Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Activity

turtledreams — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:28:14 -0700

Hi All,
Was visiting here and was wondering if there was any activities going on in the area. I had not heard anything for quite some time. There has never been a better time to move forward with relocalization given the goings on in the financial markets. Would like to hear from local folks.

Stef mattlage
Concord NH

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Bill Richardson Visits Marlow, New Hampshire

livegreen.ordie — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:24:59 -0700

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Boston ASPO conference

catalyst23 — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 05:03:46 -0700

Was anyone able to make it to the conference in Boston? I had to work unfortunately. I'm interested in any info anybody had!

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

ASPO-USA Conference, Boston, October 26th & 27th

Tim Wessels — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:48:48 -0700

This year's ASPO-USA World Oil Conference will be held in Boston on October 26th & 27th at Boston University. Visit www.aspo-usa.com for more information. Registration is still open, although the conference fee increases by $25 after October 10th.

For those not familiar, ASPO is the Association for the Study of Peak Oil. Peak oil is understood as the point in time when world oil production reaches its highest output measured in millions of barrels per day. The arrival of peak oil production marks the historical point where the planet's oil resources are understood to be in permanent decline. The length of this depletion phase depends on how quickily oil production declines world wide.

The ASPO-USA World Oil Conference provides access to current information and trends concerning peak oil.

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Limits on Human Population

Tim Wessels — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:00:49 -0700

Industrialized cultures based on capitalism and economic growth encourage increasingly larger human populations which degrade increasinly larger amounts of materials and energy. This process works as long as industrial cultures have access to more materials and more energy.

Note: H.T. Odum's "maximum power" principle applies. "The maximum power principle can be stated: During self organization, system designs develop and prevail that maximize power intake, energy transformation, and those uses that reinforce production and efficiency." (H.T. Odum 1995) It seems clear from Odum's definition that cultural systems based on capitalism and economic growth will not survive when their "main engines" of abundant materials and energy are depleted. The current system will either collapse or mutate due to reduced "net energy" and the depletion of material recources. The Second Law of Thermodynamics will win out.

Relocalization is about learning to live in a lower energy world. A lower energy world means the end of social, political and cultural pronatalist policies. A relocalized community cannot allow itself to be "eaten out of house and home" by an expanding human population, especially if its excess population cannot be legally exported to another area.

By definition, a relocalized community recognizes a limit to growth, including the growth of its human population. The present human population on Earth (over six billion people) cannot be sustained in a lower energy world. Human population will ultimately be reduced to a level that can be supported by the availalbe energy and materials.

Every relocalized community will need a population policy that fits their environment.

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Tools and Skills Inventory

Tim Wessels — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 09:03:29 -0700

Everyone cannot be a "Jack or Jill of all trades" which is why there are tradespeople who specialize in one or more skill sets. However, in the course of 20th century living and early 21st century living many people have acquired a number of tools and skills which they do not use to make a livelihood, but which they are pretty good at such as plumbing, electrical, woodworking, roofing, sewing, etc.

A community relocalization effort can benefit by taking an inventory of the tools and skill sets people have acquired. The end of cheap fossil fuel energy means a lot of what needs to be done in a community will need to be done by people within that community. Importing skilled tradespeople from many miles away may not be an option in a relocalized community.

In the late 1960s Stewart Brand published The Whole Earth Catalog as a way for people to gain access to tools of all kinds along with information about their usefulness, quality and how to obtain them. The WEC's resident tool expert and editor was Jay Baldwin whose workshop was both "highly evolved" and mobile. Every relocalized community could benefit by having such a "highly evolved" mobile workshop with people skilled to use it.

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Rail to Trails to Rails

Tim Wessels — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 08:26:29 -0700

Over the past decade many former railroad beds have been turned into trails for hikers, bicycle riders and snowmobile drivers. It is time to make plans to re-fit these "trails" with light rail cars to move people and goods in a "relocalized" community.

One source of useful information is to examine the history of Interurban transit, which was quite extensive throughout the United States from the late 1800s to the end of the 1930s. Most of these Interurban systems were put out of business by General Motors, which replaced these very useful transportation systems with GM diesel buses. The demise of America's Interurban railroads is a classic case of bad driving out good. It is time to go back to what was good.

With fewer dollars being available for highway improvement projects and not to mention the escalating cost of asphalt, cities and towns will need to re-introduce a method of transportation that is energy-efficient, available to all and does not consume a huge right-of-way.

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Contact local folks

turtledreams — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 07:54:06 -0800

Hi,

I am from concord nh and would like to be in contact with local folks to discuss and take action in this energy stressed world.

Stef Mattlage

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

How many people are really aware of Peak Oil in NH?

catalyst23 — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 08:20:36 -0800

Most people I talk to have no idea about peak oil at all. Has anyone else encountered this?

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization, NH

Tim Wessels — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:01:29 -0700

The mission of the Post Carbon Contoocook Valley Relocalization is to prepare for a lower energy world by developing regional energy, agricultural and manufacturing capabilities. By planning for increased self-reliance the region may be able to mitigate the effects of a collapsing, high-energy use global enconomy by inventing a properous way of life within a lower energy existence.