You know
we are going to run out of civilization's life-blood: fossil fuels. And if we burn what's left, the climate will
tip into a mass extinction event.
Meanwhile, barking madness seems to be the only growth industry. Is it time for more pills, booze, or
end-time religion?
Our first
guest says there may be some hope left.
Shaun Chamberlin's blog is called "dark optimism" - and that may be
as good as it gets. Shaun is part of
the "transition movement" in Britain. He's the author of the new book "The Transition Timeline, for a
local resilient future," ...and, part of an upcoming report for the
British Parliament, on a scheme to give everyone an energy quota.
Read more,
to get info and links on
While
Shaun advocates joining a community movement, to get away from fossil
dependence, - he is also helping with national action, by the UK
government. Along with Dr. David
Fleming of Lean Economy
Connection, Chamberlin is working on a report to the House of Commons All
Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil (APPGOPO), - a second revised
edition, to be released in April 2010.
The first edition was published in October 2009.
Back in
1996, David Fleming originated the idea of Tradable
Energy Quotas, also known as Domestic Tradable Quotas.
Here is
the basic WIKI entry on TEQ's, which summarize the plan better than I can.
"1.
“Tradable Energy Quotas” (TEQ's) is an energy rationing system to enable
nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases along with their use of
oil, gas and coal, and to ensure fair access to energy for all.
2. There
are two reasons why such a scheme may be needed. Climate change: to reduce the
greenhouse gases released when oil, gas and coal are used. Secondly energy
supply: to maintain a fair distribution of oil, gas and electric power during
shortages.
3. TEQ's
(pronounced “tex”) are measured in units.
4. Every
adult is given an equal free Entitlement of TEQ’s units. Industry and
Government bid for their units at a weekly Tender.
5. At the
start of the scheme, a full year's supply of units is placed on the market.
Then, every week, the number of units in the market is topped up with a week's
supply.
6. If you
use less than your Entitlement of units, you can sell your surplus. If you need
more, you can buy them.
7. All
fuels (and electricity) carry a “rating” in units; one unit represents one
kilogram of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent in other greenhouse gases, released
when the fuel is used.
8. When
you buy energy, such as petrol for your car or electricity for your household,
units corresponding to the amount of energy you have bought are deducted from
your TEQ’s account, in addition to your money payment. TEQ’s transactions are
automatic, using credit-card or (more usually) direct-debit technology.
9. The
number of units available on the market is set out in the TEQ’s Budget, which
looks 20 years ahead. The size of the Budget goes down year-by-year –
step-by-step, like a staircase.
10. The
Budget is set by the Energy Policy Committee, which is independent of the
Government.
11. The
Government is itself bound by the scheme; its role is to find ways of living
within it, and to help the rest of us to do so.
12. TEQ’s
are a national scheme, enabling nations to keep their promises, guaranteeing
their carbon reduction commitments within whatever international framework
applies at the time."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradable_Energy_Quotas
Not
everyone agrees. After promoting energy
rationing in his book "Heat, How To Stop the Planet Burning,"
journalist George Monbiot abandoned the
idea, saying rationing can only work in highly developed countries, where most
people already have banking cards. He
says the system can't work in India, for example.
I don't
see why that should prevent developed countries from using this scheme to
promote both energy fairness, and to lower emissions over time. As I discuss with Shaun in the radio
interview, part of the problem is how to guarantee poor people enough energy to
heat their homes, and get to work - even as world energy supplies peak and
dwindle.
Not to
mention the double whammy of oil exporting countries keeping and using more oil
themselves (witness Saudi
Arabia switching to more oil, as their gas supplies deplete, or Abu Dhabi
and Iran industrializing) - and competition for existing supplies from
countries like China, where everyone wants a car. The Chinese car market is now larger than the United States.
If we
stick with "free market" distribution of energy, that just means the
rich get to continue flying around to multiple monster homes, while the poor go
back to the Dark Ages. No matter
what the anti-government forces may think, energy rationing is just a matter of
time, in my opinion.
So why
not use a plan like TEQ's? At least
you'll get a chance at some energy. If
you want to sell your quota, and live very efficiently with your own solar
panels, go ahead and sell it to someone else.
The end result is a transfer of wealth from the energy-inefficient rich
to lower consumers. Not a bad result
either.
