New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone!

This year I am setting some "SMART" goals, that is goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and tangible.

Assess my starting point:

1. Calculate my ecological footprint for 2006 (using calculators here, here and here.)
2. Measure the killowatts my appliances consume using the Kill-a-Watt meter.

Set targets for reducing my footprint in 2007:

1. Honor my pledge to reduce my fossil fuel consumptions by 2.6% based on the recommendations of the Oil Depletion Protocol.
2. Find out what the recommendations are for reducing my carbon footprint to prevent global warming.
3. Meet that goal with a combination of emissions reduction and offsets.

Set up a way to track my progress:

1. Make a spreadsheet with all the variables.
2. Set up a timetable for when to measure my results.
3. Track cumulative numbers and percentages to see if I am on target.

Be accountable:

1. Post my goals (in terms of percentages).
2. Post my progress (in terms of percentages).
3. Network with other people who are doing the same and offer my support.

I invite you to join me! Together we can make a difference.

Gifts for the adults on your list (Cross posted on Groovy Green)

Groovy Green's 12 Days of Christmas
"Green Gifts for the Adults on Your List"
by Liz Logan

Okay. It's December 17th. Hanukkah has started, Christmas is in eight days, which puts the Solstice at four days from now and Kwanza at nine. No matter how you slice it, you are running out of shopping time.

Of course your ideal would be to buy local and not spend precious fuel to ship to loved ones far away. All the better if you can take public transit to shop!

But if you have to ship, you can ease your conscious by shopping on line with green vendors. But where to start? Never fear! Your intrepid Groovy Green personal shopper, Liz Logan, has done a bit of surfing and has rounded up some green selections for you. As Bo Derek put it: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping."
Let's get right to the point:

For Him—always the hardest on the list, right? But I've got you covered.

Does he travel? Live in a dorm? Or does he spend the night at his girlfriend/boyfriend's apartment? Then check out BTC Elements' men's toiletries kit, made out of recycled billboards.

You know that vague disappointed feeling when you open up a "container" gift and there is nothing in it but tissue paper? So to avoid that, fill it with this: Grass Roots organic Druide Travel Kit .

Want to keep him stylishly warm and cozy? Then check out the totally cool fleece hats made out of recycled plastic from Cagoule Fleece.

And for the party animal in him, how about a organic beer sampler from Eco Express? Cheers!

But If he's a teetotaler, then check out the organic tea at Diamond Organics.

For Her—we'll start with the jewelry, as that is my personal favorite:

If you're going in circles you're on the right track. Circles are THE fashion motif this year! Add Chakra gemstones plus a 15% discount and you can't go wrong! At Shanti Boutique.

Romance on your mind? Maybe even planning to pop the question? How about gemstones with a conscious: Leber Jeweler, Inc.

Does she keep that beautiful body in shape with yoga? Show your appreciation with this colorful batiked yoga bag from Global Mamas to carry her mat in.

Nurture your special woman with the "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" holiday gift pack, available through Hope for Women until December 20th.

For the Couple—two birds with one stone!

Everybody can use compact fluorescent light bulbs; and don't just look for them at your big box stores, lots of local businesses are starting to carry them as well. On your card, tell the recipients that they will be saving 10 to 15 times the energy of an incandescent bulb. As "light" is the theme for both Hanukkah and Christmas, you have a great excuse to increase the energy efficiency in their homes!

For rechargeable batteries of all types, check out Green Batteries.

You're the practical type? Give them green household necessities. Check out this option at Green Home.

Everybody could use these economical grocery bags form Abundant Earth. Get some for yourself while you are at it!

Have they recently combined households? Gotten hitched? Looking for a hostess gift? Consider this selection of recycled Holiday glassware at Green Glass.

Do you know their taste, and want to get them the perfect object d'art? Check out National Geographic's Novica site. It might take a couple of weeks to get your item, however.

Haven't a clue about what they'd like? Here are some sure fire winners:

· Romantic Dinner for Two from Eco Express
· Organic Wine from the Organic Wine Company.
· Rainforest Munch from Eco Express.
· Organic Herbal Wreath from Eco Express.

For Anybody:

For the person who has everything: give him or her their own private ecosystem! The EcoSphere from Abundant Earth.

Hip & Zen has a lot of cool stuff, but check out this organic neck hugger that warms you neck and smells good.

And there is a great selection of Organic Gift Baskets from Diamond Organics.

And if all else fails, you can't go wrong with organic flowers from Organic Bouquet, or California Organic Flowers, Great sites to bookmark for year-round giving!

Okay, if you STILL haven't found something, then check out these gift guides and directories:

· Green Gift Guide has lots of ideas.
· The Green Guide has several free articles.
· Novica gift guide for beautiful Fair Trade items.
· Local Harvest store has lots of goodies.
· Greenpeople Directory which allows you to search different categories by your location.

