| Date | Title and Abstract | | Comments |
| August 25, 2010 |
Peak Oil Alarm Raised By Secret Government Talks. It would seem that, at least in the UK, some politicians are waking up to the threat of Peak Oil, but in private. An article posted on TreeHugger.com. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
Brian Skerry reveals ocean's glory -- and horror. Brian Skerry, photojournalist for National Geographic talks about the beauty, and the horror, that he has seen in his 30 years photographing ocean life and ecosystems.
We're killing the oceans. And when we kill the oceans, we kill ourselves. This needs to stop. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
National Geographics "Greendex" for 2010. This is shameful, and rather humiliating. For the 3rd year running, Canada scores second from the bottom (ahead only of the United States) in our personal choices and consumer behaviour in terms of environmentally sustainable consumption and practices. We need to smarten up, and soon. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
Richard Sears: Planning for the end of oil. In the interests of impartiality, here's a TED talk by oil geologist Richard Sears. I personally think he paints a very overly-optimistic picture of the future, in which technology and human ingenuity will step in to develop wonderful new alternatives to fossil fuels. It'd better happen soon... |
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| August 22, 2010 |
Deepwater Horizon Spill: the costs. A blizzard of truly chilling information is presented in this "infographic" on the long term costs of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This fallout from this could last for decades, and its effects could be felt here in Canada, 3000 miles away. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
Indian State of Kerala Starts 10-Year Conversion to All-Organic Farming. Interesting article from Treehugger.com on the southern Indian state of Kerala, which has officially announced a new farming policy which aims to covert all agriculture in the state to organic methods over the next ten years. Well worth emulating. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
Deepwater Horizon blowout, part 2. More of a "human interest" story, this CBS video is the story of one survivor's rather harrowing escape, and what happened after he got off the burning rig.
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| August 22, 2010 |
BP Buys Scientists' silence for $250 / hr.. More evidence that you can buy anything, for a price. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
The Story of Cosmetics. Another great video from Annie Leonard, the woman behind "The Story of Stuff" video. |
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| August 22, 2010 |
The Great Turning Film. Good to know that Chris Landry and Kristen Chamberlin's project is still on the go, and will be released soon... |
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| August 22, 2010 |
How the Tar Sands Threaten Canada's Economic Fate. An interesting article in The Tyee on the perils of putting all of our eggs into one tarry basket, thus effectively tying our dollar to the price of crude; or, as the article calls it "Dutch Disease." |
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| July 7, 2010 |
GMO Monsanto vs Percy Schmeiser. It's pretty clear that the US (and Canada) are ruled by Wall Street and the oil companies, but there's a third closely related member of this unholy trinity that presents an even more sinister threat... Monsanto, and its criminal allies in Washington DC and Ottawa.
They intend not only to steal our wealth, but also our ability to feed ourselves without TOTAL dependence on their "products."
Genetically modified organisms have NOTHING to do with higher yields or disease resistance. They're a trojan horse designed to turn farmers (and the rest of of) into 21st century serfs.
The hero in this video is Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser.
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| June 11, 2010 |
Deepwater spill could be a game-changer for oil. Sweeping new regulations on offshore drilling in the wake of the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could mean reductions in global production by as much as a 500,000 to 700,000 barrels per day by 2015, necessitating a thorough, and costly, rethink of our dependence on fossil fuels. An article posted in the Globe and Mail business section on June 10. |
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| June 4, 2010 |
Derek Sivers TED talk: How to start a movement. Yet another great (and amusing) TED talk. |
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| June 4, 2010 |
Stop the Harper Government Reducing Environmental Regulations if you like what BP has done to the Gulf of Mexico, you'll love what is in store for the Beaufort Sea. Please read... |
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| June 4, 2010 |
City of Hamilton - Planning & Economic Development: Climate Change. A discussion paper on Hamilton's greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation strategies and citizen input. It would appear that the "big smoke" is taking the issue seriously, at least as far as having an open forum for discussion. |
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| June 4, 2010 |
Brian Skerry: Ocean's Glory and Horror. Another excellent TED talk on the status of the world's oceans. |
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| June 4, 2010 |
Richard Sears: Planning for the End of Oil. An excellent TED talk (but then, they're all pretty darn good) by Richard Sears. Well worth watching. |
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| June 4, 2010 |
Greendex: Consumer Choice and Environment - A Worldwide Tracking Survey. This is pretty shameful. In terms of personal choices that benefit the environment and promote sustainability, Canada ranks second from the bottom, with only the US lower. |
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| June 3, 2010 |
Energy Pricing Key to Sustainability of Canada's Big Cities. Article in Design Product News online. |
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| May 27, 2010 |
Rome to Become First Post-Carbon City. Interesting article in EarthTimes. |
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| May 14, 2010 |
How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?. A google map of southern Ontario (with Guelph at the center) with an overlay of the current size of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A real eye-opener. Greenpeace video on youtube.
To sign the Avaaz petition to stop offshore drilling, click here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_offshore_drilling_2/?vl |
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| May 5, 2010 |
Trade Justice Network releases secret draft copy of Canada-European Trade Agreement. Larry Brown, national secretary-treasurer of the National Union of Public and General Employees, Ottawa and the newly-formed Trade Justice Network released a secret draft text of the proposed Canada-European Union Economic and Trade Agreement - the most significant bilateral trade negotiation since the North American Free Trade Agreement, which contains some alarming proposals that could seriously affect the viability and resilience of our local food system, in particular the rights of our local farmers to save seeds. |
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| May 4, 2010 |
A great video on Food Security. A very nice, compact little video on the Canadian food system (about 2:40 minutes long) from EatRealEatLocal.ca (which is sponsored by Hellmanns.) |
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| May 4, 2010 |
What If EIA Annual Energy Outlook Were Written by an Honest Person?. Why The EIA Should Be Statutorily Barred From Making Predictions. An article on getreallist.com by Chris Nelder.
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| May 4, 2010 |
Is the IEA World Energy Outlook Politically Distorted?. Panic and Penitence: The Evolution of the IEA. An article on getreallist.com by Chris Nelder. |
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| May 4, 2010 |
"Peak Demand," Yes, But Not the Nice Kind. Why There Will Be No Recovery. An article on getreallist.com by Chris Nelder.
