On this page the Earth Charter Academy will begin to list services that can help you begin the process of relocalization, in the most important place of all, your life.

We'll start with an article first written for "Love Notes", the newsletter of Pebble Hill Interfaith Church.

LIVING AS IF WE REALLY UNDERSTAND GLOBAL WARMING (8/11/06)

I don't hang out with many people who think that concern for the environment is a joke, but I often wonder about some of my environmental-minded friends. I hear them complain a lot, but I don't hear them talking much about all the stuff they're doing to lessen their impact on mother earth. Don't get me wrong. I know they're all doing something. I'm doing some things too. But are we doing enough? Are we living as if we really understand just how serious our situation is?

I've been following environmental news since the early 60's. I've gained a decent feel for the progression of the (mostly) bad news. When I started writing environmental articles for the alternative press in the late 1980's chunks of ice nearly as big as Rhode Island were breaking free from Antarctica. Scientists that I interviewed told me to keep my eye on the polar regions, where the effects of warming would first appear, and be most pronounced.

In the early nineties all but three of the world's glaciers were melting and in retreat. By the late nineties, the breaking chunks of Antarctic ice sheets were as big as Connecticut. In the last few years, the fabled Northwest Passage has been ice free in the summer. (ref. Stan Rogers classic song: Northwest Passage - Fogarty's Cove Music 1981)

Dr. Roy Koerner, a Canadian government glaciologist, was part of a dog sled team that completed the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean in 1969. They traveled from Alaska through the North Pole to Norway. He recently reviewed a proposal by someone to make the same trip by kayak.

Scientists who once found it difficult to accept that global warming could shrink the Arctic's summer ice sheets now conclude that the momentum behind human-induced warming has pushed the Arctic situation past the point of no return. With only modest increases in greenhouse gas emissions they predict that the Arctic will soon be nearly ice-free in the summer. This major warning sign of accelerated global warming is just the kind of thing I was told to watch for by the scientists I interviewed in the 1980's.

Another, now obvious, warning sign is increases in the intensity of tropical storms, like the 2005 hurricane season that brought the United States mega-storms Katrina and Rita. 2005 was also the warmest year on record in an era where each year brings new records for global warming. I could list more.

Henk Brinkhuis, an expert on Arctic ecosystems at Utrecht University in the Netherlands said, "You may argue for a long time whether this process will take 20, 50, or 100 years, but it doesn't change the fact that it will happen. And while we don't yet have proper terminology for the new developments, scientists struggle to describe what is going on. The Director of Complex Systems Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, Charles Vorosmarty said, "You might call it the temperatization of the Arctic; we really haven't invented a word for it yet." Whatever they come up with, steamship companies are looking forward enthusiastically for new shipping routes across the Arctic Circle's Beaufort Sea. It cuts 4000 Km off the Asia to Europe shipping route through the Panama Canal.

What will it take for those of us who pay attention and understand these historic earth changes to make appropriate lifestyle changes? Does the seashore have to move to Philadelphia before we take serious action? When will we step out of being a part of this problem and become examples for others to notice and emulate? Who among us knows how to become part of the solution? Now that we know the ice has become thin, stepping out of the problem requires that we know where we're standing. Who among us knows the size of our personal carbon footprint on this planet?

Of course, few know how to make that essential calculation. The folks at NativeEnergy do, and they've made it possible for us to access the tool. NativeEnergy can help you build a new wind farm and keep global warming pollution out of the air. Go online to www.nativeenergy.com and click on the Carbon Calculator on the left side of their home page. There, you can calculate the size of your carbon footprint.

After you've found out how many renewable energy credits you need to offset your footprint you can log on to www.powerscorecard.org or www.GoCleanEnergy.com to compare the products offered by the various electricity providers. Then, you can chose a provider and sign up. It costs a little money to offset your carbon footprint. The more energy you use, the more of an offset you need. It's very good for relieving any guilty feelings that occur after calculating your carbon footprint.

You can begin to reduce your footprint by making intelligent choices in the energy consuming products you buy. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (www.aceee.org) can help you with that. They, along with Consumer's Union, have some of the latest information on energy efficient appliances and techniques.

And, when you're able, get rid of any gas hog you have in your garage and replace it with something that gets great mileage. You'll have cause to celebrate when gasoline goes to $10 a gallon. And if you get that car soon, you'll still be driving it when that happens. (And be sure to check for tax rebates and other incentives; the Prius and Lexus are already being withdrawn from the list.) At least then, if you live in the suburbs, you'll be able to afford the drive to the grocery store.