Thanks for helping to make this a Green Holiday Season!

How can we assess "sustainability?"

On Friday, December 1st I went to Southface's monthly breakfast roundtable and learned how organizations are designing and implementing sustainability principles.

So what do I mean when I say something is "sustainable?" I like the definition which says it is a practice which could be continued indefinitely without any degradation to the environment or future generations. In Native American tradition, for example, every decision would be weighed based on its impact on the next seven generations.

The first speaker, Susan Garrett, told us about The Natural Step. She has studied it extensively in Sweden, where it originated. The Natural Step is a methodology for assessing the sustainability of something. The criteria were developed over a period of 15 years by scientists who kept refining what they call the "system conditions"--the conditions that are necessary for a society to be sustainable.

She gave an example of how she was applying the principles to an upcoming conference. It is being held at a major hotel. She focused on how they were going to feed everybody. Ideally, it would be with local, organic, and affordable food. So the first thing that she did was call Georgia Organics. The farmers told here that there wasn't a lot of surplus crops available in March--but she could have all the kale she wanted. So that was the first "aha." Gatherings mean mouths to feed, and so there is a reason to pay attention to the seasons. The second aha came when she explained what the farmers said about the animals. 100 pork loins means slaughtering 50 pigs. Couldn't they use the whole animal? But of course the kitchen wasn't set up for that.

One of the goals of doing this assessment is to figure out how to "build capacity" for the future when you come up against such systemic blocks. So in this case, it would mean rethinking the scheduling and the food processing. What would it take for the chefs to create a menu that used the whole animal? And to change the expectations of the diners, as well?

The second speaker, Paula Vaughn, shared what her architectural firm, Perkins + Will have done towards their goal of becoming the greenest design firm on the planet. She gave us a brief tour of their Green Operations Plan, which covers:

• transportation (both commute and company fleet)
• office water use
• office energy use
• office consumables
• indoor air quality
• office renovations and new construction

They did away with most of their fleet, and have mandated buying hybrids in the future. They are replacing all of their plumbing fixtures with low-flow models, and have made substantial savings. Energy use starts with educating people--for example, turn of the computers, turn off the overhead lights, turn on the task lights.

Office consumables has been their biggest challenge. They still use a lot of paper, but now print everything they can on both sides, and make that a criteria for any new printers and plotters. They bought a tester for indoor air quality, and the results of that will drive their decisions in the future. And finally, the same principles they apply to their clients' projects, they will apply to their own.

In the Q&A afterwards, somebody said that when they compared the impact of a ceramic cup to a consumable cup, they discovered that you would have to use the cup over a thousand times before it "broke even." Vaughn said that they had many points of view in this category, but that they did do things like include the dishwasher, detergent and hot water in their calculations. Garrett pointed out that if you used the Natural Step criteria, anything that put pollutants out (like manufacturing Styrofoam) would be automatically discarded.

So my understanding of "what is sustainable?" has gotten bigger and more complex. I am starting to understand that there are no absolutes, that each choice has to be weighed. And this of course includes the human systems, both external and internal.

I am grateful for this opportunity to hear what others are doing, and am excited about learning how to apply these principles to my own life.

Thanksgiving

Now that I've gotten through most of my grief about peak oil, I have discovered a quality of poignancy in my life. Almost every night, as I snuggle under the covers, I give thanks for my warm house, for my meds, and for the power that turns on the TV, phone, and computers. I am grateful for my car and the gasoline to drive it, the food in the grocery store, and the roads that enable me to get there.

I believe that a time will come when I won't have such luxuries, so I try to appreciate them as much as possible while I have them.

Then when the accouterments of civilization are gone, what will we have left? Each other.

In the mean time, I am so grateful for the peak oil community, that I am slowly getting to know. I am grateful for the oil professionals that put their careers on the line so that we would learn about the problem. I am grateful for the people that took this understanding and have made it their life's work to educate the public and support us in preparing for it. I am grateful for the grass-roots activists who are making changes. I am grateful for you.

Strategic Planning

Hi everyone,

I have been in action mode, but I hope to start capturing what I am learning and sharing it here. I have a lot to tell about our big event, hosting Richard Heinberg October 11th, but the first thing I want to do with that is to write up a "best practices" document so that we (and others) can benefit from our experience.

My latest activities have been related to our oil awareness Meetup group, Atlanta Beyond Oil. I have been preparing for our Heinberg event debrief meeting, our "new members" meeting, and in the process of that, have done some strategic planning. I wrote out my thinking so that I could get clearer about it, and also so I could talk to other people who know more about Atlanta and Georgia and politics and environmental groups, etc. and get feedback. So this is just a first draft.