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| May 4, 2010 |
Officials Wake Up to Peak Oil, Part 1. The End of Peak Oil Denial. UK Task Force on Peak Oil states: Shortages by 2015. |
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| May 4, 2010 |
Officials Wake Up to Peak Oil, Part 2. And it's about time. Governments are Worried about Peak Oil – But Not Enough to Tell You the Truth. An article on getreallist.com. |
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| April 8, 2010 |
Ontario Announces Historic Renewable Energy Investments. Nearly 2,500 megawatts of new renewable energy contracts position Ontario as a global green energy leader. A press release from the Green Energy Alliance. |
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| March 27, 2010 |
Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production: An Outline Review. This may be the grimmest document yet. Written by David Korowicz of Feasta and the Risk/Resilience Network and published by Feasta (The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability), in it he builds a compelling argument that "there is a high probability that our integrated and globalised civilisation is on the cusp of a fast and near-term collapse."
You may agree, you may disagree, you may hope like hell it's not true. In any case, it's worth reading, but be forewarned. It's not a pretty picture. |
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| March 27, 2010 |
Report on UK Government Peak Oil Summit. From Rob Hopkins on the first UK govt meeting about Peak Oil that he attended a few days ago (Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and of the Transition Network)
On Monday Peter Lipman and I represented Transition Network at an event which could potentially be the day people look back to as the day when UK government finally starting to ‘get’ peak oil. Fascinating and frustrating in equal measure, the event, “Policy Response to potential future oil supply constraints”, was billed as “a half-day workshop hosted by the Energy Institute in partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change, under Chatham House Rules”. For those who don’t know what Chatham House rules are, it means that the contents of what was said can be discussed, but none of it can be attributed to anyone. Although the event was meant to be private, it was leaked and reported in the Guardian that morning. Jeremy Leggett was quoted in the piece as describing the importance of the meeting thus: “Government has gone from the BP position – ‘40 years of supply left, the price mechanism works, no need to worry’ – to ‘crikey’”. So, here is an account compiled from my notes of what went on behind closed doors, bearing those Chatham House rules in mind, meaning that I can’t attribute some of the comments that follow.
Now, if we can just get the Harper and his crones to follow suit... |
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| March 24, 2010 |
Institute for Energy Research Admits It Was Behind Anti-Wind Study. It's stuff like this that just makes me want to curl up into a fetal position and stay there.
Danish journalists have confirmed that the so-called "Institute for Energy Research" (a right-wing think tank funded by the U.S. coal and oil industries) commissioned and paid for the anti-wind energy study released last year by a Danish think tank that claimed Denmark exaggerates the amount of wind energy it produces (it doesn’t), questioned whether wind energy reduces carbon emissions (it does), and asserted that the U.S. should choose coal over wind because it’s cheaper (it’s not when you count the true costs of coal). |
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| March 19, 2010 |
What is Transition Town law?. A very interesting perspective from Environmental Law Society here in BC - and very positive about the transition movement too!
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| March 19, 2010 |
Clean Coal. Mmmm! Smell that April-fresh scent! |
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| March 19, 2010 |
About Biochar. Ever wondered just what "biochar" is? Wonder no more. |
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| March 17, 2010 |
Where Has the Oil Gone?. An interesting article published in the Environmental News Network. Oil geologists have reworked the Hubbert Peak model to make it more applicable on a global scale (called the multicycle Hubbert model). They project the peak to occur some time in 2014. |
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| March 12, 2010 |
Warm dry winter may lead to difficult summer, top climatologist says. Up to now we've been pretty lucky in Canada, in that the effects of global warming here have, for the most part, been in the category of "invonveniences." That may be changing. |
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| March 9, 2010 |
Review of the documentary Collapse. Roger Ebert's review of the Chris Smith's documentary on former police officer and renegade journalist Michael Ruppert, "Collapse", reprinted from the Chicago Sun-Times. The film's website can be found here: www.collapsemovie.com |
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| March 9, 2010 |
New Zealand Agriculture and Feeding the World. An interesting article on global food security and New Zealand's role in it, first published in Otago Daily News and reprinted on the www.foodforethought.net website. |
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| March 5, 2010 |
Food Security and Peak Oil. The transcript of a talk given by Jason Bradford at the Eugene, Oregon City Hall on February 17, 2010. Reprinted in theoildrum.com. |
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| February 25, 2010 |
Bloom Energy innovative fuel cell design. A very interesting 60 Minutes item about a revolutionary fuel cell design that is catching the attention of a few large corporations, such as Ebay and Google. The Bloom Energy website is: http://bloomenergy.com/ |
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| February 11, 2010 |
A Draft Copy of Transition Guelph's "Resilient Guelph 2030" Vision Document. This document contains a vision of Guelph in the year 2030, having "made the transition" to a more resilient, localized, sustainable community. It represents the collective input of many Transition Guelph members. It remains a work-in-progress. |
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| February 11, 2010 |
A Short Transition Orientation Powerpoint Presentation. This presentation is one that we often use in outreach activities to present a very brief overview of the issues driving the need for transition, and the Transition Town model as a response to those issues. It contains some 16 slides, and can be downloaded, modified and used as needed (please give us appropriate credit if you wish to use it yourself!) It is up-to-date as of February, 2010. File is about 1.7 Meg. To download a copy to your local machine, Shift+Click on the link. |
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| January 18, 2010 |
The Prisoner's Dilemma - A Parable. Maybe this explains the pickle we're in... |
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| January 18, 2010 |
Thorium: Clean Nuclear?. I stumbled upon this website after chatting with a friend about alternative energies. Very interesting stuff. The thorium nuclear energy lobby claims that liquid thorium-fluoride and other similar reactor technologies have little of the deficits of uranium-based nuclear energy (highly toxic and long-lived fission products, dangerous radiation requiring massive containments, and so on) and is stable, self-sustaining and cheaper than coal. They also claim that the U.S. chose uranium fission over thorium largely because uranium fission produces plutonium as a byproduct, which could then be weaponized. Have a look, and see what you think. You might want to start with the article (midway down the page) in Wired magazine for an overview. |
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| January 11, 2010 |
Kicking the oil habit. Sooner or later, plentiful oil will be a thing of the past. Transition Towns are starting now to prepare for the future. A great article about Transition Town Peterborough (and a cool pic of Fred!) in the United Church Observer. |
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| January 9, 2010 |