The gasoline money you saved may help you afford the groceries. Most of our food is made and transported using a lot of petroleum. Food costs will soon begin climbing as fast as the cost of gas and heating oil. Expanded use of ethanol is already driving up the cost of corn, much to the dismay of those of us with corn burning stoves. As of August the cost of dried corn is already approaching the cost of wood pellets.

But there's a first simple step that we can take to call ourselves part of the solution. We can replace ALL of our incandescent light bulbs with high efficiency lamps like compact fluorescents and the new LED light bulbs. Lighting can be as much as 20% of our household energy bill and incandescent bulbs waste about 70% of the energy used to light them.

Another simple step is to turn down the thermostat a bit in the winter and up in the summer. You want to turn it down more if you go out to work or play. A good digital seven-day programmable thermostat can help (like the ones at Consumer Reports rated "best buy" www.luxproducts.com/thermostats).

You can remember to turn off the lights when you leave the room or the house. If not, occupancy sensors instead of the usual switch will help you out. Your pets will do fine in the dark. Sturdy doors, windows, locks, and alarms keep out burglars better than lights. Light sensors can scare them away if they get too close.

Once you've done this much you probably will have discovered what next to do. You will have begun to be an example to others. And, hopefully, your energy bills won't squeeze you between bankruptcy and homelessness. What it could do is put you in league with a million or more environmentally savvy Americans who are creating an exponential shift to sustainable living and reducing their carbon footprint to the zero point. Or, as Arlo Guthrie put it, you'd be helping to create a mass movement. I guarantee that it won't hurt to try.

Oh, yes, when next winter holiday season comes along why not give gifts that keep on giving? A compact fluorescent light bulb can save the user as much as $75 over the life of the bulb. Not bad for something that often costs less than $2. LED holiday lights use a tenth of the energy consumed by conventional ones. You might save enough with them to cover the cost of a bottle of Dom Perignon for News Years Eve. That's at www.moet.com; enjoy!

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NOW, FOR THE NEXT STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO BEGIN TO COPE EFFECTIVELY WITH THE END OF CHEAP OIL, and GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE:

Our emotional reactions to peak oil are important to note but this is a complicated situation. Global climate change is also involved, as well as a host of smaller related problems like resource depletion, and there are many uncertainties in the way they emerge. Our emotional state will determine how effective we are at coping.

Some will be impatient for advice this moment on what to do next to adapt, regardless of their deeper emotional state. For those of you who insist on an action step I repeat the famous Rumi poem: "So just be quiet and sit down. The reason is: you are drunk, And this is the edge of the roof."

Experiencing peak oil not like falling down because gravity has the good sense to bring you to your feet, literally and completely. It is a little like falling out of an airplane. There isn't the sense of falling, and depending on the altitude, it can take a long time to come down, leaving some time to reflect. If you have a parachute, you can even pull the ripcord at some point and land gently.

The long emergency that is coming is more like waiting for a hurricane to strike you at the shoreline. They take a long time to form and develop. They are erratic and often unpredictable. They can strengthen until they reach land. They are very destructive and can be deadly. They can change your life and your community. They can totally transform everything in the area around where they strike. They can force you to make decisions that you don't like, aren't prepared for, and make life very difficult. If you do prepare, a hurricane can be a terrible inconvenience but survivable and even an adventure of sorts. It can be emotionally challenging for humans in or near its path.

We are just beginning to experience the end of the calm before the coming storm and the first "feeder bands" with some rain and a few wind gusts. This one, still forming somewhere out there on a dark sea is being closely followed by another, and maybe a third. Their predicted tracks have crisscrossed and overlapped and are still largely unpredictable.

FIRST: OUR EMOTIONAL LIFE

It is important for all of us to understand that it's natural for us to react emotionally to the problems and issues that are raised by peak oil, global climate change, global resource depletion, overpopulation, and the economics of life at the end of of the age of cheap oil. Our reactions are predictable, important to understand, and necessary for our survival.

When we hear news that is very bad we need time to adjust to new realities. This was observed by scientists like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and documented in her seminal work, On Death and Dying. In it, she told of five common reactions to hearing news that one's self or a loved one is dying. The stages are (1) denial, (2) anger, (3) bargaining, (4) depression, (5) acceptance. We do not necessarily transit these stages of grief in a neat and orderly way. We don't necessarily go through them in the order listed, and we often cycle back through some of the stages. It's worth noting that the title of her original paper was: The Five Stages of Reaction Upon Hearing Catastrophic News.

