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Greening Our Local Governments

ENGEL — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:31:49 -0700

Hi all,
I was unable to be at the meeting yesterday, but I heard about this group at the Forest Grove Peace Vigil, and I'm interested in being involved. I'm a student at Pacific University, and am working to get our local governments in this area to reduce fossil fuel consumption. Last spring I finally got the City of Hillsboro to sign onto the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, as well as commit to doing an inventory of greenhouse emission sources and making a plan to reduce emissions. Now I've moved onto the county government; I'm trying to get the WA County Board of Commissioners to pass the US Cool Counties Declaration, which would commit the county to reducing emissions to 80% below current levels by 2050, with interim goals along the way. I have an on-line petition asking them to pass the Declaration, at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/cool-washington-county. I need as many signatures as possible, especially from WA County residents, so please, please take a moment to visit the link.

I think that working at the local level is one of the most effective ways we can make real progress on getting rid of fossil fuels, and there is a lot of exciting stuff going on with local governments right now. I saw that influencing local governments was on the agenda for the meeting last night - sorry again that I couldn't be there. Anyway, I look forward to working with this group!

Washington County Peak Oil

Guilds Build Skills

PeakOilMom — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:24:46 -0700

According to dictionary.com, a "Guild" is a noun and:

1. an organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., esp. one formed for [education, enjoyment, and socialization--in my experience].
3. Botany. a group of plants, as parasites, having a similar habit of growth and nutrition.

Much has been written already about the need to gain new skills and reacquaint ourselves with the "old ways." Not a day goes by when there isn't some writer lamenting that the old timers are dying off, with them much knowledge is passing into the aether, and as a result we must "get busy" acquiring new skills.

Recently, I watched an episode of Peak Moment TV where a guest suggested individuals learn blacksmith (iron-working/metal skills). I have no doubt that he is right. But I was left wondering--where in Sam Hill am I going to do that? I mean my little suburb doesn't even have a butcher or a baker of it's own. A blacksmith...who teaches...women?

But, I have yet to find any recommendations (and I read a lot material on this topic) that we look to our local, existing guilds as a place to begin acquiring these new skills. What a missed opportunity! Our guilds are full, at least here in Oregon, of amazingly talented individuals who are all too eager to share their knowledge. Many local guilds are comprised of hobbyists and artisans that accept new members, convey skills via classes and workshops, post newsletters, and hold retreats and interesting events.

Take the upcoming Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (in Canby) September 21-23. The workshops and classes feature instructors that crisscross the content area of several local guilds: the Colombia Basin Basketry Guild, the Northwest Regional Spinners Association, and the Handweavers Guild. There's a large list of classes to attend (www.flockandfiberfestival.com) and content areas to explore.

Take these opportunities! Get Busy!

Here is a list of the guilds that I am familiar with in our area. It is not exhaustive. Please note that I'm not a member of them all, just a few. If you know of other guilds, please post so that our group may benefit.

Guild of Oregon Woodworkers
http://www.guildoforegonwoodworkers.com/About.aspx
$, newsletter, classes

Oregon Quilt Guilds
http://www.efn.org/~evq/QuiltGuilds.html
$, events, classes

Oregon Brewers Guild
http://oregonbeer.org/links.html
$, events

Oregon Glass Guild
http://www.oregonglassguild.org/index.php
$, workshops

Portland Hand Weavers Guild, Inc
http://northwestweavers.org/MemberGuilds/MGPortland.htm
$, retreats, classes

Creative Metal Arts Guild
http://www.cmaguild.org/index.html

Northwest Regional Spinners Guild
http://www.nwrsa.org/

Knitting Guilds, such as:
www.tigardknittingguild.org

Colombia Basin Basketry Guild
http://basketryguild.org/index.html
$, retreat, newsletter, classes, natural materials gathering

Home Orchard Society
www.homeorchardsociety.org
$, newsletter, classes, events, demonstration orchard

Washington County Peak Oil

Preparation Lists for Skills and Projects You can Do in light of Peak Oil

dmaebori — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:41:29 -0700

The following are lists of preparation project and skills to consider developing for yourself or in community with others, prepared by Jim Dame, a Portland Peak Oil and WCPO member.
[Also please note that Our Own Website Contains its Preparation List: Click "Peak Oil Info" in the upper tool bar, then click Downloads, then click "What Anybody can Start Doing Now to Powerdown their Lives. And, Do Go to the "Resources" section also found in the upper tool bar. There is tons of information there, provided by Peter Lunsford, to get you started on lots of the ideas found in the list we have posted and in the lists below.]