Out basic goal is to get the Peak Oil message out, and so far we have considered three audiences: state and local government officials, environmental groups, and the general public. There is also the realm of education, K through 12 and beyond. And then there are the powers behind everything else, the corporations. But I wasn't ready to tackle those yet.

Ultimately we want an "energy literate" government and society.


STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Specifically, mayors, city councils, county commissioners, state representatives, state senate, the governor, and all the relevant committees associated with these.

Goals:
• Pass peak oil resolutions as they did in San Francisco and Portland (but de-emphasize that it's a West Coast thing)
• Start committees to do assessment on energy needs, food needs, transportation needs (including citizens)
• Produce reports about these with recommendations
• Draft policies, lobby for them, get them passed (unless we go the 501 (c)(3) route, in which case we can't lobby and would partner with a lobbying group)
• Have town hall meetings to raise consciousness about, plan for, and implement preparedness for the coming energy transition
. Develop tax credits, system benefits plan, economic development plans that support preparedness

Strategies:
• Educate local officials
• Find sponsors who will champion our cause
• Hold Open Space Technology meetings for citizens and/or officials to develop areas of focus, groups who will work on them, and action plans
• Use templates to develop plans for assessment (Powerdown Project, Kinsale, Willits, new PCI book, etc.)
• Develop teams that can write policy recommendations (partner with local groups and take advantage of national resouces)
• Get public support for these policies
. Work with GEFA
. Work with GDOT

Tactics:
• Develop ABO team to work in this area
• Continue to lobby contacts we have made so far
• Develop speakers bureau
• Make presentations to committees, etc
• Track GA Energy Strategy Plan and input when possible
• Join the Relocalization Network
• Get advice from folks in other groups who are working on this
• For generating public support, see that category

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS

Specifically: (at this point I don't want to mention our target groups by name)

Goals:
• Have peak oil be a part of the discourse (especially along with climate change)
• Build an Energy Transition Coalition (both climate change and peak oil require us to make a transition to non-fossil fuel energy)
• Have ratifying the Oil Depletion Protocol be part of the agenda

Strategies:
• Get buy in on the idea that peak oil must be addressed when climate change issues are addressed
. Develop partnerships with other groups
• Invite groups to come to an OST on energy transition
• Invite groups to co-sponsor an OST on energy transition
• Invite groups to join the coalition

Tactics:
• Join GEC
. Do a needs-gap analysis
. Identify target groups, starting with those concerned with climate change
• Identify key contacts
• Meet with key contacts
• Explain how peak oil relates to climate change, especially the coal issue
• Explain how the ODP compliments the Kyoto Protocol
• Develop presentations and materials for environmental groups
. Swap presentations
• Distribute ODP book and Oil Poster

GENERAL PUBLIC

Goals:
• Vote for peak oil aware officials
• Support their officials to make peak oil preparedness policies
• Form committees to do assessments, plan, and take action for preparedness
• Take action for personal preparedness
• Participate in community-wide preparedness actions
• Have many groups like ours throughout the metro area and state wide
• Reduce energy use by 2.5% per year
• Participate in local food production
• Etc.

Strategies:
• Let the public know which officials are peak oil aware
• Campaign for policies
• Share resources and how to prepare on our website
• Have OST meetings for people to come together, create teams, and work on preparedness
• Have seminars where they can learn what other communities are doing
• Have seminars where they can learn how to personally prepare
• Tell them how to do assessments of their own energy consumption or who to hire
• Promote the ODP

Tactics:
• Have showings of End of Suburbia and the Cuba film (Kilowatt Ours too?)
• Bring in name speakers (partner with other environmental groups)
• Participate in events (Bioneers , Earth Day, etc)
• Work with “candidate scorecard” groups to have their criteria include peak oil aware
• Develop education, training, and PR materials
• Create a marketing plan
• Work with other PO groups to develop resources (“how to” manuals, etc)
• Join the Relocalization Network
• Network with Green professionals to develop a resources list

DEVELOP ATLANTA BEYOND OIL

Specifically, leadership, core group, casual members, non-participating members, committees (standing and ad hoc)

Goals:
• Clear purpose
• Clear leadership
• Clear vision
• Clear community
• Clear management
• Clear goals
• Enough active members to sustain projects without burn out
• Standing committees
• Community events

Strategies:
• Schedule gathering(s) to explore purpose, leadership, vision, community and management
• Promote our group
• Ask members for feedback on what they want
• Have internal OST to create committees and action plans
• Capture what we learned from the Heinberg event (write “best practices” document)
• Develop leadership skills of each member

Tactics:
• Have additional meetings on the weekends
• Advertise meetings
• Develop website
• Develop identity
• Create data base of members
• Take a survey
• Debrief Heinberg

Introducing Richard Heinberg: Atlanta October 11th, 2006

Welcome to Peak Oil: Challenges and Opportunities at the end of Cheap Petroleum--a presentation by Richard Heinberg. My name is Liz Logan, and I am the Organizer for Atlanta Beyond Oil.