In order to formulate and begin an effective coping strategy we are best able to do that from a mind-set of acceptance. When we finally accept the reality that the age of cheap oil is over (peak oil) and that it will impact everyone, except citizens of some of the poorest nations and communities on Earth. When we try to formulate an effective coping strategy to peak oil and then add in the emerging effects of global climate change the emotional and intellectual aspects can become very challenging. Some of the responses in the press and media by some of our best and brightest minds indicate that they seem to be stuck in denial and anger.

Because many of the effects unfold slowly in "geological time" and we won't be able to see the real end conditions that we need to adapt to. As Jared Diamond found in researching "Collapse: How Societies Chose to Succeed or Fail" this time of emergency is the most challenging for humans with a millennium of genetic adaptation to short term emergencies like a springing tiger. Yet humans have survived prior climate changes and that history is also encoded in our genes. It is that which we'll need to rely on to get through this.

The good news is that none of us has to face this alone. The better news is that there are effective strategies for coping and even thriving in the coming "Long Emergency". The entire Relocalization Network of nearly 200 chapters, and their thousands of members, are working on solutions that are proving effective in a variety of settings. If you are in need of urgent personal contact you can call ECLA PA at 267.992.8020 or (215) 328-9128. I'll pick up except when we're sleeping. It's not a hotline, but a way to communicate in real time.

Behind the Relocalization Network is the entire Post Carbon Institute. We are some of the finest minds that are focussed on the big picture. We are proven leaders in understanding peak oil, and global climate change. We are Global Public Media, with a lot of educational resources at our disposal for you. We are Post Carbon Cities, with the best planning and guidebook for municipalities like yours. They know where the most successful examples of adaptation are. They've studied them. Some are communities with decades of experience in working on this. We do not have to re-invent the wheel.

We are international, and not limited to provincial solutions. We are one global network and have no turf to protect. We are connected with everyone who is working on these issues. If we don't know the answer to your particular question, we likely know who does.

We don't provide you with fish but can teach you how to catch them. We are also local, in your community, or nearby enough to provide hands on help. We can help you learn accurate and timely information on the issues so that you can start a local chapter of your own.

THE NEXT STEP:

If you want to make more of a difference and you're seizing the wheel of your ship of destiny, here's a good set of courses to steer (some of these items are listed in the article above):
Get rid of your incandescent light bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs.
Turn it off if you're not using it.
Get an energy audit of your home and/or business.
Use public transportation as much as you can.
If you are driving maintain your car well and keep your tire's inflated at the maximum recommended pressure.
Don't idle your engine for more than a minute.
Plan your trips carefully to do the shortest route.
Turn down your thermostat in the winter and up in the summer. Two or three degrees is a little.. for starters.
If it's nice out, turn of the heat or AC and open the windows.
Give up eating red meat.
Shop locally, and avoid the big chain stores.
Reduce your purchasing and only buy it if you really need it.
Reuse anything that is still serviceable, and recycle it after you're done with it.
Don't waste anything!
Try to become mindful (it can be a wonderful meditation) of how everything you do impacts our spaceship earth.
When you find another list, add it to this one.
Consider becoming a member of the ECLA PA or another Relocalization Chapter like Philadelphia Organic Democracy, or Lehigh Valley Beyond Oil. You could start your own or join another by going to the top of this page where it says "Join" or "find a Group". Each chapter is different but we're all headed to the same place.

And for those of you who want to make home more energy efficient: go to Hap Haven's www.usgreenhome.com. This web site has a wonderful home energy tutorial that will guide you through more home energy improvements. If you need an audit and live in the Delaware Valley, you can arrange one while you're online.

Learn as much as you can-

Get a book if you have time. A great place to start is R. Buckminster Fuller's "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth". Get the big picture from one of the greatest ecological minds of the 20th century. Read some of Thomas Berry's work.

See a movie, if you only have an hour or two. Try Al Gore's "An inconvenient Truth" and find out why it won an Academy Award and a Nobel Peace Prize for Gore. His web site has another good list of things to do.

Another important video is "The End of Suburbia". It doesn't much matter where you live. The "End" will impact all of us, and it's an easy, entertaining history lesson. Check out our video resource list somewhere else on this website.

It's almost bed-time, so that's all for tonight. Take good care of yourself and get plenty of rest. And relax. You have begun to change the world and that's all we can do for now.