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The Survive and Thrive blog

If you want to discuss ideas worth pondering and actions worth taking - bienvenidos!

My first blog - (500 words worth)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 @ 1:07 AM

The ‘Survive and Thrive’ blog

 

Thanks Justin, this blogging idea sounds good, so here we go…

 

We all know that things could be better with the planet these days, particularly with regard to environment and energy. So I’m going to start addressing these issues by blogging:

·         ideas worth pondering 

·        actions worth  taking

Environment has been my hobby for  many years now, so I’ve accumulated quite a lot of information on the subject. Climate change was always my primary interest, until that is, I found out about energy depletion.  This was in December 2003, when I read an article in the UK Guardian newspaper entitled ‘Bottom of the Barrel’, which introduced me to the concept of Peak Oil.

Here’s the article…

 http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2003/12/02/the-bottom-of-the-barrel/

Please read this article now, in order that we will then share a common understanding of the issue for our further discussions.

-----------------------------------

There are many opinions as to when the oil production decline will start, but ever more people are betting that it already happened in 2008. This seems logical to me also, as in that year we witnessed the sudden diversion of food crops to fuel production, with the associated protests/riots around the World against the resulting high food prices.

I feel sure that if the oil industry had been able to service the total demand, it would have. What do you think? 

Whether it’s now or not, we do need to start thinking how to respond, both at the individual level, and at the local community level – because the new name of the game is ‘Localisation’ – of everything!

 

 There is in fact a growing network of groups around the world that are addressing the oil depletion issue, they call themselves the Transition Network. There are already around 500 Transition communities in UK alone, all of which are engaged in developing an ‘Energy Descent Action Plan’ - each  for their own particular community.

Take a look here for more…

 http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

There are a few Transition Communities in Spain now, mainly in the north, and we do also have one here in the south, in the town of Coin, situated 20km or so inland from Marbella. I’ll be telling you more about what they’re up to in Coin in due course, like their huge ‘Community Farm’ and their now in circulation ‘Local Currency’.

But if you would like to take a quick peek at  ‘Transition Coin’ right now, here is a short video clip featuring Coin Transition member Phil Spiers …

http://www.youtube.com/user/WillieJMachin#p/u/6/Cd_VJSj9jDs

 

Further subjects up here soon will be.

·        how to run your car on sustainable and free fuel (diesel cars only)

·        how you can ‘Work with a WormGang’ to your advantage.

·        How to build a Raised Bed

·        Hydroponics in the home

·        Links to regular video updates on ‘Transition Coin’

·        And much more   

 

That’s it for now, back soon.

Best regards

James Machin

Please note:

You may have to copy and paste some of the above links into your browser – I don’t know why.



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2 Comments


Les said:
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 @ 9:47 AM

Thanks for your blog, this has been a topic that has interested me too. Interesting to look back at the Guardian article, their predictions of when the peak in oil production will happen has proved to be a bit previous but according to this http://www.oilposter.org/posterlarge.html the year is 2010!

For the last few years we have all been lulled by a drop in fuel prices from the 2008 highs but, for sure, the 200 dollar crude oil price is coming.

The forces shaping our futures are so complex even the experts are continually getting it wrong, have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjdvRVNMfxo&feature=player_embedded and check out future predictions on the RSA's vision videos here http://www.thersa.org/events/vision. Hours of thought provocation!

The economic downturn means that support for eco issues has and is being withdrawn but continuing rises in energy prices will force change.

What will 2010 look like in 2020!






James said:
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 @ 9:46 AM

Hi Les
Yes indeed, the forces shaping our futures are certainly complex.
I'd be interested to hear what you think about Transition.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to access http://www..thersa.org/events/vision.
However, I thought Watson seemed to have a reasonable vision, though lets hope the 'personal fortress' scenario isn't the winner. Now, as for Toffler, I particularly like his comment on the redundency of knowledge - the amount of time I wasted on MSdos - and so much more! One problem I've always had with Alvin Toffler however, is that (for me) he doesn't look anything like his name.
Did you see this one?...
http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse
Well worth the time.
Martenson says that the next 20 years are going to be nothing like the last 20
I'm not going to argue with that.
Best
James


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