If you would have told me eighteen months ago that I would be standing here introducing Richard Heinberg, I would have said you were crazy. When my friends first told me about peak oil, I stuck my fingers in my ears and said "la, la, la, I can't hear you!" I was totally resistant to the idea.

Since I started my peak oil journey, I discovered that people had all kinds of crazy reactions. People told me that they sat at the computer for months reading everything they could find about it, or they began to obsessively make lists of all the supplies that they would need to stock up on.

As we shared our stories, something became obvious to us. Learning about peak oil can have a profound effect on your life. It requires you to rethink things that you may have taken for granted.

It is not a comfortable process. For some of us it meant dusting off our critical thinking skills and learning to read graphs and get comfortable with numbers. For others it meant going through an emotional upheaval.

And ultimately, we are all faced with the question: what can we do to prepare for the energy transition?

No matter where you are in your journey, whether this is your first introduction or you have been grappling with this for a while, you will get something out of Richard's presentation tonight. He will explain the problem, but also offer a solution.

Richard has dedicated his life to increasing the energy literacy of our nation. He has written seven books that have been translated into seven languages. We are offering three of them for sale. They include:

1 The Party's Over: War and the Fate of Industrial Societies. This gives some scientific background about peak oil. The latest edition has been substantially revised.

2 Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, which lays out the paths that are before us and the consequences of each choice. It is his most political book.

3 His latest book is The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism, and Economic Collapse. It explains the Oil Depletion Protocol, which he will tell you about tonight.

Richard is not only an author, he is also a journalist, educator, editor, lecturer and a Core Faculty member of New College of California. He teaches a course on "Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community."

He is featured in the film The End of Suburbia, which is many people's introduction to peak oil. He's appeared on national radio and television in eight countries, and has been quoted in Time Magazine, Reuters, and the Associated press. Last month, in a profile in the New Yorker, Bill Clinton told the reporter that he was reading Richard's book The Party's Over.

Richard is also my hero. We are thrilled to have him here and delighted that you could attend.

Please join me in welcoming--Richard Heinberg.

Report on the Energy Transition Summit in CA

I have a report from someone who went to the recent Energy Transition Summit. She is relatively new to the information about peak oil, so looks at this event with fresh eyes. She writes:

I learned from your blog that your group in Atlanta, GA is sponsoring a speech by Richard Heinberg, so I attended an event to hear him.

On Friday, Sep 29th Richard Heinberg was the keynote speaker at the Energy Transition Summit in Santa Rosa, CA. His speech was well illustrated on the screen and seamlessly presented. He simplified a complex subject and made a concise presentation in a clear and articulate manner which saved me many hours of reading and study. His presentation was factual, but his concluding statements about the dire consequences to ourselves and the planet were passionate and motivating. He received a standing ovation.

• Ann Hancock spoke for the Climate Protection Campaign and was a panelist.
• Larry Robinson was a panelist representing Sebastopol, CA city council.
• Jason Bradford was a panelist representing WELL: Willits Economic Localization.
• Julian Darley was a panelist representing Post Carbon Institute.
• Deborah Lindsay was a panelist and Peak Oil Educator.

There were about 150 people in the audience who spoke to each other in interactive dyads and who submitted written questions to the panel. There were many sponsors. Some were vendors and had informational tables.

Lead Sponsors:

• Energy Transition Team
• Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, ,
• Sonoma County Climate Protection Campaign,
• PG&E,
• the Livability Project, and
• Whole Foods.

The panelist had good information about what each of their groups is doing. They encouraged others to get people involved by being positive, to be enthusiastic, and to tell people how much fun it is to work with a wonderful group of new friends.

I personally think that's all good, rather than scaring people, which is probably a turn off, but hardly anyone I know knows what Peak Oil means and the titles of events, books, organizations, committees and groups don't help to explain. The names and titles are meaningful to people already involved, but are cryptic to others. We need a few catchy words to capture the imagination of those not in the know so they will attend an Energy Transition Summits like the one in Santa Rosa and hear Peak Oil explained by Richard Heinberg and the other participants.

~Sonja B.

Thanks very much Sonja B. ! And she brings up a good point--how do we communicate what we are about in just a few words? We need to bridge the gap between jargon and mainstream.

Heinberg on Peak Oil: Challenges and Opportunities at the End of Cheap Petroleum

Modern civilization is dependent on cheap, plentiful energy. But we now face a critical moment in human history: Peak Oil, where global petroleum production enters an irreversible decline, even as demand soars. Dwindling resources and increasing international competition for the remaining supplies have led many experts to issue disturbing warnings about the coming decade.

