seat, and headed out on my husband's bicycle. It seems ironic to me that last night I had a strange dream about the gasoline running out, and cars being stuck on the highway. People were mad at being forced to leave their cars on the highway, but some just started walking.
The synchronicity here is almost eerie. As a handful of our UAF Rural Development students attend the climate change talks in Copenhagen, I ponder my own post-carbon life. How will life in Dillingham look when we run out of oil? Many economists have already named the time period that we are currently in as "peak oil." What does Peak Oil mean exactly? If you google peak oil, you are likely to be overwhelmed by the amount of information on this topic - some of it a little apocalyptic, some if it a little optimistic, and some of it downright scary.
Here is the definition of Peak Oil, according to the omniscient source, Wikipedia:
When I think of what Peak Oil implies for life in our little village of Dillingham, Alaska, I am a little heartened by a few key insights. First, Dillingham was a town prior to the advent of the combustion engine. Yes, it was a small, predominantly Native village (and still is today). Villagers traveled by dog sled or boat, if they traveled at all. My ancestors, some of them still living, told me stories about cutting over 100 salmon in a day to feed their dogs during the winter months. I'm not advocating for turning back the clock - that would be impossible anyway. What I would like to see is a discussion the what a post-carbon future looks like for Dillingham. Our residents and community leaders need to come together to have this ongoing discussion. In other cities across the globe, there is a movement toward resiliency and adaptation as strategies in the post-carbon end game.
Here is an interesting TED talk on the post-carbon future by Rob Hopkins: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/696.
The synchronicity here is almost eerie. As a handful of our UAF Rural Development students attend the climate change talks in Copenhagen, I ponder my own post-carbon life. How will life in Dillingham look when we run out of oil? Many economists have already named the time period that we are currently in as "peak oil." What does Peak Oil mean exactly? If you google peak oil, you are likely to be overwhelmed by the amount of information on this topic - some of it a little apocalyptic, some if it a little optimistic, and some of it downright scary.
Here is the definition of Peak Oil, according to the omniscient source, Wikipedia:
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. The concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, and the combined production rate of a field of related oil wells. The aggregate production rate from an oil field over time usually grows exponentially until the rate peaks and then declines—sometimes rapidly—until the field is depleted. This concept is derived from the Hubbert curve, and has been shown to be applicable to the sum of a nation’s domestic production rate, and is similarly applied to the global rate of petroleum production. Peak oil is often confused with oil depletion; peak oil is the point of maximum production while depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply.
When I think of what Peak Oil implies for life in our little village of Dillingham, Alaska, I am a little heartened by a few key insights. First, Dillingham was a town prior to the advent of the combustion engine. Yes, it was a small, predominantly Native village (and still is today). Villagers traveled by dog sled or boat, if they traveled at all. My ancestors, some of them still living, told me stories about cutting over 100 salmon in a day to feed their dogs during the winter months. I'm not advocating for turning back the clock - that would be impossible anyway. What I would like to see is a discussion the what a post-carbon future looks like for Dillingham. Our residents and community leaders need to come together to have this ongoing discussion. In other cities across the globe, there is a movement toward resiliency and adaptation as strategies in the post-carbon end game.
Here is an interesting TED talk on the post-carbon future by Rob Hopkins: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/696.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Earth-friendly Christmas options
Christmas with no presents?
The link above will direct you to an article in Yes! magazine about one man's quest for a stress-free holiday season (no presents = no credit card debt = no stress).
Here are a few other "green" options for the Christmas holiday season:
*Decorate with natural (preferably local) materials - spruce boughs can add a nice touch the interior of your home and bring a nice fragrance indoors
*Don't purchase a bunch of tinsel and other throwaway holiday stuff that will only end up in a landfill
*Instead of focusing on gifts and material objects, try to shift the focus to spending quality time with family - Christmas caroling, playing games (charades, anyone?), cooking together (preferably local foods), and other low-impact activities
*Try making your own wrapping paper - we use recycled packaging paper at our house and let the kids color it with markers, crayons and paint. It's a fun activity and it is more cost-effective than buying wrapping paper.
If you have other ideas for spreading earth-friendly holiday cheer, please feel free to add them to the comments section (below) and I will update this list.
Happy holidays!
The link above will direct you to an article in Yes! magazine about one man's quest for a stress-free holiday season (no presents = no credit card debt = no stress).
Here are a few other "green" options for the Christmas holiday season:
*Decorate with natural (preferably local) materials - spruce boughs can add a nice touch the interior of your home and bring a nice fragrance indoors
*Don't purchase a bunch of tinsel and other throwaway holiday stuff that will only end up in a landfill
*Instead of focusing on gifts and material objects, try to shift the focus to spending quality time with family - Christmas caroling, playing games (charades, anyone?), cooking together (preferably local foods), and other low-impact activities
*Try making your own wrapping paper - we use recycled packaging paper at our house and let the kids color it with markers, crayons and paint. It's a fun activity and it is more cost-effective than buying wrapping paper.
If you have other ideas for spreading earth-friendly holiday cheer, please feel free to add them to the comments section (below) and I will update this list.
Happy holidays!
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