Government is 'dangerously deluded' on GM. THE Government is ‘dangerously deluded’ if it believes genetically modified crops will solve the world’s food security issues, members of the breakaway Oxford Real Farming Conference warned, as reported in this January 8 article in the Farmer's Guardian. |
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| December 30, 2009 |
Let Us Buy Local. James Howard Kunstler was quoted recently as saying that "Globalization is on the ropes." As the movement to buy local and reject the enormous social, economic and environmental penalties of a globalized market gains momentum, there is a growing backlash amongst those who own a large stake in the global marketplace. Media spin casting doubt on the environmental efficacy of buying local is beginning to appear in various publications. This article, recently published in JustMeans, takes a good hard look at those claims. |
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| December 19, 2009 |
A Copenhagen Christmas Present from Naresh Giangrande. A Copenhagen Christmas Present: December 15th 2009. Copenhagen. Written by one of the co-founders of the Transition Town movement and published on the Transition Culture website. |
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| December 16, 2009 |
Our "Wall of Shame".... Companies that invest in Tar Sands development. |
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| December 16, 2009 |
The Fossil of the Day Awards. And yes, we're one of 'em. |
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| December 16, 2009 |
Suddenly, the world hates Canada. An article in MacLeans. |
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| December 16, 2009 |
Who are the Yes Men and why did they punk Canada at Copenhagen. Toronto Star article on the recent Yes Men hoax that caused some well-deserved embarrassment among the Canadian delegates to Copenhagen. |
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| December 16, 2009 |
Canada's Climate Shame. A deeply humiliating Mail and Guardian article by the ever-forthright George Monbiot. |
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| December 16, 2009 |
Tories pondered weaker emission targets for oil and gas. The Conservative government has considered abandoning some of the greenhouse gas reduction goals set out in its 2007 green plan and allowing weaker targets for the oil and gas sector, documents obtained by CBC News suggest. |
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| December 15, 2009 |
Hoax slices through Canadian spin. An elaborate hoax by the Yes Men activist group has deeply embarassed the Canadian delegation to Copenhagen by forcing them to announce that, no, Canada is not planning deep emissions cuts and committing $13 billion to help poorer nations combat the ravages of climate change. (As if our delegates needed any help embarrassing themselves, and us...) |
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| December 5, 2009 |
The Story of Cap and Trade. From the makers of "The Story of Stuff", another excellent video. The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from whats really required to tackle the climate crisis. If youve heard about Cap & Trade, but arent sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you. |
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| December 5, 2009 |
Ethanol Expert David Blume Interviewed on KPTV Portland (youtube video). An excellent 5-minute interview with ethanol advocate David Blume. For more information, see his website (link is further down the page, posted on October 25, 2009) |
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| November 27, 2009 |
Resilience Thinking: An article for the latest issue of Resurgence. The latest edition of Resurgence is timed to coincide with the Copenhagen talks, and looks at resilience as a key aspect of the climate change debates. Here is an article written for it by Transition founder Rob Hopkins:
Resilience Thinking. Why ‘resilience thinking’ is a crucial missing piece of the climate-change jigsaw and why resilience is a more useful concept than sustainability.
Resilience: “the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change, so as to retain essentially the same function, structure, identity and feedbacks.”
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| November 24, 2009 |
You Are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. You may already have seen this, as it appears to be circulating the Internet at high speed (which in itself is encouraging), nevertheless this inspiring commencement address by Paul Hawken to the class of 2009 at the University of Portland, Oregon, presented May 3, 2009 is well worth a read. |
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| November 20, 2009 |
Transition Orientation Powerpoint Presentation. This is the powerpoint presentation we are using to introduce people to the issues of Peak Oil and Climate Change, the Transition Town Movement, and Transition Guelph. It was first shown at our orientation meeting Thursday, November 19. NOTE: This file is quite large, about 15 Meg.
And here are the talking notes for the presentation (MS Word document) |
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| November 19, 2009 |
TVO Interview with Jeff Rubin. Jeff Rubin was chief economist with the CIBC until he resigned to promote his book, "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller". In it, he predicts that record high oil prices will mean the end of globalization. |
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| November 17, 2009 |
The one thing depleting faster than oil is the credibility of those measuring it. The challenge of feeding billions of people as fuel supplies fall is staggering. And yet leaders' heads remain stuck in the sand. Another hard-hitting article in The Guardian by the always-forthright George Monbiot. |
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| November 16, 2009 |
Toxic Technology: Five Gadgets to Avoid, and Why. Here's an interesting little article posted on the green.msn.ca website that told me a few things I didn't know about common household electronics (for example: plasma TVs consume so much electricity that the EU has actually introduced legislation to ban them). Worth a read (and the posted comments are almost as interesting, in a morbid sort of way). |
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| November 13, 2009 |
Searching For A Miracle. There's really nothing new in this document by Peak Oil guru Richard Heinberg, nevertheless it is one of the most comprehensive reports on our energy future yet published. It's a sober, clear-eyed analysis of all of our energy options, the pluses and minuses of each, and it draws the inevitable conclusion that there is really no alternative, if we want a sustainable future, to making drastic cuts to our energy consumption. At 83 pages this is a rather long document, but it should be required reading for anyone who is concerned for our collective future in a post-carbon world. With a forward by Jerry Mander. |
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| November 12, 2009 |
Looming oil crunch played down: IEA whistleblower. A whistleblower at the International Energy Agency has accused the organization of deliberately underplaying the seriousness of a looming oil shortage. A sobering article on the precariousness of our current energy supply, published on the CBC website November 10th. |
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| November 2, 2009 |
The Plan C Activist Toolkit, by Pat Murphy. Faced with three daunting, interrelated challenges—catastrophic climate changes from the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, an imminent peak and decline in global fossil fuel production, and accelerating inequity from unequal global resource use—there are only so many options we have to choose from in order to preserve our planet. Plan A is to keep doing what we're doing. It's becoming increasingly obvious that that's not a viable long-term option. Plan B, the techno-fix option, has proven to be more of a marketing tool than a real solution. But there's another option, one that dares us to be visionary, and to imagine a world in which we work individually and within our communities to start moving towards a healthier, more satisfying, Low-Energy (Low-E) society.
It’s called PLAN C...