Richard Heinberg, widely regarded as America’s foremost Peak Oil educator, will share the most up-to-date research on the timing and consequences of global peak oil, and the crucial preparations that must be undertaken, both locally and internationally. His new book, The Oil Depletion Protocol, outlines a practical, humane strategy for addressing petroleum’s inevitable decline.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
7:30 pm
Trinity United Methodist Church
265 Washington Street SW, Atlanta
(opposite City Hall)
Map Directions
$5 suggested donation
($3 for students/seniors)

Richard Heinberg is a journalist, educator, editor, lecturer and a core faculty member at New College of California in San Francisco, where he teaches courses on Energy and Society and Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community.

His six books include:

The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World
The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse

Heinberg’s essays and articles have appeared in many journals and he has given over 200 lectures on oil depletion to a wide variety of audiences. He appears prominently in the documentary The End of Suburbia.

This event is sponsored by Atlanta Beyond Oil,a local organization dedicated to preparing for a changed energy world.
For information, email info@atlantabeyondoil.org
Checkout our Meetup website.

Bicycling, public transportation or walking to this event is encouraged!

Feeling-based learning

I am back from my training with the Genuine Contact program. It was one of those experiences that altered the way I percieve the world in fundamental ways. I changed the way I perceive myself, organizations and meetings. We worked with material that I had encountered before as I got trained to be an adult educator, but I got it at a deeper level. When I have taken learning style or personality type assessment, I tended to test out at a "feeler/intuitive/emotional" type of person. But there are three other orientations as well: the watcher, thinker, and doer.

In the workshop we broke out into groups with people that had a similar orientation to us. Not surprisingly I met with the woman that I had felt most connected to at the workshop. Our assignment was to note what we needed from a facilitator or teacher coming from the perspec tive of our learning style, and we were very excited about having the opportunity to express the experiences of the feeling-based person.

This perspective is not articulated very often, and certainly not in a business context. Feeling-based processes are not usually welcomed. This is a shame because there is a lot of value in getting in touch with one's feelings. With this comes intuition, opening space, "critical feeling," and attending to how things feel. In its broadest application, it is a quality of life issue.

Below are the things that we were able to capture on paper. The minimum requirements that we need from a facilitator/educator:

• Invite feelings into the process. Make it okay to have and express them. Articulate this explicitly. Say it with authenticity.
• Don't be reactive or judgmental when feelings are expressed. Of course if you do have reactions or judgments and then supress them, we will be able to feel that. So if you do have these reactions, it is better to acknowledge and own them. They are not wrong. It is okay. It helps us if they are out on the table.
• Express your acceptance for the feeling side of the spectrum with your body language (nods, eye contact, open posture, etc.)
• Accept your OWN feelings. This is the key to accepting someone else's.

Icing on the cake would be to understand the process of emotional learning.

• I need to stop and feel in order to learn and remember. It may take me some time to process. I may need to go away from the learning environment and digest what has been presented to me before I can open to more.
• Learning evokes strong emotions in me sometimes.
• There is a continuous flow of emotions that goes along with the material I am being presented with.

This is not a problem for us, as long as it is not a problem with you. As Jewel wrote "I'm sensitive, and I want to stay that way."

We are very sensitive to the "energy field" of the meeting.

• disturbances in the energy field (denial, judgements) flood us with "distracting" feelings
• we have a hard time attending to learning content if there are funky interpersonal dynamics in the room
• if other people are having an emotional reaction, we usually have an emotional response to that that we need to process

We are sensitive to the fact that emotions and especially their expression do not have a lot of acceptance in many contexts

• we are upset about this, and when this is blatant it triggers our feelings about having our way of being rejected
• we have a lot of energy going into self-monitoring to check our expression so that we will be accepted
• we are very sensitive to whether the emotional orientation has acceptance or not
• situtaions where the people are closed to our orientation can trigger feelings of anger, dispair, self-doubt about our value, guilt about wanting to have acceptance, and on and on
• it is very scary to express our feelings about this

After we posted our flip chart paper we sat on the couch with a blanket over our heads. We felt extremely vulnerable to bring this forward. But it was also very exhilerating to do so.

We also got to learn about the needs of folks with other orientations. That was extremely valuable. I got a better sense of the implications of orientation when designing meetings or lesson plans that included everybody in the room. I need to give time for the watchers to reflect on their experiences. I need to provide data for the thinkers. I need to give the doers something to do.

So what does all of this have to do with the intersection of community and sustainability? For me, everything. These issues/topics have a strong emotional content for me. I want a community that includes emotional processes. I want to allow for emotional responses to the issues that come up when we consider sustainability.