The first list is covering skills that would be neccessary in a worst case
> scenario but would be useful to have anyway. These I consider for the long
> term.
>
> 1) Know how to grow your own, learn all the gardening skills you can.
> Learn how to compost, how to preserve and put up food, and probably
> really important, how to collect seeds for future use.
> 2) Learn how to harvest water. Harvesting and using rain water. Know
> how to purify and store water. Along with gardening how use irrigation.
> Experiment with dousing, have a basic understanding of wells.
> 3) Start bicycling, learn bike repairs.
> 4) Understand basic home repairs. Learn basic carpentry, familarize yourself
> with hand tools, start picking some up (garage sales, craigslist, etc.) Roofing
> skills will come in handy, composition shingles may not be available.
> 5) Learn some basic waste disposal. Weekly trash pickups may not be available.
> It may be neccessay to learn humanure techniques, sewer systems may be iffy.
> 6) Learn basic medical and first aid techniques. It wouldn't hurt to acquaint
> yourself with natural and herbal medicine.
> 7) Household sk ills.
> Cooking (maybe over something other than modern stoves)
> Sewing, knitting (darning socks)
> Soap and Candle making.
> Along with gardening, learn canning, dehydrating, other preservation
> techniques.
> 8) Animal husbandry, raising and caring for livestock. Learn beekeeping.
> Along with this it wouldn't hurt to develop some hunting and fishing skills.
> 9) Community building. Communication and organizing skills. Developing
> cooperation (for farming, support, protection)
> 10)Music, Art. Learn an instrument, sing, act, dance, write.
> 11) Learn a barterable trade or skill. Carpentry, masonry, basic electrical,
> basic plumbing, painting.
> 12) Beer/Wine making. Alcohol distillation (for fuel, medical disinfectant, as
> well as adult beverages or barter).
> 13) Learn about and use solar power. Learn about photovoltaic & hot water to
> solar cooking.
> 14) Learn about leather tanning and working.
> 15) Develop some metalworking skills.
> 16) Knowing how to grow, maintain & use a woodlot.
>
> You don't have to learn them all in depth but it wouldn't hurt to have them to
> fall back on for 11), have a barterable skill.
> Many of these skills would be handy in almost any emergency.
>
>
> Next I consider the Short Term Skills (or goals). These are things to get
> started on now that will help you immediately.
>
> 1) Get healthy (diet, exercise, use your health benefits if you have them)
> 2) Get out of debt (reduce consumption)
> 3) Start gardening (even one plant in a pot)
> 4) Use public transportation (the more we use it, the more they'll provide)
> 5) Get to know your neighbors (you don't have terrify them with post oil
> stories, just get the communication going, have a bar-b-que, block party, book
> circles, push the idea of community)
> 6) Learn all you can (start one topic at a time)
> 7) Push public officials on awareness and preparation. Get them to start
> thinking about planning and organizing responses to the upcoming challenges.
> (the more people working on the problems the better)
> 8) Simplify, reduce, recycle, reuse. Like the old farmer from New Hampshire
> "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
> 9) Buy local, farmer's markets, local retail. Try to keep your dollars local.
> 10) Join a CSA (community supported agriculture). This helps the local farmers
> to have a solid base for their products.
> 11) Bike, walk whenever possible.
> 12) Store up some food, medical supplies, household supplies. You don't need to
> go into survivalist mode but it wouldn't hurt to have a few months in your
> larder to tide you over. Build it up gradually (take advantage of sales),
> rotate it, Make Sure you know to use it.
> 13) Learn emergency preparedness. Check out the Red Cross, your local fire
> department, see if there are Emergency Response Team training in your city or
> county.
>
> I know it seems daunting when you step back and look at it as a whole, so don't.
> Take a couple of them that interest you the most and get started.
> I'm reminded of when I moved here from the midwest almost 2 decades ago.
> I was used to fishing in fairly small rivers or streams, you could usually cover
> most with a single cast. When I first saw the Deschutes, this big, brawling,
> fast river, it was intimidating. You want to fish the whole thing on one cast,
> you can't, it's frustating. My fishing buddy taught me to approach it in
> pieces, fish a rod's length out then work up to a cast out,try to break the
> river down into a familar size I was used to. I still can't catch many fish but
> it's more fun.
>
> Jim Dame

Washington County Peak Oil

Sustainable Population for the Willamette Valley

eculp — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:43:05 -0700

So how many people can the Willamette Valley hold? Has anyone done a study yet? What are the limiting factors? - Fresh water, arable land, trading asset?
Weigh in with facts, opinions, worries, hopes, dreams!
Lets build a database so we have some fodder to create a place that will regenerate for generations and generations!

Washington County Peak Oil

Realistic Ideas for a Post-Carbon Washington County

plunsfo — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:51:26 -0700

One of the key goals of Washington County Peak Oil is to motivate positive changes in the County and among our citizens to reduce our risks from energy depletion. In that context, this forum is dedicated to putting forth realistic ideas that will will:

1) Reduce petroleum consumption by local citizens, and
2) Be realistically achievable.

I'll start with this idea:

Dropping the highway speed limits to 55mph would mean that all drivers would have to think about the change and why it occurred, and as such it would be a powerful way of getting the public’s attention. Drivers would have to factor in a little longer time in their driving, but in addition to saving fuel lives would be saved and accidents reduced.

The rules: You are encouraged to add ideas to this forum, and to discuss those added by others. Stay on point. Peak Oil affects everyone, regardless of their social background, politics, religion, orientation, or station in life. Keep it civil -- we don't bash each other or make partisan political statements here -- we post thoughtful responses in the spirit of courteous, healthy debate to find real solutions. If you agree or disagree with an idea then please state why you feel that way -- don't attack or insult the person who presented it. If you think an idea won't work, or isn't realistic, don't just post your dissent -- offer a constructive solution as well.

The moderator reserves the right to remove any post that violates the spirit of this forum, or the Washington County Peak Oil group guiding principles.