This PDF document is a companion-piece to Pat Murphy's excellent book Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change and an indispensible guide for creating community resilience and sustainability. (About 1.6 Meg) |
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| October 25, 2009 |
Alcohol Can Be a Gas. "Ethanol is not a viable bio-fuel." "We would have to turn all of our arable land over to ethanol production, leaving none for food." "Ethanol is not efficient enough." Have we been swallowing a line of big-oil, pro-petroleum propropaganda? Permaculturalist David Blume says we have, and he makes a strong case. Check out this website, and join us for screenings of his video (times and dates TBA. Check the Upcoming Events page for details.) |
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| October 22, 2009 |
Action is the focus of climate change event. Great article posted in the Guelph Mercury about the Guelph Climate Festival, Saturday, October 24, by Nicole O'Reilly. |
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| October 22, 2009 |
The Season of Discontent, by Mark Winne. Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty explores the state of food insecurity in America in this fast-paced article. Feeding the hungry is now estimated to be an astounding $100-billion-a-year enterprise. This money fills stomachs, but fails at providing empowerment. Aren’t there better ways to end poverty? To learn more, please read this important article, reprinted from www.foodforethought.net. |
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| October 12, 2009 |
Short story by Jeanette Winterson. In December world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to try to reach a global deal to tackle climate change. To support the launch of the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions, the Review asked some of our greatest artists, authors and poets to produce new work in response to the crisis. Published in The Guardian, Saturday 26 September 2009. |
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| October 11, 2009 |
Warning over global oil 'decline'. There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned. The UK Energy Research Centre study says there is a consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end. But it warns that most governments, including the UK's, exhibit little concern about oil depletion.
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| September 18, 2009 |
Would You Know How to Survive After the Oil Crash? An article in alternet.org by Tara Lohan, posted September 17, 2009. Could you get by without your car, food from outside your community, your job? There's a bunch of folks who want to show you how. |
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| September 13, 2009 |
An Easily Understandable Explanation of the Derivatives Market. So why did the economy tank so spectacularly in 2008? And why did the government toss almost a trillion dollars of no-strings-attached money at the financial markets to prop them back up? Follow Heidi and her drink-now-pay-later bar, and find out. |
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| August 10, 2009 |
Something Bigger Than Life is Trying to Work Through Us. A sobering and rather unsettling article from Tom Atlee on the Co-Intelligence Institute website, on the coming peak-oil and climate change crises. |
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| August 3, 2009 |
The Citizen's Handbook. Practical assistance for those who want to make a difference; a Vancouver citizen's action website. A great link originally posted on the forum by a member. |
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| August 3, 2009 |
The Problem of Denial, by William R. Catton, Jr. Professor Emeritus - Sociology Washington State University
ABSTRACT: Abundant evidence suggests industrial civilization must be "downsized" to curb damage to the ecosphere by the "technosphere." Trends behind this prospect include prodigious population growth, urbanization, cultural dependence upon ravenous use of fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources, consequent air pollution, and global climate change. Despite prolonged Cold War distraction and entrenched faith that technology could always enlarge carrying capacity, these trends were well publicized. But there remain eminent writers who persist in denying that human carrying capacity (Earth's maximum sustainable human load) has now been or ever will be exceeded. Denials of ecological limits resemble anosognosia (inability of stroke patients to recognize their paralysis). Some denial literature resembles their confabulations (elaborately unreal stories concocted as rationalizations). Denial by opponents of human ecology seems to be a way of coping with an insufferable contradiction between past convictions and present circumstances, a defense against intolerable anomalous information.
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| June 30, 2009 |
Imagine: Prosperity without growth. Another great article from rabble.ca by Murray Dobbin, published June 29. |
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| June 29, 2009 |
Ontario suspends nuclear power plans. A new announcement marks a huge shift in policy for the McGuinty government, which had planned to spend $26-billion expanding and refurbishing its fleet of reactors.
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| June 28, 2009 |
Autoban: A German Town Goes Car-Free. A June 26 article published in The Independent about a German town that has banned automobiles from the downtown and rebuilt its transportation infrastructure around public transit, walkable design and transportation sharing. |
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| June 26, 2009 |
Definancialization, Deglobalisation, Relocalization. Depending on how you think about it, the idea of "Transition" can be exciting, collegial, and creative - or challenging, difficult and fraught with large-scale realities that are the result of past refusals to see the consequences of our "ordinary" lives. Some of you may have read Dmitry Orlov's "Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects" which will make you familiar with his hard-hitting style of analyzing the convergence of our various financial and ecological dilemmas.
Here's the transcript of a hard-hitting, frank talk by Dimitry Orlov, first presented at the New Emergency Conference, All Hallows College, Dublin, June 10-12, 2009. |
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| June 25, 2009 |
The race is on to create a new world of energy. An article from the Guardian about the new technological imperative to create new energy sources and efficiencies, while there is still time. Let's hope there is. |
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| June 17, 2009 |
www.100000onthehill.com/. 100,000 on The Hill is a peaceful demonstration and public plea for strong climate policy. This gathering of Canadians in person and spirit aims to show our government that Canadians support proactive, internationally acceptable climate policy.
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| June 8, 2009 |
Transition Presentation for Manitoulin Island. This is the PowerPoint slide-show (adapted from the Sandpoint Unleashing presentation) we used when presenting an overview of Transition Initiatives to a great group of about 50 very aware, informed and active participants on Manitoulin Island. We got people from all over the island, from Espanola, and from as far away as Sudbury. It was very inspiring, and an all around great evening. NOTE: This file is about 25 Meg.
NOTE: This file has been taken down, because we were running out of room on the server. If you would like to request a copy, please email info@transitionguelph.org. |
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| June 8, 2009 |
Chris Martenson's Crash Course on the economy, energy and the future. Perhaps the most comprehensive and balanced analysis of where we are and where we are headed. REQUIRED VIEWING.
Note: the Crash Course is divided into 20 separate video segments, each between 3 and 20 minutes in length. The entire course will take about 3 hours and 23 minutes to watch, start to finish. Yes, it's long, but it's also important (i.e. vital) information that needs to be seen in order to understand our path forward through the coming crises. Please watch, and share with your friends and family. |
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| June 7, 2009 |
Global Energy Resources: The Peak Oil View. A video lecture by Professor Kjell Aleklett, ASPO researcher, of the University of Uppsala. Posted on the University of Aberdeen website. |
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| June 4, 2009 |
The City that Ended Hunger. a fascinating and inspiring story of a city in Brazil that revolutionized its food distribution system to end barriers to affordable, nutritious food. An excellent read! |
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| June 2, 2009 |
An Inconvenient Talk: Dave Hughes’s guide to the end of the fossil fuel age. A feature article on peak oil in the Walrus magazine on by Chris Turner (author of Geography of Hope) and Dave Hughes. |
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| June 2, 2009 |
The recession: First, there was expensive oil. If indeed oil, and not subprime mortgages, lies at the heart of our current economic malaise, we may be sicker than we know. An article in The Globe and Mail by Jeff Rubin, former CIBC economist and author of the peak oil primer, "Why Your World is About to Get a Lot Smaller."