I also want to open space for myself to broaden the content area of my blog. I am feeling more confident that I can simply come from my own point of view and add it to the collective pool of knowledge. That is the beauty of blogs. They provide so many points of view, and when someone is writing from their own place, I learn about theirs and can include it in my holding of the world. I can even broaden my own opint of view.

As an emotionally-based person I often have to go through a range of emotions to get to that magic place of acceptance. I may have to cry, rage, tremble... but this is the healing process, and I am dedicated to following that.

News

I have exciting news! Atlanta Beyond Oil (the new name for our Meetup group) will be hosting Richard Heinberg in Atlanta on Wednesday, October 11, 2006. I'll update you as we get the details nailed down.

So that has been what I've been working on instead of blogging. And I won't be blogging for two more weeks, as I am going to get more facilitation training in the Genuine Contact program. I am really looking forward to working with folks who value the whole person--the intellect and intuition, the mind and emotion, the rational and non-rational sides of us.

Which reminds me, have you seen the Peak Oil Blues website? I think its wonderful that the emotional aspect of confronting Peak Oil is being attended to.

When I get back from this series of workshops I won't be traveling for a while (thank goodness!) so I will be able to get back into my posting groove. I'll talk to you then!

Conversations with other Peakers

Our Atlanta Oil Awareness Meetup Group has been having interesting conversations about coming up with our new name, and in the process we are realizing we need to clarify our goals and purpose. Here is my latest contribution to the dialogue: (Plus its an easy post while I am out of town taking care of Dear Great Aunt Lou's stuff. Q: how many margarine containers can one person have? A: I didn't count, but I bet its close to 100!!!)


Here's how I look at this... We have a big problem. What are we going to do about this? And so that begs the question... Who is the "we" that I am talking about? And here are the possibilities...

1) We can respond on the global level, which is doing things like having many nations signing the Oil Depletion Protocol. So how can I as an individual or small group affect this change? It is hard to do much. Each of us can sign the protocol. We can write to our national leaders and ask them to do it. We can ask other individuals to do the same.

2) We can respond on the national level, which is doing things like take the "Apollo Program" approach... Make it a national priority to address this problem, provide the resources, mandate programs, wage a propaganda campaign, etc. So how can I as an individual or small group affect this change? Lobby national leaders. Take it upon ourselves to educate the public. Encourage them to lobby, vote for people who will support that, etc.

3) We can respond on the regional level, which is doing things like convening bioregional conferences, summits, Mayor's initiatives, etc. We can support events that are already happening or start one of our own. On the individual level/small group level? Participate, volunteer, or be part of a team that puts one on.

4) We can respond on the state level, which is working with state government, lobbying, and all that political jazz that I don't know too much about. On an individual/small group level we can network with our government, political machines, advocacy organizations that have a Georgia chapter, etc. On the individual small group level, get involved in state politics and advocacy groups, volunteer, do fundraising, etc.

5) We can respond on a metro level (metro Atlanta) which involves learning about the plethora (is that a word?) of organizations doing regional planning, events (Bioneers for example), etc. Individuals and small groups have a lot of leverage here.

6) We can respond on the local level, (cities and towns) getting involved at the city council level, hold home showings of EOS and the Cuba film, etc. Individuals and small groups have lots of leverage here as well.

Another thing to consider is that we are a metro-level group. We do not yet have the membership to break down into smaller constituencies or build up to the state level. So it makes sense to me to work at the scale that we are at: on the Metro scale. This is where we will have the most effect on the world.

An additional bang for the buck is this is the level where the rubber will meet the road in terms of peak oil preparedness planning. We can't count on the larger scale governmental systems to respond adequately (see Katrina).

The other issues is that in the more dire possibilities, we will ONLY be able to deal with things on the local level because it will be too expensive to have a regional, national or global economy (transportation costs).

So to me, this points to the level of our efforts: the metro level.

One could argue that we could be a group of people who are supporting each other to react on a purely individual level (i.e. survival or head to the hills options) but I don't think that is where this group is at.

This is why I think a focus on "relocalization" is so important and why I want to join the Relocalization Network.

I see us as a small group working on the local (metro) level and networked with other groups working on their local levels. And we need to keep in mind that "relocalization" means different things depending on the scope of the region you are talking about: village, town, city, metro, etc.

###

So that is my current thinking on the issue. Any thoughts?

Atlanta Oil Awareness

I have been working on several projects for my Atlanta Oil Awareness Meetup Group. I will tell you more about them when we have things a little more solid. But one of the things we are doing is producing a tabletop display. My friend from eleven design is doing our design work.

I have been thinking and reading about branding. If you have checked out the group listing at relocalize.net, you know that there are many takes on the concept of an oil awareness group. I think that "Sustainabile Atlanta" is probably too broad for us right now. I'm leaning towards the simple and straightforward "Atlanta Peak Oil." The folks at Sidney Peak Oil tried to initiate a campaign to get all of the groups to follow that format, but it didn't work. Everyone did their own thing.

