"My Name Is Randy, And I'm Addicted To Oil."

[4dsc]

http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=7253

Anybody here attending any Peak oil groups?? Anybody here try and change their lifestyles??

The meeting was the weekly gathering of a group called Portland Peak Oil, a ragtag assembly of greenies, neighborhood-association activists and business professionals who agree with George W. Bush on one thing—that "America is addicted to oil."

Anyone with half a brain knows it would behoove us to be less reliant on foreign oil. But Peak Oil proponents see an 800-pound gorilla barreling down on our laissez-faire energy attitudes.

The way Darwin believed we descended from monkeys and Joan of Arc that she was on a mission from God, White and his buddies think the age of affordable energy is rapidly nearing its end. Even voices from the other side of the petroleum divide are starting to back them up: Last year, Chevron CEO David O'Reilly announced, "The era of easy oil is over."

So what is White doing about it? He's transformed his own life while carrying the Peak Oil message to the masses. Along the way, his obsession has drawn skepticism from friends and loving tolerance from his conservative family. In fact, depending on how cynical you are, he's either a walking example of the futility of individual action or a model of the kind of behavior that should make the rest of us a wee bit ashamed.

[RufusEarl]

1. Here's another link to go along with this thread.

We should have more people discussing this fact!

http://www.hubbertpeak.com/

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Thanks for this!

depakid recommended Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" to me last year, and since I read that I have been doing everything I can to prepare myself and my family. Aside from taking public transport or walking instead of getting a car, I know I'm not doing that much yet. Mostly just learning about the situation, collecting books and working on a plan. It really does worry me, being in the city. One contingency has us moving to a rural community, even though I hate the idea. :(

I had heard about this group, but I had no idea they had grown so much lately.

"We have only a dwindling amount of time to build lifeboats—that is, the needed alternative infrastructure. It has been clear for at least 30 years what characteristics this should have—organic, small-scale, local, convivial, cooperative, slower paced, human-oriented rather than machine-oriented, agrarian, diverse, democratic, culturally rich, and ecologically sustainable." —author and lecturer Richard Heinberg, closing address for a Peak Oil conference in 2004

[IrateCitizen]

3. I'm planning to start a sustainability group after I finish school...

After I finish school and my wife and I move a little further upstate in NY, I plan to start a sustainability group with other interested people in the community. I also would like to record our changes and their effects on our lives (and budgets), and furnish that report to interested politicos who can help spread it a little wider.

I think, personally, that focusing on the ways that we can work collectively to solve our collective problems on a local and community level is where the rubber really meets the road WRT sustainability. We need to act as communities, and not just as disparate individuals, in order to meet these challenges.

[depakid]

4. I went to one of their meetings during VBC-5 last year

I think I may have met that guy, though I don't recall. I wasn't terribly impressed at the time- but the group has gotten a lot more active since then, they've met with members of the city council- and I'm sort of kicking myself for not making the time to get involved or look at their website more often.

Missed a couple of damn good lectures this month because of my laziness. In fact, Deffeyes is speaking tonight, the 24th (it was sold out a week ago when I checked) :mad:

I read the Willamette Week article on the train home on Wednesday night. My impression was that Randy White's probably a bit too obsessed. His heart is in the right place, though I'm not sure what kind of science or policy background he (or the group) has. I guess it behooves me to go to a couple more meetings and find out.

Viva: Good to see you quoting Heinberg! You might enjoy his book Powerdown, if you haven't already read it. He's a bit more optimistic than Kunstler, and takes a little different tack. Kunstler does best when he writes about what he knows- namely, the problems associated with suburban sprawl.

Both Heinberg and Kunstler were interviewed on Financial Sense last week. It's a good listen. They touch on a few things that you won't find in the books to date- mainly the DOE's Hirsh Report.

http://www.financialsense.com/Experts/roundtable/021806.html

You might also enjoy Julian Darley's "High Noon for Natural Gas" and Jeremy Legget's "The Empty Tank." They're both pretty straightforward reads and have fairly broad takes on the issues. Not a lot of heavy data intensive and esoteric stuff like you find in some of the other books and articles.

[depakid]

6. PS: here's their website

http://www.portlandpeakoil.org/

[aztc]

5. Drive 55 Conservation Project (again)

Climate change, global warfare over diminishing resources and declining quality of life are the driving forces that motivate us to seek solutions to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.

Recognizing that stopping the use of fossil fuels suddenly is impractical and impossible, we adopt the "Convergence" philosophy as expressed by Aubrey Myer of the Global Commons Institute (http://www.gci.org.uk/) and seek to reduce our consumption gradually, but to begin immediatly.

Conservation is an attitude and approach to life that we are trying to cultivate and nourish with the Drive 55 Conservation Project.

The goal of Drive55.org is to reduce petroleum usage by 20% to 50%.

How can this be achieved? By convincing drivers to slow down and obey existing speed limits, never driving over 55 MPH (88km). This will save lives, reduce insurance rates, reduce pollution and improve the overall quality of our lives.

Let's be willing to learn about the issues and take personal responsibility for the part each of us plays in this petroleum-dependent culture. We must each do all we can to use less.

"Recognizing our contribution to unhealthy air, water, neighborhoods, a sustainable future and world peace, we do hereby pledge to obey posted speed limits and never to exceed 55 MPH to conserve fuel, reduce pollution and make our lives safer. We urge our state & federal representatives to enact legislation to restore the 55 MPH maximum speed limit and mandate law enforcement agencies to enforce existing speed limits."

http://Drive55.org

Bah! Who cares anyway?

[Nihil]

8. "Reduce pollution" I will accept but the rest is largely bollocks

> This will save lives, reduce insurance rates, ...
> and improve the overall quality of our lives.

If your campaign stuck to the straightforward message that
55mph uses less fuel than 70mph (or whatever figure you care
to use) then fine, fully agree with you, best of luck in
persuading people to do their bit.

Once you start fluffing a perfectly good message out with
unnecessary and inaccurate waffle then not only have you
just lost a good chance to recruit people, you've tarred
the environmentalist movement with the same brush.

> Bah! Who cares anyway?

About the planet? Lots of us here on this forum.
About disconnected hype? Not me.

[pstans]

7. I am a member of a a renewable energy group

http://www.irenew.org

I am a member of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association. They hold a Renewable Energy fair in the summer, send out a newsletter, lobby at the state level, and hold educational meetings.

There is a group in the town next to me that has started. I am on their email list, but haven't attended any meetings. It doesn't make sense for me to drive the 30 miles to attend a Peak Oil group. If I am in the area when they have a meeting, I'd definitly stop by. There main goal is to educate citizens how to conserve energy.