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| May 21, 2009 |
Pending Nuclear developments in Ontario. what you can do to stop $26 billion+ in poor investments. An excellent and very informative document forwarded to us by one of our members, complete with lots of websites and email links to our MPPs. Please read and take action! |
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| May 20, 2009 |
Earthship Homes 101 (part 1). Part 2: Earthship Homes 101 (part 2) . Imagine building a home that produces all its own energy, most of the food you consume, requires no furnace even in a cold northern climate and still have a comfortable shirtsleeve temperature inside. That's the promise of the Earthship design that uses passive solar heating and makes use of natural and recycled materials, thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization and renewable energy & integrated water systems to make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.
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| May 20, 2009 |
Green, Accessible, Secure: Ontario Green Energy Lobbying day of Action. The Council of Canadians is sponsoring a lobbying day of action May 20 to ensure that the Ontario Legislature gets the message that we want our green energy to be "Green, Accessible, and Secure". |
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| May 20, 2009 |
Hope for a Change: Renewable Energy trailer. Great trailer for a great video. |
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| May 17, 2009 |
Water Disaster - The Truth About Bottled Water. This is a short, but excellent PowerPoint slideshow about the impact of bottled water on health and the environment. Very visually impactful! Share it with your friends who still think it's cool to walk around with a bottle of Dasani in their hand. (2 meg file) |
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| May 16, 2009 |
Ontario Gives Green Energy Act the Green Light: A first for North America. Members of the Green Energy Act Alliance, a coalition of leading environmental groups, industry associations, farmers and labour groups, were at Queen's Park to congratulate the Liberals and NDP on the adoption of the Green Energy and Economy Act May 14. The Act aims to improve conservation programs, promote investment in renewable energy projects through North America's first feed-in tariff program, and create green jobs. Introduced in November 2008, the Act is the cornerstone of the government's plan to put Ontario on a path towards reducing Ontario's greenhouse gas emissions, while becoming a leader in the emerging global renewable energy sector. |
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| May 16, 2009 |
Global Economy? Who Needs It!: Sandpoint Idaho and the Transition Town Movement. Sandpoint, Idaho has become the first Transition Town in North America to create a strategic plan for self-reliance and sufficiency, a plan to disengage from the global economic system that's causing all the trouble. |
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| May 14, 2009 |
Ontario: Greenpeace and Renewable Energy Industry Call for Energy Revolution. Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) released a new report today detailing a revolutionary green energy scenario for Canada that could cut this country’s greenhouse gas emissions dramatically by 2020.
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| May 14, 2009 |
Global Oil Production Has Peaked. There's mounting evidence that global oil production may already have peaked and is now in decline, beating the predictions of the IEA by at least three years. If true, that's not good news. |
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| April 30, 2009 |
Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Green Energy Act. A vast majority of Ontario residents support the government's proposed Green Energy Act, according to a public opinion poll released April 26th by a coalition of environmental groups, farmers, labour unions, and industry associations. Eighty-seven per cent of respondents said they support the proposed Green Energy Act. The poll shows support is widespread across the province, with the highest support in Northern Ontario (93%), Toronto (89%), and the GTA/905 (88%).
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| April 30, 2009 |
New Revolution in Wind Power. As soaring oil prices and greenhouse gas emissions fuel the search for cheaper and cleaner sources of energy, a Japanese aerospace manufacturer may have found the right stuff for a solution. It’s a windmill you can call your very own. Yokohama-based aerospace manufacturer, Nippi Corporation, has developed a revolutionary 20 kW wind turbine power generation system that's turning heads everywhere. |
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| April 24, 2009 |
Sea Levels Are Rising: It's Time to Decide Which Coastal Cities Are Worth Saving. Ice cubes the size of American states are melting into the ocean; we face frightening scenarios and tough choices for coastal habitation. An article posted on alternet.org. |
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| April 21, 2009 |
Nuclear Power - Hope or Hoax? A nine-part Youtube video (this link is to Part One). January 16, 2008, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility addresses a large crowd of concerned Alberta citizens.
Tar sands operations are drawing an increasing amount of our domestic allotment of conventional fossil fuels (especially natural gas, commonly used for heating fuel in our extreme winter conditions) to create fuels and feedstock for export. As Alberta's natural gas production has apparently peaked, the industry is looking to develop large scale, alternative energy sources for ongoing extraction of low-quality bitumen from the sands of northern Alberta.
Nuclear Power: Hope or Hoax? ... presented by the Sierra Club of Canada, Prairie Chapter and the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. Video productions services were provided by Rainbow Bridge Communications Company.
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| April 21, 2009 |
Green lobby and nuclear groups clash over role of renewable energy. Greenpeace dismisses EDF for protecting its 'vested nuclear interests' by undermining the future of renewable fuels. An article from the March 16th issue of The Guardian. |
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| April 21, 2009 |
The End is Near (Yay!). A great article in the New York Times about Sandpoint Idaho (America's first official Transition Town) and their "Great Unleashing" event. The press is paying attention at last! |
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| April 21, 2009 |
First Lady's first garden. Homegrown veggies are possible even in the city, but start small and keep things as simple as you can. An article from the April 18th Toronto Star. |
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| April 21, 2009 |
'Carrot City' exhibit highlights innovation and growth in urban agriculture. April 14th story in the Guelph Mercury about Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture. |
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| April 21, 2009 |
Growing together: Community gardens are about much more than food. April 18th article in the Guelph Mercury about the welcome upsurge in the popularity of urban community vegetable gardens. |
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| April 21, 2009 |
Trash as Potential Energy Source. Cool article forwarded to us by a TG member on the various emerging technologies to derive energy from the stuff we throw away. One really interesting point in the article is the possibility of processing organic waste into aviation fuel. Currently there is no substitute for petroleum-derived avgas or kerosene, meaning the aviation industry is entirely dependent on oil. |
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| April 20, 2009 |
Transition Guelph Presentation to the CDES Committee. This is the PowerPoint presentation we used to introduce Transition Guelph to the Community Development and Environmental Services Committee at City Hall, April 20. The presentation had to be a maximum of 10 minutes in length, so we crammed a lot of material into a very short time! Thanks to Lise Burcher, committee chair, and June Hofland, Ward 3 councilor, we were also able to offer proposals on how the city can facilitate the work of Transition Guelph, and develop synergies around the Guelph Strategic Plan and the Community Energy Plan. For our talking notes as a PDF document, click here. Please note, the PowerPoint presentation is about 2.1 Meg. |
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| April 19, 2009 |
www.foodforthought.net. This is a very informative website that deals with emerging and evolving food systems throughout the world. Well worth checking out periodically. |
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| April 19, 2009 |
Pure rubbish: The Christopher Booker Prize! On February 9, George Monbiot launched the "Christopher Booker Annual Prize for Climate Change Bullshit". The award will go to whoever manages, in the course of 2009, to cram as many misrepresentations, distortions and falsehoods into a single article, statement, lecture, film or interview about climate change. This work must be available online. You score a point for every mistake, though one point will be deducted for every retraction or correction published by the author or the original outlet within a reasonable length of time.
