A great 25 minute interview (edging towards diatribe) by David Holmgren co-originator of the permaculture concept. He is very eloquent and succinct in his summary of peak oil & where permaculture fits in though you’ll probably get most benefit from watching this if you’ve already a grasp of the basic concepts.
Of particular interest is his comparison between now and the 1930′s depression (around 4:45). He goes against the accepted wisdom that artificially increased economic activity (lets call that spending) in a Keynsyan-like orgy will pull the world out of depression much like it did in the 30′s where – arguably – the 2nd world war dragged the US back from the economic brink. He argues that back then it was in a context of massively increasing energy availability and that now the direct opposite is true so we can’t rely on things panning out the same way.
Last night we watched by far the most positive video we’ve seen on energy decline called How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. It describes how Cuba survived a sudden huge reduction in available oil when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990.
It’s really well produced, I urge you to watch it.
Albert Bates has produced a well written, very accessible and positive book. It gives an excellent summary of the accepted peak-oil theories but, more importantly, the majority of the text provides solutions and suggestions. The recipes don’t get in the way as they appear in the margins but they are interesting nonetheless. Though I’m not sure whether I’m ready to make grasshopper quesadillas yet.
Recommeneded if you’re looking for a positive and well-rounded introduction to peak-oil theory and permaculture.
Whilst not the cheeriest of tomes The Long Emergency is a well written and provides a detailed grounding to the basics of peak oil. Kuntsford is US based so the scenarios are US focused but that doesn’t detract from the quality and depth of the content.
My only criticism is that it could offer more in the way of solutions to negate some of the impact of the doom laden content. Therefore if you are reading this you probably want to have something positive lined up for straight after. The Transition Handbook or The Post Petroleum Cookbook would be good choices.
I’ve kept this short as there are already many excellent reviews of this book out there, for example this one. So I’ll just end by saying that we’ve both read this book cover to cover and it comes highly recommended.
The book initially provides a brief and accessible introduction to the dual concepts of peak-oil (or energy decent if you prefer the euphemism) and man made climate change. The rest of the book is then spent describing Rob Hoskin’s solution to the problem that I can summarise in a two words: local resilience.
It goes into some depth about how Totnes in Devon, the first transition town, is doing and apart from making you want to move to Totnes it does also give you plenty of material that you can use to emulate that in your home town.
If you buy and read this book it will almost certainly change your life, for good.
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parking this account for now. Continuing to tweet as @bealers2010-05-05
looked at a woodland today. Small, 5 acres, mostly old oaks and ready to be coppiced Hazel. Tempting but not sure about the public footpath. 2010-04-14
I’ve kept this short as there are already many excellent reviews of this book out there, for example 