Other titles in the running include Atlanta Powerdown, Atlanta Post Carbon Solutions, and Atlanta After Oil. If you have any feedback, ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Update

Well I am back from my out-of-town adventures, but I will be leaving again soon. Great Aunt Lou is ready to sell her house, so Mom, Dad, Aunt and I are going back to Chicago to help her dispose of her stuff.

A week after that I will be going to another series of workshops, so my blogging will continue to be slow.

In the meantime I want to announce the inception of a friend's blog: The Unseen Role of Denial. It is quite eclectic, ranging from esoteric spiritual philosophizing to left wing political rants. He had been writing long responses to other folk's blogs, so I encouraged him to start his own. Check in on him from time to time to see what he is up to.

Eldercare, Part Two

Whew! I am back home, and we got Great Aunt Lou placed in an assisted living retirement community. As miserable as she was at home, she didn't want to go. I meant "the end of the road" for her, and she had a very difficult time confronting this. I can't say I blame her, but we encouraged her to reframe it as a transition rather than a funeral. Thank God she has enough money to be in a place where they will spoil her. I would hate to have to leave her somewhere that was awful. Its all because of compound interest. She just lived long enough for it to accrue.

It was the first time I was involved in the care of an elder. It was an eye-opening experience. And a very valuable one. I really saw how our decisions and habits create our future. By her own admission she was not very flexible. She hadn't moved in 50 years. She said everything was so much harder when you are 92. She had no sense of how fortunate she is. She is healthy, can hear and see and walk and had a network of friends and neighbors looking after her. They are the ones that called us and said we needed to intervene.

This got me thinking about community. What an amazing thing to have neighbors looking in on her every day! Frankly, her community was appalled that her family had not stepped in already. But we had been trying to convince her to move to a retirement community for 20 years. What can you do when they say no?

It probably helped that there was two of us. We played "good cop, bad cop." I got to be good cop since I hadn't been dealing with her all my life. I didn't have a backlog of frustration to deal with. But by then end of our visit, when she said we were kicking her out of her house, I reached the end of my patience. We were doing everything in our power to protect her, but she couldn't see that.

It brought home the importance of getting my will, living will, trusts, power of attorney, etc. together. Fortunately these were all in place. One less hurdle to cross when the time comes.

She is a Depression baby. It is really hard for her to spend money on herself. But what was she saving it for? She is 92 for Heaven's sake!

She was a natural recycler. She saved all of the plastic packaging she encountered. On the one had I wanted to toss it all (we stuffed it in recycle bags) and on the other hand I appreciated her valuing of the durable things (plastics, especially) that we throw away. They are so over engineered. A grocery bag is used once, but will live 1000 years. Crazy.

She lived in the neighborhood for 50 years. She new some of her neighbors before they were born. Out of that comes a certain loyalty. One of her neighbors cried when we told her she was gone.

I am pretty much exhausted. Was on the road for 15 hours today. I am going to the beach in Florida for a week to recuperate. Then I'm off to Minnesoota to visit Mr. Logan's family. So please excuse me if I don't post much. I will do what I can until life settles down again.

Eldercare

My great aunt is 92 and doesn't have any kids of her own, so helping her out falls upon my mom, her sister, and me. All four of us live in different states, so we are in the process of sorting out who can do what. Right now I am on the road, making my way to Chicago with my aunt. We would like to get her moved into an assisted living situation, as she is starting to have paranoid delusions. It might be dementia, or it might just be that she is dehydrated. But in any case, if she continues to call the police every day they might have her taken to the hospital, evaluated, and then declared incompetent and placed in care that someone else chooses.

So our goal is to convince her to exercise her choice while she still can.

I keep imagining myself in her shoes. What would it be like to give up your home of 50 years, and go live in an institution? What would it be like to know that you are never coming home again?

None of my grandparents needed this kind of care. They all died at home. So it is new territory for my family.

We did find a great resource for you to file away in case you might need it some day. It was put together by the National Institute on Aging, which is a part of the National institute on Health. It is specifically for those giving
long distance care. It offers a helpful perspective for those of us who don't live in community with our elders.

Comparing the Scenarios about Peak Oil

I've had this link in my "future blog topics" file for a while. OilScenarios.info presents the range of assumptions about our oil situation and their corresponding predictions about our future.

This site provides a general introduction to the peak oil debate by providing an overview of five general scenarios for the future of oil and, in the minds of many, scenarios for the future of our society!

