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Hitting the Nail on the Head With the Hammer...of Fear
Sharon Astyk, Casaubon's Book
Richard Heinberg's gift for making hammer meet nail is evident again today in his analysis of the implications of Carbon Equity's recent report "The Big Melt" (discussed here at length last month) in light of the problem of depletion. I strongly recommend that all my readers consider his analysis.

Heinberg aptly describes the predicament we're in - the solutions to climate change and peak oil for the world as a whole involve the richest nations and their populations making enormous, voluntary transformations of their way of life, and quite rapidly. It means the overturning of our entire economy, the end of everything we have taken to be religious doctrine about the value of growth capitalism, a new commitment in a selfish society to creating justice for the poor, and an absolute sea change in everything from the way we get around to the way we do our laundry. There is no evidence whatsoever at this point than any world government can be reconciled to that change, or that the people of any nation would accept it if their leaders proposed it.

The other option is some variation on collapse - waiting until fossil fuel shortages, economic crisis and increasing environmental disasters reduce our energy consumption dramatically, and drive us, as Heinberg describes, to a society with much less inequity, but without the good parts of less inequity - that is, we'll see our collective wealth destroyed by disaster after disaster, flushed down the toilet rather than shared with anyone else.

I doubt that there are many people who read this blog who believe that we're better off waiting for things to fall apart (more). That is, we a huge amount of work to do - personally, as a nation, as world. But how do we get past the big, big, big bump of convincing leaders by convincing people that we would choose the rough but more equitable path, either because it is the right thing to do, or because it is better for us (both are true here)?
(5 November 2007)

Film Review- What a Way to Go
Graham Strouts, Zone 5
“If we knew all the facts, we’d have discarded the myth of the techno fix a long time ago. To my eye, our crisis, at its deepest levels, is a crisis not of technology, but of meaning and purpose… “Talking about this is the first step. Without this catastrophe is inevitable.”- Tim Bennett

What a Way to Go is a groundbreaking movie.

I watched this week for the first time with a few friends, most of whom have been watching Peak Oil films and discussing the issues around them for much of the past three years.

Going far beyond “The End of Suburbia” in its dramatic depiction of the state that we and the planet are in, writer and narrator Tim Bennett strives to provide a visceral experience of what it means to be living at a time of collapse:

...Bennett invites us on a train ride that takes us through the film and gives us a window-view of the multiple crises we are facing: Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot, global epidemics, loss of topsoil, war…the list goes on and on and we are given early in the film an intense assault on our senses as images of destruction and impending doom race ever faster before our eyes. Where other films tend to concentrate on the solutions to these problems and what we can do about them Bennett wants us to stay and look at them long enough to begin to feel what it means for us. He confronts us with the dark realities of living in this extraordinary time because everywhere there is a culture of denial. One of the contributors, Derrick Jensen says: : “Denial takes tremendous energy and if you have to work really hard to not acknowledge the fact that this culture is killing everything you’re not going to have much energy left over.”

...I am left wondering, however, who I would show it to? It is a powerful message, fast moving at the beginning, but somehow not quite able to keep up that pace throughout, and left me with a slightly uneasy feeling of, well, what next? Ive been there, that darkness, too much already for it to have much impact, and I would feel, if I were showing it to a group, I would need some tools for group facilitation to actually unpack people’s responses and help process their feelings. I do think, though, that this may be the most important work we have to do.

Despite its failings- which I alluded to as being in my opinion a rather “retro-romantic” view of how humanity left the paradise of the hunter-gatherer society- I welcome this film as one of the best of the “gloom and doom” genre, particularly because I also believe the most important thing we can do right now is stay with the darkness a little while longer, let it sweep over us and then ask ourselves: what does it mean to be alive right now?
(4 November 2007)

The Switch Has Been Flipped: It's Too Late For Solutions
Carolyn Baker, Truth to Power
This past week I attended another screening of "What A Way To Go: Life At The End Of Empire". ... this time, my experience was different.... Maybe it was [filmmaker Tim Bennett's comment] that when people ask "What can I do?" they don't really want the truth but rather ten easy steps that will require no sacrifice, no pain, and certainly no change of lifestyle.

Tim's comment resonated with my experience in teaching history to college students who incessantly ask, "But what can we do?" when I systematically lay out the reality of the corporatocracy the United States has become, energy depletion, climate change, and of course, the police state in which we now reside. When I answer the students with my perception of options rather than solutions, they tend to sink in their chairs and tell me that they feel overwhelmed not only with the daunting reality of the planetary situation but even worse, that they wanted me to offer them "hope", and are disappointed that I instead offer them responsibility. I tell them that since I don't have any "hope" it would be disingenuous of me to attempt to offer it to anyone else.

...At the same time that I'm pleading for the end of "solution obsession", I'm suggesting re-focusing on options. We cannot "solve" the issues of climate change, energy depletion, species die-off, global pandemics, global government, or the rampant proliferation of fascism. For those awaiting a mass awakening or mass resistance, I fear you wait in vain. We would be hard-pressed to find any population in the history of the human race that is as comatose as that of the United States in this moment.

In my opinion, focusing on "mass" anything is the opposite of where our attention must be, namely, local and community survival. Notice, I did not say local "solutions" but rather, survival. As I have stated repeatedly, the issues are: Who do I want to be in the face of collapse? Who do I love and trust and want to share my life with? Who do I need to reach out to in order to enhance all of our well being?

As the "I" becomes "we", we all must ask: Do we need to remain where we are in order to survive, or do we need to go elsewhere? What actions should we be taking? Have we put in place a structure or process for practicing and improving our communication skills and resolving conflict? What is our level of food and water security? What is our access to alternative or traditional medicine?
(4 November 2007)

Are you on the rebound?
Leo Hickman, Guardian
We're all on the rebound, apparently. That's what the UK Energy Research Centre said this week in a report about how our carbon savings are in danger of being greatly over estimated unless we start including allowances for so-called "rebound effects".
"An example of a rebound effect would be the driver who replaces a car with a fuel-efficient model, only to take advantage of its cheaper running costs to drive further and more often," says the report. "Or a family that insulates their loft and puts the money saved on their heating bill towards an overseas holiday."

In a worst-case scenario, a rebound effect can actually lead to an overall increase in energy consumption - a phenomenon referred to rather aptly as a "backfire". The report says there is historical precedence of backfires occurring, namely, with the steam engine. As refinements to the technology were made it became ever more popular to use thereby leading to a net increase in energy consumption.

The report says that policy makers should urgently start considering the impact of the rebound effect when formulating their strategies for improving energy conservation across all sectors. It's just a shame the report wasn't published a few weeks earlier because Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, might have had a chance to read through it ahead of announcing her department's discussion paper this week that, somewhat bizarrely, looked forward to a future in which a greatly expanded road, rail and air network could also help the UK meet its carbon reduction targets. (No, I still don't understand how it intends to achieve that either.)

In fact, transport is likely to be one area where the rebound effect is significant.
(2 November 2007)
Not sure why the Guardian doesn't mention that the rebound effect is also known as Jevons Paradox. However, it's good that we're getting more sophisticated when talking about energy and efficiency. -BA