Finally,
the report for Lean Energy Connection gives two reasons for tackling carbon: we
are bound to run out of supplies, and it's wrecking the atmosphere. But the Guardian
newspaper for March 22nd reports a third reason, found by a government
advisory board, one I've been harping about: the pollution from burning carbon,
mostly in vehicles, is killing city dwellers by the thousands, shortening millions
of lives around the world. The committee
of MP's estimate up to 50,000 people die prematurely in Britain alone, every
year, due to smog. I'll be covering the
scourge of "black carbon" in an upcoming Radio Ecoshock program. It was discussed in a Congressional
Committee this week.
Of
course, all this depends on having a functioning Democracy to implement the
plan. It isn't evident that we have
responsive or responsible governments at all.
So most of us will bypass such government mega plans to take action
ourselves. That takes us back to the
Transition movement.
Shaun has
been working with Transition Town Kingston
(which is a suburb in South London). They have a good wiki type blog and
information center going here. Chamberlin
was highly commended as a "Green Champion" for his work there.
Transition
Towns, if you don't know, are local groups seeking local responses to both Peak
Oil and Climate Change. This may
include such things as local food production, farmer's markets, skills
exchanges, retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, getting safer bike
lanes, and so on.
Transition
Towns has become a huge movement, world-wide.
Here is a new web site
telling you all about it - and hosting a list of such projects in various
continents.
Just as
an example, here are some Transition Towns starting at the top of the alphabet:
Adelaide West, Australia, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ashland Oregon, Barrie Ontario
Canada, Bath, UK, and Bielefeld, Germany.
The long list goes on, find it here. It's almost enough to cause hope in the most
depressed brain. A good example of
"dark optimism" I think.
In
troubled times, it seems obvious that rugged individuals won't survive long,
without a working community.
Personally, I see transition, community building, and local food
production, as lifeboat building. Is
there anything wrong with lifeboats, if the ship is sinking? Is that "dark optimism"?
Fox News,
the most trusted name in propaganda, just reported on a poll they did (of just
a thousand people) - saying that a whopping 79%
of Americans still think an economic collapse is quite possible. That goes across all Party lines, not just
Republicans.
At least
we know that recent Radio Ecoshock programs on collapse are not so far off
the mark. Most people know we are
teetering on the edge of big trouble.
Listen to
Radio Ecoshock for collapse interviews with Dmitry
Orlov, John
Michael Greer, and Carolyn
Baker. Not to mention the Utah
scientist Tim
Garrett, whose peer-reviewed paper suggests collapse is the only way to
save a habitable climate.
And that
bubbles up in all sorts of transition ways.
Take this action by students at the University of Victoria, in British
Columbia. On March 24th, a group
calling themselves "Food Not Lawns" listened to speeches on
sustainability. Then over 400 students
marched to the University Library.
There they dug up the lawn, to plant ten raised beds of edible plants,
such as Camas bulbs, kale, native strawberries, salal, and ordinary vegetables.
Contact
the collective by email here: uvicfoodnotlawns@gmail.com
Sure the
campus police showed up to stop people from turning useless lawns into a food
resource. But the crowd was so large
the cops gave up. The Food Not Lawns
Collective claim if the new gardens are dug up, they will return and
replant. This could be the start of
a movement in colleges around the world, realizing that students may have
to participate in feeding themselves, in the new energy constrained world. Let's hope so.
Speaking
of hope, in this program I also run the audio from a new interview by Peak
Oiler Richard Heinberg - of Lester Brown, from Earth Policy Institute.
Richard Heinberg has been rather
gloomy for the last few years, cataloguing the various energy resources that
are running out. His most famous books
are "The Party's Over" (about oil), and "Peak Everything" -
but his new book "Blackout"
is worth a read, on the myths of coal reserves.
So it was
a surprise to find how very optimistic Lester Brown was. Brown tells us about the huge jump in wind
energy in Texas, the last place you'd expect such "hippie
power." In fact, Texas is engaged
in building the equivalent of 50 big coal plants, all in wind power. China has quickly emerged as another wind
power. Maybe alternative energy will
come up in time to keep the lights on.
Still more "dark optimism"!
My thanks
to Post Carbon Institute for
permission to run the audio (which I enhanced for radio...) Find the video here.
We also
go another round with Kurt Cobb, who is so good at zeroing in on the right
problems, and analyzing current trends.
Time after time, whether I'm at the oildrum.com, or energybulletin.com -
and I see an article that really interests me, it's by Kurt Cobb. That's why we had him back for a second week
on Radio Ecoshock. Find Kurt's blog at resourceinsights.blogspot.com
It's
Radio Ecoshock fully stuffed. Make sure
you tune in to this week's show, on your local radio, or downloaded here (in
Lo-Fi, 14 megabytes).
Alex
Smith