Washington County Peak Oil

Cuba

eculp — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:32:08 -0700

Mathis Wackernagel, CEO of the Global Footprint Network has developed a concept to determine the carrying capacity of planet Earth. Their method defined: 'The ecological footprint of a person is a measure of the amount of land that a person needs to produce everything that he or shee consumes: food, clothing, energy, shelter, the tools that are needed to make the clothing, etc.' Under contract by the united Nations and the Swiss government, Mathis and his team calculated the average per capita ecological footprint of many nations on this globe. The average Swiss consumes roughly 5.5 hectares (13.6) acres), the average American occupies roughly 10 hectares (24.7 acres), whereas, the average inhabitant of Madagascar gets by with 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres) only. The average inhabitant on this planet currently makes use of 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres). Mathis then took the entire available arable land of this planet and divided it by the current population of 6.5 billion people. This produces an available per capita footprint of 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres).

Currently, there is only one nation that is within this average footprint. In order to move towards a sustainable world, we all must become... not Berliners, but Cubans.
-Adapted from Professor Francois Cellier on www.theoildrum.com 'Ecological Footprint, Energy Consumption and the Looming Collapse'

Washington County Peak Oil

Lifeboat Communities

eculp — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:52:14 -0700

How do we go from talking about lifeboat communities to actually creating them? Well, let's keep talking until we have a definite solutions!
Check out the archdruid's blog: Lifeboat communities

Washington County Peak Oil

Backyard Gardening: Can it Sustain You?

plunsfo — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:55:46 -0700

In a San Francisco Chronicle article published in July of 2004, two men described their nearly fully sustainable diet derived from their 6,000 sq. foot backyard garden in Berkeley, CA. The garden not only included vegetables and grains, but also ducks, rabbits, and goats (with a dairy operation!)

So I got out my calculator to see how much land that really was. An acre is about 43,560 square feet, roughly equivalent to 3/4's of a football field. So a 6,000 sq.ft. backyard is 500 sq. ft. larger than 1/8th of an acre of land, or said another way...it's about 10 yards of a regulation-width football field.

John Jeavons, the master of bio-intensive gardening, describes a food garden plan for a four-person family that could annually provide most of their food requirements in about 1,300 sq.ft of garden space ("How to Grow more Vegetables" by John Jeavons, pp138-141) including calorie crops and fruit trees, but not grains. That would leave about 4,700 sq.ft., almost two-thirds of the land, for animal husbandry.

Another concept that people don't frequently think about is growing vertically instead of horizontally. Cucumbers, squash, and other vine-style vegetables can be trained onto vertical vines, savings lots of ground area. Fruit trees can be pruned into espalier forms, or trained onto raised trellises that cover seating areas or tool storage.

What other ideas are there that promote good yields but that save space in a garden?

Washington County Peak Oil

Stop Global Warming Pollution Credits Giveaway!

brernzx — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:08:10 -0700

Subject: Global Warming, Stop Pollution Credits Giveaway!

Hi Global Warming opponents,

It's looks pretty clear that some kind of pollution credit system will be created soon to try to get a handle on the climate crisis. Polluting industries are trying to turn that legislation into a massive program of corporate subsidies. Their plan--giving away the credits for free to big polluters--punishes new companies and companies who got a jump on cleaning up their act.

But a full public auction makes sure that everyone plays fair by charging them equally to pollute and raises money to help pay for America's transition to the clean energy economy. Most of the Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed the public auction--which means industry is in a hurry to lock up the other system while we still have this President and this Congress.

I just signed a petition to ask our Congress to make sure any climate legislation has a public aucti on to sell pollution credits. S igning a petition may not feel like a lot. But it's a first step. And there's a lot at stake--$50 to $150 billion. Enough money to help all Americans transition to a clean energy economy. Our representatives need to hear clearly that we care about this issue.

Can you join me by signing the petition?

http://pol.moveon.org/nofreeride/?r_by=-7734897-osFP1n&rc=paste

Thanks,
Bernie

Portland Peak Oil, Portland Oregon

Petition Asking County to Cut Emissions

ENGEL — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:49:37 -0800

Hi,
I wanted to let WCPO members know about an on-line petition which I'll be sending to the Washington County Board of Commissioners, asking them to commit to reducing greenhouse emissions from our communities. I am a student at Pacific University in Forest Grove, and worked with WCPO to organize a screening of "A Crude Awakening" at the University, followed by a panel discussion about how local governments can cut our dependence on fossil fuels. I would now like to prompt members of the Board of Commissioners to make the strategies discussed at that event into reality, by sending them this petition. I hope to send it to the Board sometime in the next few weeks; so far the petition has over 100 signatures from county residents, but we need even more. Please consider taking thirty seconds to add your name, at www.thepetitionsite.com/1/cool-washington-county

Thanks!
Nick

Washington County Peak Oil

New essay on the past and future of civilization

wlewis — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:13:07 -0800

An important new essay by Ran Prieur, one of the leading thinkers on the subject of post-oil society. In it you will find many of your assumptions challenged. This is good. Our thinking needs to keep evolving and not get stuck into belief systems because events and history do not act according to our plans and wishes.
http://ranprieur.com/essays/beyondciv.html

Washington County Peak Oil

Help Students Fight Global Warming This Weekend!

ENGEL — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:45:41 -0800

Yesterday, ten Pacific University students headed for downtown Hillsboro to ask for a strong Washington County Sustainability Plan. We gathered outside the County Administrative Building and held up home-made signs that threatened to blow away in a strong wind. We were there from 3:30 to 5:30 Friday afternoon, and got lots of positive feedback from passers-by (as well as the occasional profanity flung from the window of a giant SUV). It was the latest phase of a months-long campaign by Pacific students to get the County Board working more seriously on climate change. Partly as a result of student efforts, the County has promised to lay out a "Washington County Sustainability Plan" - and we want to make sure the final plan is a strong one, that will actually decrease greenhouse emissions.