Make your own list! Who will be this year's winner? Did you pick right? Oh, the suspense is killing me!
For more details, and a picture of the beautiful trophy - made entirely from recycled materials - click the above link!
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| April 19, 2009 |
Cross Your Fingers and Carry On. Why does the government refuse to make contingency plans for Peak Oil? An excellent (though maddening) article by the always-thought-provoking George Monbiot, published in the April 14th, 2009 issue of The Guardian. In the words of Monbiot's tag line: "Tell people something they already know and they'll thank you for it. Tell them something they don't know and they'll hate you for it." |
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| April 8, 2009 |
The Straight Poop on the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Bill HR 875/S425 before Congress. Okay, this may not be a great piece of legislation; the Organic Consumers Association of America doesn't endorse it, for several reasons. But the claims that this bill will outlaw back yard gardens and criminalize seed banking and organic farming are wildly exaggerated. This bill is not sponsored by Monsanto, nor is Rep. Rosa DeLauro's husband, Stanley Greenberg, a Monsanto executive. This article in Snopes separates fact from hysteria. |
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| April 5, 2009 |
Clare Nova Scotia renewable energy initiative. Clare Nova Scotia was in much the same straits as Gussing, Austria in the early 90s (see next document): economically depressed, with high unemployment. In a daring move, the Clare town council went to Gussing and twinned with that city, adopting their sustainability strategy. This is their story. PDF document |
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| April 5, 2009 |
Gussing Center for Renewable Energy. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the city of Gussing, Austria was a severely economically depressed region. The Gussing city council decided to spend their money on developing a green economy and green energy for the city. It is now one of the model green communities of Europe, economically successful and a showcase for sustainability. PDF document. |
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| April 3, 2009 |
Brian Swimme on the end of the Cenozoic Era. Ecological crisis, mass extinction, humans, and planetary transformation. Author, mathematical cosmologist and director of the Center for the Story of the Universe Brian Swimme talks about the need for a new planetary economy in this short youtube video (~ 4 minutes). Bear in mind as he talks that "economy" derives from the same root as "ecology". Both come from the Greek "ecos", meaning home. Earth as ecos. |
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| April 2, 2009 |
8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement. A great article from Yes! magazine: How to turn a lawn into lunch, swap preserves, glean, boost your food security, live the good life.
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| April 2, 2009 |
Enbridge gears up for green gas era. Enbridge Gas Distribution is launching an initiative to exploit bio-gas from landfills, sewage treatment plants, and "digesters" that convert animal manure and other organics into "bio-methane." Given that fossil fuel methane (i.e. "natural gas") is subject to peak and decline just like any other non-renewable resource, we certainly need to be looking at renewable alternatives now, while there is still a little time left.
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| April 1, 2009 |
A Farm for the Future. Excellent video documentary from the BBC about Peak Oil that focuses on farming. Presenter and co-producer Rebecca Hosking explores the importance of oil in farming and the potential impact of peak oil. The film has a passionate narrative centred on Rebecca’s small family farm in South West England; can she make her farm fit for the future?
Colin Campbell and Richard Heinberg contribute, permaculture, forest gardens, gardening vs. farming, biofuels, biodiversity, industrial farming and no-till farming are all covered. It seems certain that present methods cannot go on feeding Britain as they are highly dependent on fossil-fuel. The film concentrates on the necessity to find a new way to feed the nation. About 50 minutes in length.
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| April 1, 2009 |
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller. A short article in the National Post about former CIBC economist Jeff Rubin's forthcoming book on Peak Oil, and the effects it will have on society and the economy. |
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| March 31, 2009 |
WWF Earth Hour Results page. It would appear that this year's Earth Hour event was an unprecedented success! Nearly 4000 cities participated globally, four times the WWF's target. In Canada, an estimated 81% of households and 2500 businesses took part, resulting in demand drops across the grid of between 5 and 15 percent. All across the world, people voted for action on climate change with their light switches. The call is growing. |
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| March 24, 2009 |
The Energy Bulletin. Lots of good information on energy issues from many sources, updated daily. Warning: some of it is rather scary. |
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| March 14, 2009 |
IEA Says Oil Capacity Crunch Looms. A very brief article on the ASPO website says that the International Energy Agency fears a significant supply shock by the end of 2013 if no new investments in development are forthcoming. A very different picture than that painted by Jorma Ollila (next article). |
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| March 14, 2009 |
Mr. Jorma Ollila, the Chairman of the Board of Royal Dutch Shell. Wow. This is a little surreal, if I may be allowed a brief editorial comment. This an abridged, edited and verified transcript of an interview of Mr. Jorma Ollila, the Chairman of the Board of Royal Dutch Shell, plc. Mr. Ollila was interviewed in English by Mr. Juhana Rossi, staff writer for Helsingin Sanomat. The interview took place in The Hague on March 4th, 2009.
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| March 12, 2009 |
Global Economic Growth is Dead! Hope is in our new green local economy. A great article written by Transition Town Peterborough's Fred Irwin on the need for transition to local economies based on green, sustainable jobs and local initiatives. Published as an editorial in Peterborough's WIRE MEGAZine. |
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| March 10, 2009 |
Jennifer Gray: Transition Comes To America. A great interview with the woman who brought the transition movement to the U.S. About 28 minutes long. |
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| March 9, 2009 |
PowerUp Canada. Canadians for climate leadership website. Global warming is getting worse and more quickly than most scientists had warned. Many countries are working hard at solutions and building new economies along the way. But Canada has some of the weakest national government policies in the world – weaker than China and India. (Climate Change Performance Index 2008)
Join up to send a message to Ottawa.