The author divides the continuum into five categories: Pollyanna, Optimistic, Plateau, Pessimistic, and Head for the Hills. As I read through them, I realized that I fell into the Pessimistic category, and should probably disclose that somewhere on my blog. If I examined my fears, they would fall into the Head for the Hills category, but I don't have the energy or stamina for that, so I am just crossing my fingers and hoping that a Pessimistic attitude is realistic enough.

Actually if I look at my behavior in terms of preparedness, I am acting like a Pollyannist. Hmm. I guess that is a question for everybody: are you congruent between your point of view and your actions? And if you are not, what kind of support do you need to get yourself where you want to be?

Sustainability Open Space Asheville

June 26th Chris Weaver opened the space for a new network to form for those who felt called to come together to discuss sustainability from the Asheville, NC area. He sponsored an Open Spaces Technology workshop with the theme of "Transforming ourselves and our Culture to Dynamic Sustainability."

In an open space meeting the folks that show up set the agenda. There was a wide range of topics, including:

• collaborative art, art activism, beauty
• nuclear transport
• educating and integrating the poor
• water catchment and conservation, urban homesteading
• growing medicinal plants, making a living on the land in the city
• transforming the public school system, sustainable regional transportation
• green burial
• creating an event in Asheville like Portland's City Repair
• using cloth grocery bags
• creating an Asheville intentional community group
• preparing for peak oil
• teen pregnancy
• meaningful inclusion of the racial and ethnic experience

People went to break out sessions that they were drawn to and had discussions that were recorded and then bound into a book of proceedings. Now everyone has a record of what went on, who was where, and how to get in touch with them. We gathered in a large Circle at openings and closings, passed the talking stick, and danced the spiral dance. Through intensive listening and inspired speaking a community was born.

Chris envisions SOS Asheville to be a space for community people and organizations to connect, supported by a Council of Leaders. If all goes well, this group could be a prototype for other SOS Community regional groups. Maybe we will see on in Atlanta.

The group will have a web presence at http://SOSAsheville.wordpress.com/. Keep an eye on them as I predict good things will be happening!

Open Space Technology

Next week I will be in training again, this time to learn how to facilitate Open Space workshops. Open Space Technology is great for large diverse groups who have complex problems to solve. It allows people to set their own agendas, take responsibility for the areas they feel passionate about, and if enough time can be set aside, begin to develop their action plan. The workshops are self-organizing, and it is very empowering for people to see that they do not need formal leaders to get things done. They can do it themselves.

I think it would be a perfect fit with my goal of helping communities relocalize their resources. I am very excited about it.

My trainers will be Chris Weaver of Springbranch and Birgitt Williams of Dalar International Consultantcy. During the course of the workshop we will be running a 1.5 day Open Space gathering on the topic of Sustainability. If you are in the Asheville, SC area come on down and join us!

As usual, I will give you a report when I get back.

Groovy Green

Groovy Green is a new on-line magazine that started covering Ithica, NY and has expanded to discuss broader green concerns. They are particularly supportive of their readership taking action.

This is the time for taking action in our lives. We will be expanding our focus to include ways that you can become more self-sufficient, as well as challenging ourselves at GG as a way of inspiring others.

They are expanding their base of contributors (including Yours Truely) as they are striving to become a "People's Green Magazine." They have pictures and fun videos and a blog. They're your one-stop shop for all your Green desires. Check them out!

photo by benjamin wagner

An Inconvenient Truth

Wow--I just came back from the opening night of An Inconvenient Truth in Atlanta. Our showing was sold out, and from the looks of things, so were other showings. I commend the theatre for having booths in their lobby from local organizations. I snuck my Oil Awareness Meetup Group's fliers on the community table.

There was a palpable buzz in the audience--it reminded me of the excitement before a rock show. We sat through lots of previews targeted for our demographic segment.

So the main thing I want to say about it is--go see it. It is very well done. You'll learn about Al Gore (although I got a little tired of all the close up profile shots of him being thoughtful) and see him in action with his high tech global warming show.

He has given his show over 1000 times, so it is very well developed. He says he has tried to get inside his audiences' heads, to understand their objections, and to answer to them. So he confronts everything you have ever heard about global warming head on, and with excellent graphics, uses data to let you draw your own conclusions.

It was wonderful to be in an audience that boo'd and hissed when the Bushes where on. There were many moments when the film audience joined in the applause of the studio audience. I think the line that got the biggest response was: "Political will is a renewable resource." We have to let our representatives know, not matter what our affiliation, that this issue is important and will determine our vote.

The climatecrisis.net website includes and extensive list of actions that we can take to make a difference. They are virtually the same actions to take to prepare for peak oil. These issues are not really separate. In fact our peak oil group has started to climate change in our focus.

This week I pledge to change the air filters in my a/c and check the pressure of my tires. Its the least I can do for the planet.

Have a peak at the list for yourself. Anything you've been meaning to get around to? Now's the time.