This weekend, we are following up on Friday's action by asking County residents to email the Board of Commissioners, and express support for a strong sustainability plan. Sunday evening, we will be generating emails from Pacific students, but you can help us by sending a message to the Board over the weekend, too! The emails for the Board of Commissioners are:

At-Large-Chair Tom Brian: tom_brian@co.washington.or.us
Commissioner Andy Duyck: Andy@duyckmachine.com
Commissioner Roy Rogers: Royr@rascpas.com
Commissioner Dick Schouten: dick_schouten@co.washington.or.us
Commissioner Desari Strader: desaristrader@comcast.net

Thank you,
Nick Engelfried
Pacific University Student

Washington County Peak Oil

Recycling

dmaebori — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:14:25 -0700

The following are notes from a recent Portland Peak Oil meeting with lots of good ideas about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Anyone else with any other ideas??

Also, please note that Free Geek is not the only place to recycle. In Beaverton is a company called E-Tech Recycling, found at www.etechrecycling.com . They are located at 444 SW 170th Ave., Suite 103, Beaverton OR 97005. 503-693-8939. They take computers, printers, DVD players, TV's as well as fluorescent light bulbs. You may have to pay a little for them to recycle, like 50 cents for a compact fluoresent bulb but that's fair enough.

Anyway, here are the ideas from Portland Peak Oil:

Notes from the Peak Oil Meeting, April 23, 2008 by Kelly R.

Speaker: Betty Shelley, Master Recycler, from the Metro Recycling Hotline

Betty and her husband Jon use only one garbage can of garbage a year.
They carefully recycle everything else.

Betty said that when she took the Master Recycler class she learned the
concept of "pre-cycling" i.e., when you are about to buy something, look at
its packaging and try to determine what you are going to do with it. She
says at times, she will see a package of cookies, or something that she
wants but that she doesn't buy it because of the packaging.

For example, they are primarily vegetarians, but when they do eat meat, they
buy boneless cuts of meat so they do not have to deal with what to do with
"the carcass". If there are bones or say, chicken skin, or fish skin, they
will put it in a plastic bag and keep it in the freezer until their one can
of garbage a year.

She reminded us that "Reduce" and "Reuse" come before Recycle, and that
following voluntary simplicity ideas, they carefully weigh what they spend
their money on. She recommended the book, *Your Money or Your Life*.

They also are very thoughtful about what comes into their house and what can
they do with it. She said that reusing requires creativity. For example,
the white cottony stuff that comes in your vitamins can be used as a cotton
ball, a make-up applier. Old pantyhose can be cut up into soft plant ties.
Old t-shirts make great cleaning rags.

She said that landfills are very expensive to maintain. When you think
about throwing something away, think about where "away" is. One needs to
raise one's consciousness about what happens to things you acquire.

Everything you buy is a choice, a choice of what you are spending your money
on, and then a choice of what you will do with the packaging.

Aluminum is always more easily recycled than plastic.

She always chooses recycled paper products, particularly unbleached
ones. White paper products are bleached with dioxin.

Composting is one of the better things to do with kitchen garbage, as we all
know. She also talked about the difficulties of recycling for people who
live in apartments.

She handed out a list of plastic drop sites, and mentioned that Metro was
having several plastic round-up days on May 3rd and on May 17th. (Personal
note: I went to my first plastic intake day a couple of months ago. I came
home with more than I took over! If there's something there that you can
use, you can take it. I got a couple of great empty kitty litter 5 gallon
pails with lids, I got two cute children's sized plastic chairs for my
grandchildren, and got lots of plastic planting pots of all sizes from tree
size to 2 " square, plus trays to put them in for starting seeds?in fact
they had tons of black pots of all sizes.)

Betty cooks from scratch and buys in bulk. She said that she and her
husband are on a limited income and buying in bulk at New Seasons makes
organic food more affordable.

She said that nearly all tin cans have a plastic liner which leaches nasty
stuff into your food. She said the only exception is Eden foods.

She talked about recycling aseptic packages (those that keep milk, soups,
soy milk good even though they are not refrigerated). You remove the
plastic pour spout, flatten it, and it can be recycled curbside. She is not
sure how much longer they will be acceptable, as they sometimes interfere
with recycling machines.

She mentioned that some things that can be used as school supplies, i.e.,
rubber bands, colored paper, etc., can be given to SCRAP, located on
Williams Avenue, which donates them to teachers for use in their classrooms.

There are places that take candle stumps, CD spindle cases, even CD's. There
is no place, however, that will take old cassette tapes.

She mentioned Free Geek as one place to dispose of electronics and TV's,
although she said that the Metro area's recycling rules will change starting
on May 1 with the new roll-out carts (they will accept yogurt and margarine
tubs), and that there will be another change on January 1, 2009, when they
will accept all the Free Geek-type stuff for free.

During discussion some films re recommended: *A Century of Self, the Power
of Nightmares*, and* The Story of Stuff*. Some are available on-line.

Some people will buy something, remove the packaging right there in the
store and give it back to the manager or check out clerk. Also some people
take the butcher wrap from grocery stores and bring it back to the stores
and put it in the store's trashcan.