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| March 5, 2009 |
Tabor Tilth: Permaculture in the City. Connie Van Dyke’s inspirational urban garden in Portland, Oregon. A shorter version can be found on Youtube here. |
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| March 5, 2009 |
Permaculture Principles at Work: Starhawk videos. An introduction to permaculture principles, featuring the work of Erik Ohlsen of Permaculture Artisans and Earth Activist Training. A shorter version can be found on Youtube, here.
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| March 4, 2009 |
Huge Peaceful Demonstration Against Coal-Power in Washington. A victory over coal: this is how movements work. |
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| March 3, 2009 |
How It All Ends. Despite the scary title, this is an entertaining and (somewhat) lighthearted video that looks at the decisions facing us in our response to climate change. It's presented as a clear choice of easily definable alternatives, and arrives at a clear-cut conclusion. We have to act. About 10 minutes long. |
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| March 2, 2009 |
Local food: success is 100% possible. This is a guest post from Tim, a city planner from sunny Moncton, NB. Tim has spent some time looking into the viability of local, small scale agriculture, and has come up with some results that give us every reason to be optimistic regarding our ability to feed ourselves through our individual and neighborhood-scale efforts, even as the systems of large-scale, industrial agriculture and food delivery unravel due to a combination of high input costs, epic droughts brought on by accelerating climate change, and a shortage of credit caused by the financial collapse. The remaining challenge is start doing it quickly enough: this summer, that is. |
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| March 1, 2009 |
HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root. Since the early 80's the Dervaes family has slowly transformed their ordinary city lot into a self sufficient urban homestead. View an eco-pioneers life on an urban homestead as this family shares their homegrown revolution, being the change they wish to see by living the solution. This is a great video, and an inspirational look at what can be done to produce our own food in an urban environment. Well worth checking out! |
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| February 27, 2009 |
Rex Weyler: Peak oil means sooner or later we'll wake up to a new normal. Rex Weyler is a journalist and a member of the Vancouver Peak Oil citizen planning group. This article appeared in Straight.com, a Vancouver social action e-zine. There are links to several other articles on peak oil at the bottom of the page.
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| February 27, 2009 |
Raise the price of gas before the next crunch. The Guelph Mercury's article on the impending oil crunch, caused by the recent drop in price. As a result, oil companies are shelving exploration projects, which is going to mean that when demand increases again, and oil production cannot meet the demand, there may be a significant shortage, which can trigger soaring food prices, social unrest, and geopolitical conflict.
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| February 22, 2009 |
Eating the Suburbs: Gardening for the End of the Oil Age. A clear-eyed, rational presentation of peak-oil, and the possibilities for communities to respond. It doesn’t sugar-coat the issue, but nor does it focus on doom and gloom. It does offer a viable, and even hopeful, alternative to oil addiction. Recommended. |
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| February 22, 2009 |
Transition Cities Conference. Youtube video of the November 2008 conference on Transition Cities held in Nottingham, November 28, 2008. Features many interviews with participants, including Rob Hopkins. Well worth a look, since Guelph definitiely falls into the "city" category. Quite inspiring! |
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| February 22, 2009 |
What Is Permaculture? A really good overview of Permaculture from the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute. |
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| February 22, 2009 |
"Now my farm will help teach the world to live without oil," says woman who banished plastic bags from her town. Great article from the London Daily Mail! |
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| February 21, 2009 |
Call For Submissions. Issue: Briarpatch unplugged, or, How I learned to stop destroying the planet and love the global recession Publication: Briarpatch Magazine http://www.briarpatchmagazine.com. |
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| February 21, 2009 |
Recent Press Coverage of the Transition Movement. Recently, especially in Great Britain but also elsewhere around the globe, the Transition Town movement has been getting some significant press coverage. Here's a sampling. |
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| February 20, 2009 |
Chelsea Green February 2009 Newsletter. Several great articles on Farmer Self-Defense, Low-Light Berries, Composting, creating fertile soil, small-scale grain raising, and much more! Great information. |
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| February 16, 2009 |
Toronto Star feature article on Peak Oil. It appears the the media "conspiracy of silence" around Peak Oil is breaking down at last, and not a moment too soon. |
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| February 12, 2009 |
Peak Moment: The Transition Movement comes to America. Global Public Media is a public broadcasting service for a "post-carbon world". This is an audio streaming interview with Jennifer Gray, one of the UK pioneers of the Transition initiative, and colleague of Rob Hopkins. |
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| February 11, 2009 |
Vermont Peak Oil Network. Excellent web resources by our hosts for transition training in March, Relocalize Vermont. |
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| February 11, 2009 |
Relocalizing Vermont Blog. This is the Carl Etnier's blog, one of the organizers of Transition Town Montpelier Vermont, hosts of the transition training workshops in March. |
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| February 10, 2009 |
Plan Well or Perish. An excellent and very blunt interview with Richard Balfour, director of the Metro Vancouver Planning Coalition, about the urgent need to take decisive action to prepare for oil depletion now. The article deals specifically with B.C. issues, but the theme and information presented are universal. |
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| February 9, 2009 |
If Pigs Could Fly. Another humourous and bang-on-the-money essay by Transition Town Peterborough "Honorary Friend" Munroe Scott. Short, and very much to the point! |
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| February 9, 2009 |
Severn Suzuki at the 1992 UN Earth Summit. Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of David Suzuki, was only 12 years old when she gave this impassioned speech to the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, which earned her a standing ovation from many deeply moved delegates. It's well worth watching. (About 8 minutes long.) |
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| February 7, 2009 |
The Growing Schools Garden. "Every young person (0-19) should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances.”