Betty reminded us that Metro has a hotline (she answers it at times) and if
you have any question about recycling anything, they will be able to tell
you how.

The number is 503-234-3000. Metro is online as *
www.metro-region,org/recycling.*

Washington County Peak Oil

Transition Towns

plunsfo — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:22:05 -0700

I committed to provide the group with more information on the Transition Towns initiative, originated in the UK. This initiative is an approach to changing (transitioning) your town to a sustainable community.

Here are the primary steps:

12 Key Steps to embarking on your transition journey

To begin with, it is important to note that although the term “Transition Town” has stuck, what we are talking about are Transition Cities, Transition Islands, Transition Hamlets, Transition Valleys, Transition Anywhere-You-Find-People.

#1. Set up a steering group and design its demise from the outset

This stage puts a core team in place to drive the project forward during the initial phases. We recommend that you form your Steering Group with the aim of getting through stages 2 – 5, and agree that once a minimum of four sub-groups (see #5) are formed, the Steering Group disbands and reforms with a person from each of those groups. This requires a degree of humility, but is very important in order to put the success of the project above the individuals involved. Ultimately your Steering Group should become made up of 1 representative from each sub-group.

#2. Awareness raising

This stage will identify your key allies, build crucial networks and prepare the community in general for the launch of your Transition initiative.

For an effective Energy Descent Action plan to evolve, its participants have to understand the potential effects of both Peak Oil and Climate Change – the former demanding a drive to increase community resilience, the later a reduction in carbon footprint.

Screenings of key movies (Inconvenient Truth, End of Suburbia, Crude Awakening, Power of Community) along with panels of “experts” to answer questions at the end of each, are very effective. (See the Transition Initiatives Primer (1MB pdf) for the lowdown on all the movies – where to get them, trailers, what the licensing regulations are, doomster rating vs solution rating)

Talks by experts in their field of climate change, peak oil and community solutions can be very inspiring. Articles in local papers, interviews on local radio, presentations to existing groups, including schools, are also part of the toolkit to get people aware of the issues and ready to start thinking of solutions.

#3. Lay the foundations

This stage is about networking with existing groups and activists, making clear to them that the Transition Town initiative is designed to incorporate their previous efforts and future inputs by looking at the future in a new way. Acknowledge and honour the work they do, and stress that they have a vital role to play.

Give them a concise and accessible overview of peak oil, what it means, how it relates to climate change, how it might affect the community in question, and the key challenges it presents. Set out your thinking about how a Transition Town process might be able to act as a catalyst for getting the community to explore solutions and to begin thinking about grassroots mitigation strategies.

#4. Organise a Great Unleashing

This stage creates a memorable milestone to mark the project’s “coming of age”, moves it right into the community at large, builds a momentum to propel your initiative forward for the next period of its work and celebrates your community’s desire to take action.

In terms of timing, we estimate that 6 months to a year after your first “awareness raising” movie screening is about right.

The Official Unleashing of Transition Town Totnes was held in September 2006, preceded by about 10 months of talks, film screenings and events.

Regarding contents, it’ll need to bring people up to speed on Peak Oil and Climate Change, but in a spirit of “we can do something about this” rather than doom and gloom.

One item of content that we’ve seen work very well is a presentation on the practical and psychological barriers to personal change – after all, this is all about what we do as individuals.

It needn’t be just talks, it could include music, food, opera, break dancing, whatever you feel best reflects your community’s intention to embark on this collective adventure.

#5. Form sub groups

Part of the process of developing an Energy Descent Action Plan is tapping into the collective genius of the community. Crucial for this is to set up a number of smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of the process. Each of these groups will develop their own ways of working and their own activities, but will all fall under the umbrella of the project as a whole.

Ideally, sub groups are needed for all aspects of life that are required by your community to sustain itself and thrive. Examples of these are: food, waste, energy, education, youth, economics, transport, water, local government.

Each of these sub groups is looking at their area and trying to determine the best ways of building community resilience and reducing the carbon footprint. Their solutions will form the backbone of the Energy Descent Action Plan.

#6. Use Open Space

We’ve found Open Space Technology to be a highly effective approach to running meetings for Transition Town initiatives.

In theory it ought not to work. A large group of people comes together to explore a particular topic or issue, with no agenda, no timetable, no obvious coordinator and no minute takers.

However, we have run separate Open Spaces for Food, Energy, Housing, Economics and the Psychology of Change. By the end of each meeting, everyone has said what they needed to, extensive notes had been taken and typed up, lots of networking has had taken place, and a huge number of ideas had been identified and visions set out.

The essential reading on Open Space is Harrison Owen’s Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide, and you will also find Peggy Holman and Tom Devane’s The Change Handbook: Group Methods for Shaping the Future an invaluable reference on the wider range of such tools.

#7 Develop visible practical manifestations of the project

It is essential that you avoid any sense that your project is just a talking shop where people sit around and draw up wish lists. Your project needs, from an early stage, to begin to create practical, high visibility manifestations in your community. These will significantly enhance people’s perceptions of the project and also their willingness to participate.

There’s a difficult balance to achieve here during these early stages. You need to demonstrate visible progress, without embarking on projects that will ultimately have no place on the Energy Descent Action Plan. In Transition Town Totnes, the Food group launched a project called ‘Totnes- the Nut Capital of Britain’ which aims to get as much infrastructure of edible nut bearing trees into the town as possible. With the help of the Mayor, we recently planted some trees in the centre of town, and made it a high profile event (see left).

#8. Facilitate the Great Reskilling

If we are to respond to peak oil and climate change by moving to a lower energy future and relocalising our communities, then we’ll need many of the skills that our grandparents took for granted. One of the most useful things a Transition Town project can do is to reverse the “great deskilling” of the last 40 years by offering training in a range of some of these skills.

Research among the older members of our communities is instructive – after all, they lived before the throwaway society took hold and they understand what a lower energy society might look like. Some examples of courses are: repairing, cooking, cycle maintenance, natural building, loft insulation, dyeing, herbal walks, gardening, basic home energy efficiency, making sour doughs, practical food growing (the list is endless).

Your Great Reskilling programme will give people a powerful realisation of their own ability to solve problems, to achieve practical results and to work cooperatively alongside other people. They’ll also appreciate that learning can truly be fun.

#9 Build a bridge to Local Government

Whatever the degree of groundswell your Transition Town initiative manages to generate, however many practical projects you’ve initiated and however wonderful your Energy Descent Plan is, you will not progress too far unless you have cultivated a positive and productive relationship with your local authority. Whether it is planning issues, funding issues or providing connections, you need them on board. Contrary to your expectations, you may well find that you are pushing against an open door.

We are exploring how we might draft up an Energy Descent Action Plan for Totnes in a format similar to the current Community Development Plan. Perhaps, one day, council planners will be sitting at a table with two documents in front of them – a conventional Community Plan and a beautifully presented Energy Descent Action Plan. It’s sometime in 2008 on the day when oil prices first break the $100 a barrel ceiling. The planners look from one document to the other and conclude that only the Energy Descent Action Plan actually addresses the challenges facing them. And as that document moves centre stage, the community plan slides gently into the bin (we can dream!).

#10 Honour the elders

For those of us born in the 1960s when the cheap oil party was in full swing, it is very hard to picture a life with less oil. Every year of my life (the oil crises of the 70s excepted) has been underpinned by more energy than the previous years.

In order to rebuild that picture of a lower energy society, we have to engage with those who directly remember the transition to the age of Cheap Oil, especially the period between 1930 and 1960.

While you clearly want to avoid any sense that what you are advocating is ‘going back’ or ‘returning’ to some dim distant past, there is much to be learnt from how things were done, what the invisible connections between the different elements of society were and how daily life was supported. Finding out all of this can be deeply illuminating, and can lead to our feeling much more connected to the place we are developing our Transition Town projects.

#11 Let it go where it wants to go…

Although you may start out developing your Transition Town process with a clear idea of where it will go, it will inevitably go elsewhere. If you try and hold onto a rigid vision, it will begin to s ap your energy and appear to stall. Your role is not to come up with all the answers, but to act as a catalyst for the community to design their own transition.

If you keep your focus on the key design criteria – building community resilience and reducing the carbon footprint – you’ll watch as the collective genius of the community enables a feasible, practicable and highly inventive solution to emerge.

#12 Create an Energy Descent Plan

Each subgroup will have been focusing on practical actions to increase community resilience and reduce the carbon footprint.

Combined, these actions form the Energy Descent Action Plan. That’s where the collective genius of the community has designed its own future to take account of the potential threats from Peak Oil and Climate Change.

So far, we have taken many practical actions in Totnes. However, they add up to just a mere fraction of the final range and scope of initiatives that are currently being devised by our community.

Regarding specific timescales for Energy Descent Action Plans, here’s part of a presentation made to Glastonbury at their inaugural “Shall we become a Transition Town meeting?” in April 2007.
“You may be wondering about timescales for Energy Descent Action Plans. There are no rules - each community will embark on a plan that’s right for them in terms of timing. Kinsale took a window of 15 years, Lewes is looking at 20.
If you're looking for greater precision and specified dates, here's my response:
When I recognise the effort that's gone into setting today's meeting up and the effort that each of us has made in getting here and devoting most of our Saturday to these pressing issues, when I think of all the wonderful efforts of pre-existing groups in Glastonbury that hopefully will be incorporated into, and reenergised by, a wider "transitioning" initiative, I say that the work has already started.
And if I look at what we need to do to create the communities that we're happy for our grandchildren and their grandchildren to grow up in, then that work certainly won’t finish in our lifetimes…"

Incidentally, the embryonic steering group at Glastonbury decided at the end of that day to indeed adopt the Transition Town model for designing their lower energy and more resilient future.

More information on the Transition Initiative is available here.

Want to discuss this? Then reply to this blog entry.

Peter

Washington County Peak Oil

Goal Planning

Adam Mayer — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:00:29 -0700

At the meeting last week, I remember it was agreed that we would start a new topic where each of us could talk about specific projects that we would want to work on. I hope I'm posting to the right spot, if not let me know and I'll repost my message there.

I think we need to keep holding general meetings with guest speakers and occasionally have a moive or video tossed in. The meeting doesn't always have to be at the church, they could be set up as a dinner at a resturant (maybe one who serves local food) with a guest speaker. This could be done maybe once or twice a year, it may shake things up and get more people out to the meeting.

I also like how the book club is going and I think it could be expanded to other areas. I think if we had a cooking club, gardening club, walking club and others, it would allow people an opportunity to be involved with what they are interested in as well as learn new skills. I would be williing to start a cooking club where we focus on canning and cooking local foods since canning and cooking from scratch are becoming dying arts.