This vision statement from the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto is the inspiration for this unique Growing Schools Garden. This link was forwarded to us by a member of the Education Working group and it's quite wonderful, and very inspirational. Have a look. Includes a great video! |
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| January 29, 2009 |
The Present of Presence. A sobering article in Conscious Choice ezine by David Pinchbeck on the current economic crisis. In it he warns that the situation is far worse than most of us are aware, and will continue to deepen over the next few years. He predicts a sharp inflationary spike in the price of basic goods, the possibility that the U.S. government may have to declare bankruptcy by the summer, and the possibility of ensuing food shortages. He recommends that communities respond by pulling together, growing more of their own food locally, and supporting other local self-sufficiency initiatives. It's a sobering read, to say the least, but important nonetheless. |
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| January 29, 2009 |
CBC Documentary: Doomsday Called Off. In the interests of impartiality, I am posting a link to Google Videos for a little-known CBC documentary that casts some doubt on the claim that global warming is caused by human industrial activity. It's an interesting perspective, and does raise some valid points, but we do need to be clear on one thing: The scientists at the center of this documentary, Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas, both work for the George C. Marshall Institute, which a right-wing think tank that gets a large percentage of its funding from big business interests, funneled through the Republican Party. In the past, the George C. Marshall Institute has lobbied congress (with the intention of delaying or halting regulation) to create the impression that tobacco is not carcinogenic, that second-hand smoke is not a health risk, and that CFCs don't deplete the ozone layer. Nowadays, of course, only an idiot would try to back those claims. I don't think either of these scientists qualify as unbiased. Video is about 45 minutes long. |
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| January 29, 2009 |
Living now, naturally and sustainably via relocalizing. “It is not a sign of good health to be well-adjusted to a sick society.” -- J. Krishnamurti. An interesting article by Dave Ewoldt, and published on culturechange.org on the need to relocalize, not just for its benefits to society, but also to ourselves as individuals. |
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| January 24, 2009 |
Path To Freedom - One Step at a Time... A Living Revolution. One of our members forwarded this, an urban homesteading resource site, and one of the best and most comprehensive I have ever seen. Very inspiring, and very worth checking out! And here's a link to their youtube page: www.youtube.com/user/dervaes. Great video! |
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| January 21, 2009 |
Bear in the Market: A Transition Tale. A humourous and insightful article by Munroe Scott that was passed around by Fred Irwin of Transition Town Peterborough. Fred went on to say, "The current global bear may not come out for a good long time, so we had better start to take matters into our own hands and build a stronger, more balanced local green economy that is more resilient to bears. That's a little different way to look at our mission!" Thanks Fred, and thanks, Monroe, for permission to post!
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| January 17, 2009 |
How You Can Start a Farm in Heart of the City. Sick of flavorless, genetically modified, pesticide-drenched frankenvegetables? It's time to start growing food in your back yard. A great article!
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| January 14, 2009 |
TRANSITION TOWNS: An Interview with Rob Hopkins, posted on youtube. Required viewing. This video is long (almost an hour) but jam-packed with information, inspiration and great ideas! Well worth the time it takes to watch. There are plenty of other excellent Rob Hopkins videos on youtube as well! |
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| January 14, 2009 |
The Story of Stuff. This is a pretty popular video on the net, so you may have seen it before. If not, it's a great introduction to the hidden connections between the stuff we buy and a huge number of environmental and social issues, and it calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. If you haven't seen it, do so; if you have, show it to a friend! |
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| January 12, 2009 |
Town of Burnaby Report to City Council on Peak Oil. Although this document was published at the beginning of 2006, it is still a good introduction to peak oil, the impending depletion of global oil supplies, and the urgent need to build community resilience. |
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| January 5, 2009 |
I've Accepted Peak Oil. Now What? "Community as the Antidote for Internal and External Collapse and the role Transition Towns Play in Administering the Medicine." A eloquent, insightful and beautifully written essay by writer and activist Katie Liljedahl. Highly recommended! |
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| January 5, 2009 |
Banketeering : A thought-provoking article on the state of the Canadian banking system, by Dave Patterson. This article was written before the financial collapse of Q4 2008. It's remarkably prescient. |
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| January 4, 2009 |
Skills for the Age of Sustainability: An Unprecedented Time of Opportunity, by Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D, originally printed in Tachi Kiuchi's Tokyo newsletter, The Bridge, May 2002. |
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| January 3, 2009 |
relocalize.net/crisis_shopping. I just posted relocalize.net on the More Resources page, but I came across a good item in the site about recommendations for crisis shopping: i.e. stuff to buy and how to go about it, in case there's a crisis (of any sort). It's worth a read. |
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| December 28, 2008 |
Official Transition Town Criteria. This document, taken from transitiontowns.org, presents the criteria required to become an "official" transition town |
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| December 25, 2008 |
Sandpoint Unleashing, an excellent PowerPoint presentation first shown at the Sandpoint, Colorado transition launch. NOTE: This file has been taken down, because we were running out of room on the server. If you would like to request a copy, please email info@transitionguelph.org. |
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| December 24, 2008 |
Curtailment And Community, an excellent essay by Megan Quinn Bachman, first presented as the closing remarks, at the International Conference on Peak Oil and Climate Change, Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 30-June 1, 2008, and reprinted in the Dundas, Ontario Transition Group website. Megan Quinn Bachman is the outreach director of Community Solution, a non-profit based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA which provides knowledge and practices to support low-energy lifestyles, with a primary focus on reducing energy consumption in the household sectors of food, transportation and housing. |
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| December 15, 2008 |
Wake Up, Freak Out, Then Get a Grip. Perhaps the best animated video on the urgency to act on climate change I have ever seen. Share it with people who need to know! (link opens in a separate window) |
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| December 13, 2008 |
The Transition Initiatives Primer (PDF document). |
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| December 13, 2008 |
The Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan (PDF document). |
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| December 12, 2008 |
More evidence that it's up to local action, at least with this government : U.N. Climate Talks: Canada Chosen as “Colossal Fossil” |
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| December 2, 2008 |
December 1 meeting PowerPoint Presentation (modified from: TransitionNetwork.org). |
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| November 28, 2008 |
More things prone to surprise collapse, warns nef. (from: New Economics Foundation). |
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| November 25, 2008 |
One Last Shot: The latest science suggests that preventing runaway climate change means total decarbonisation. (from: The Guardian) |
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| November 24, 2008 |
Eight of the World's Worst Ecological Disasters (from: Sympatico/MSN) |
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| November 12, 2008 |
World Energy Outlook Report 2008 Press Release Summary (from: International Energy Agency) |
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| November 12, 2008 |
The Bottom Line: NOT SUSTAINABLE!! World Energy Outlook Report 2008. (from: International Energy Agency) (page will open in a separate window) |
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| November 9, 2008 |
Open Letter from Al Gore to New President Obama. (from: The New York Times) |
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| November 6, 2008 |
The IEA World Energy Outlook Annual Report is coming here! (see links above) |
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| October 29, 2008 |
Canadian Citizens create an initiative to get the Liberals, Bloc and NDP to form a coalition government (from: Council of Canadians Guelph Chapter) |
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| October 29, 2008 |
Climate Safety Report (PDF document) (from: ClimateSafety.org). |
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| October 25, 2008 |
A Crisis Of Conscience: Global Financial Collapse and the Poverty Crisis. (from: Oxfam Action Against Poverty) |
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LGBTTIQQ Positive Space