Adam

Washington County Peak Oil

WCPO presented to Washington County Public Affairs Council

dmaebori — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:21:42 -0700

Today, May 19, four of us from WCPO visited the Washington County Public Affairs Council. The forum is weekly during the noon hours on Mondays. Peter did the speaking and gave an orientation to both our group and to what peak oil is and the reality of the decline of extraction of petroleum. The second speaker did not come, so an extra half hour of Q and A became available. The entire event was informative with very good exchange with the members of the Council.

Thank you Peter for presenting. And thanks to Cal and Lisa for the technical and logistical support!

Washington County Peak Oil

Party for a Cause in Forest Grove

ENGEL — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:58:29 -0700

On the evening of Thursday, July 17th, students from Pacific University will host a "Lightbulbs to Leadership" house party at the Pacific campus. The event - part of a national Sierra Club day of action to inspire leadership on climate issues - will focus on local initiatives to stop global warming and cut our dependence on fossil fuels. The Cool Washington County and newly-formed Expose Intel campaigns will be discussed, and participants will have the chance to make a real difference to both projects. Interested? For more information, see http://exposeintel.blogspot.com/

Washington County Peak Oil

Food Storage on No Budget

plunsfo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:17:55 -0700

The following article is from Sharon Astyk’s Ruminations on an Ambiguous Future. The original can be found here.

What ideas do YOU have about food storage and stocking up for that rainy day...or month...or year?

The people who most need a food reserve are the people who struggle the most to get it. As food and energy costs inflate, and the safety net for the poor begins to break apart, the lower your income, the more urgent it is for you to take advantage of economies of scale, to buy food at lower prices, the more necessary it is that you have some reserve to tide you over in hard times. But that’s incredibly tough if hard times are already here.

And often, the people who have the least ability to take advantage of these resources are the ones who need them the most. Millions of really poor Americans are homeless, or effectively so, living in subsidized motels or other housing that has no cooking facilities. Millions of American working families combine two, three or four jobs and leave the cooking to younger children - or simply have no time to cook or shop at all. Millions of Americans have budgets that already don’t reach the month, and can no longer put together an extra $50 to buy beans and rice in bulk or pay for a CSA share upfront than they can fly to the moon. And these are precisely the people most likely to lose a job, have their kids go hungry, and find that their barely-making-it budget is a no-longer making it budget.

Now much of the time when I’m speaking of food, I advocate ethical practices. Because most of my readers - not all by any means, but most - are comparatively well educated (whether autodidactically or otherwse), and most of them have some ability to pick and choose their foods, either because they are middle class already or because they have carefully and consciously managed to leave some reserve in a small budget by the choices they’ve made. I want to be clear - for those with enough money to do this, ethical food is still the priority - the dollars we spend now on food are investments in future food systems - the systems we will need to feed us in difficult times. We can’t afford to throw that money away on systems that won’t be there, if there’s another choice.

But for those without a range of choices, just having some food stored is essential. At present, the safety nets are fraying - the food pantries are struggling, food stamps and other social welfare programs are heavily burdened, and a food stamp budget no longer enables people to make it to the end of the month. Those programs are likely to struggle further as energy and food prices rise. And because there are no large government stockpiles remaining, because costs are rising so rapidly and because jobs are so unstable, it is essential that lower income families have a reserve of food - no matter how they have to buy it.

So here are some suggestions on how to build storage cheaply.

1. Emphasize foods that haven’t had huge price rises - potatoes, for example, peanuts and peanut butter, and oats all have gone up, but not nearly as much as corn, wheat and soy. Consider a storage program that emphasizes these lower cost foods - but make sure you are focusing on things with high nutritional value.

The more you can adapt your diet, the better off you will be. So do some research on what foods are reasonably priced and find recipes and practice with them if you can.

2. If you have minimal or no cooking facilities, or if the household cooking is being done by children, you need foods that can be heated up easily, using sterno or hot plates. The best really cheap ways to get a lot of instant and pre-processed foods are to dumpster dive and frequent odd lots stores. Because stores discard cans with damaged labels, or anything dinged or damaged, processed foods are often discarded when they are still safe to eat (do not eat anything from a can that appears to be leaking or has odd bulges on it). Do this carefully - wear gloves if possible and watch out for sharp objects. Websites on “freegans” will have a lot more information than I can include. I will note that dumpster diving is on the rise, and you may find more competition than in the past. The other advantage of dumpster diving is that it may cut your food budget enough to allow you to make additional bulk purchases, even if you don’t need pre-processed food. And don’t forget drugstores for slightly-past-expiration vitamins to supplement your diet.

Odd lots stores buy stuff up that other stores can’t sell - you get weird brands, sometimes cans with no labels, but often quite good prices. And sometimes you get good stuff cheap - the one near my Mother offers tons of gluten free foods from Bobs Red Mill at very low prices - tough things to find for low income people who need special diets. They aren’t as cheap as dumpster diving, but I’ve seen canned goods listed at 10 for a dollar there.

3. Glean - in many places, there are gleaning programs. Most commercial harvesting programs leave a lot of fruit on the tree and a lot of vegetables in the field. So Gleaning Programs (our farm is actually named Gleanings Farm, because in Judaism, we are prohibited from harvesting too fully, because a share belongs to the poor by right - we do our own gleaning, though, and give it to the food banks). In some places you split your gleanings with the local food bank, in others you keep everything. But that food can be stored and preserved for offseasons.

4. Minimize waste. Create a “soup jar” and make soup out of leftovers. Do a daily check of your fridge - what needs eating? Don’t think that just because it isn’t a meal’s worth, you can’t eat it. Fruits and vegetables are especially expensive on a low budget - so make full use of them - peel and eat the broccoli stems, grate the orange zest and dry it for flavoring baked goods if you can. Make fried rice out of bits of leftovers and cold grains (you can make fried rice equivalents out of barley, bulghur, etc…).

5. If you can cook at all, beans, rice, lentils, and cabbage are probably your best friends in the world. They are cheap, bulky, nutritious and can be made to taste good. It is hard to get used to a limited diet of these foods - it is also worth noting that a limited diet in a norm in most of the world - it is not at all unusual to eat beans and rice 2xs a day, or bread and lentils the same. Americans put enormous emphasis on diversity in their diet - and our nutritional information puts that emphasis on it to. But war era diets are often more nutritious than more diverse diets - what you need are a reasonable quantity of several fruits and vegetables, and staple foods. The rest is really not so very big a deal.

The cheapest places to buy these are from coops, buying clubs and warehouse stores - although you should check that the warehouse membership will pay for itself. Or maybe go along with a friend who has a membership or take advantage of free 1 month trials. Buying in bulk can be tough - but if you can find the money anywhere, you’ll pay so much less than you will at the store. Remember, if you can’t afford veggies, most grains can be sprouted, and offer the benefits of fruits and vegetables this way.

6. Animal products are expensive - think the parts that most people don’t use. We all know meat isn’t necessary, but some of us like it for flavor, and if you are eating a lot of low-protein, processed food, some meat probably will improve your nutrition. Soup bones, chicken feet (they make great stock and are a texture delicacy in parts of Asia), chicken livers, etc… make good gravy to flavor bread and beans, good soup stock to fill with cheap vegetables, and generally provide some nutritional benefits.

7. Farmer’s markets at the end of the day. This can be tough (all of this can be tough) if you work long hours, but consider pushing your lunch break late on Farmer’s Market day, and arriving at the end of the market - many farmers won’t want to haul home produce that has sat all day in the hot sun - it isn’t worth it. Buy it cheap in quantity, take it home and dehydrate it in your car or can it or whatever.

8. Some food pantries have trouble getting rid of bulk foods like wheat berries, dried beans, etc… They receive these items, but comparatively few people know how to use them. Ask if they ever have extras of these to give away, and explain that you are trying to build a food reserve - the worst anyone can say is “no.”

9. Give the gift of food - if someone wants to buy you a present, consider asking for a gift certificate to Walmart or Sam’s Club or Amazon or some other place that sells food and other goods - that way you don’t have to admit that you need the food badly - but you can use the gift for what you need most.

10. Don’t expect to do it all at once. All of us need to scale up gradually, unless we’re Bill Gates. If your budget is tight, and you are new to food storage, at a difficult time, it will take time to build a reserve. An extra can here, a few lbs of beans there - it doesn’t seem like much. Remember that it is - small things count. They add up. If you can find $10 in your budget to cut out of something - get rid of an appliance, turn down the power, etc…, it will count and it will build up. I know you may have already cut all the fat you’ve got to cut, or it may be a struggle to find a little more. But this is worth it - this is a measure of hope and security for your family.

Comments?

Washington County Peak Oil

transition handbook author you tube

ellengentry — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:19:21 -0700

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHrWPtCvg0

Washington County Peak Oil

transition handbook author you tube

ellengentry — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:19:26 -0700

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHrWPtCvg0

Washington County Peak Oil

Before Renaming, Let's Talk About Purpose

IvyRoberts — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:14:22 -0700

Hi Everyone! My dad and I had been discussing our assignment to lead a discussion about choosing a different name for Washington County Peak Oil and defining our mission. We thought we should work on defining our mission before we did the actual renaming. Here's stuff we would appreciate everyone to think about:

On our home page we have this as our mission:
As a group of concerned local citizens with diverse backgrounds and interests, motivated by an awareness of the looming crisis caused by the peaking of world petroleum supplies and by a hopeful vision of future possibilities, we have come together to:
• Create awareness in Washington County about the peak oil crisis and it's economic, environmental and social implications.
• Serve as a community network to identify and share individual and collective strategies to effectively cope with the peak oil crisis.
• Influence policies of local governments for constructive and sustainable solutions.

On July 1st, Peter wrote:
One of the key goals of Washington County Peak Oil is to motivate positive changes in the County and among our citizens to reduce our risks from energy depletion. In that context, this forum is dedicated to putting forth realistic ideas that will will:
1) Reduce petroleum consumption by local citizens, and
2) Be realistically achievable.

In the forum, there are posts about:
-Sustainable Population
-Creating a lifeboat community
-Backyard gardening
-Greening our local governments
-Pollution credits
-Recycling
-Food storage
.... and a lot of other stuff.

I think we will get more done if we narrow our focus and set measurable goals. Everyone in WCPO is intelligent, motivated, dedicated, hardworking. I love the energy. I'm sure we can do anything but, we need to focus all our energy and talent on one thing. We need to choose a mountain and conquer it.

Please think about what I've written and post your answer to the following:
-What is the purpose of WCPO?
-Why does WCPO exist?

Washington County Peak Oil