DC Sustainable Post-Petroleum Living & Peak Oil - MAY 6 CONFERENCE

[Guest guest]

With Richard Heinberg, " Powerdown: Options and Actions for a

Post-Carbon World; " Joel Salatin, local Virginia organic

farmer & featured on cover of May/June 2006

Mother Jones; music, films & more...

 

 

 

 

The DC Petrocollapse Conference

 

 

 

 

 

After Peak Oil: Economic Doom or Transformation?

 

 

Culture Change and Sustainable Post-Petroleum Living

 

Conference * Saturday May 6 * 9 am - 7 pm

 

 

 

All Souls Church, Unitarian * 16th & Harvard Streets, NW

 

Washington DC

 

near Adams Morgan (Red) or

Columbia Heights (Green) Metro Stations *

Directions

*

Map

 

 

Register now to attend! www.petrocollapse.org

FEATURING DC PREMIER OF NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM:

" The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil "

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sudden effects of perpetual oil shortage are likely to strike

within the next three years. Are we prepared? Sponsored by Culture

Change, the DC " Post-Petroleum Sustainable Living " Conference will

present the facts behind the hype about Peak Oil, explore the root

factors of our present " oil-addicted " condition, and envision the

strategies that we need to bypass unhelpful institutional barriers and

achieve post-Peak Oil economic sustainability.

Experts on peak oil and the geological depletion of oil reserves, and

advocates for small-scale agriculture, alternative energy and local

sustainable economics will discuss " petrocollapse, " the imminent

failure of the petroleum infrastructure to continue to provide the

myriad goods and services that our consumer economy has grown

accustomed to. Multimedia presentations and multiple films will

demonstrate solutions to the audience.

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS INCLUDEAlbert Bates,

Global Ecovillage NetworkDiana Leafe Christian, Communities Magazine

 

Richard Heinberg,

Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon WorldJan Lundberg,

CultureChange.org & Auto-Free TimesMark Robinowitz,

Permatopia & OilEmpire.USMichael Kane,

From the Wilderness publicationsJoel Salatin, PolyFace Farms

&

You Can FarmFaith Morgan & Pat Murphy,

Community Solution

 

John Darnell, PhD Energy Advisor

Jenna Orkin, Moderator

&

World Trade Center Environmental Organization

 

YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!

 

Register online via PayPal at

http://petrocollapse.org

 

Cost is " sliding scale " up to $100.

Scholarships and work exchange arrangements are available for students, activists, and others. Everyone will be accomodated, and no one turned away! Send us an email with details of your situation, and/or what time or

energy you may have for volunteer activity for the conference. Send to

Ethan.

Contact conference coordinator Ethan Genauer if you have any problems registering OR for more details at :

Ethan AND (202) 966 2202

 

**************************************

At The Petrocollapse Conference we will ask

 

* What are we facing now as the economy prepares to hit the wall

known as resource limits? Will growth suddenly implode?

* What will be the effects of Peak Oil (a geological phenomenon caused by depletion or exhaustion of oil reserves) and

petrocollapse (an economic and social phenomenon) on food supply

and other services we depend on?

* What mitigation strategies are possible? * What is the role of the market in determining

how severe the effect of shortage stemming from geological depletion will be ?

* Upon upheaval, deprivation, and a restructuring of social relations in a " new " local economics system, will we choose to create a sustainable culture?

 

** contact conference coordinator Ethan in DC **

 

ethan (202) 966 2202

 

 

For more info, see

http://petrocollapse.org AND DC PetroCollapse press release below

 

**************************************

 

MEDIA ALERT -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DC Petrocollapse Conference: May 6, 2006 All Souls Church, Unitarian 16th & Harvard, Washington, D.C

 

A

conference on the effects of peak oil and the growing global energy

crisis will take place in Washington, DC on May 6th at the All Souls

Church, Unitarian from 9 A.M. to 7 P.M. Speakers include peak-oil

author Richard Heinberg.

Conference

organizer and speaker Jan Lundberg is a former oil industry analyst who

ran the market research firm Lundberg Survey. Lundberg, who quit

serving the oil industry so he could put his knowledge to use to

protect the environment, says " M. King Hubbert, who developed the

theory of peak oil, observed that we do not have an energy crisis but

rather a culture crisis. This fits with the theme of the Washington DC

Petrocollapse Conference that there is no technofix for our energy

dilemma. Society will have to reclaim a closer level of community and

rediscover how local economics works. "

The

May 6th conference will feature Richard Heinberg, the most-read peak

oil author (The Party's Over, and Powerdown). Films and music will be

also offered as part of a varied program to stimulate discussion and

action by attendees. Heinberg and Lundberg and others will perform

music including oil-satire songs. Films will include premiers of " Our

Synthetic Sea " (plastics pollution in oceans) and " The Power of

Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. "

Lundberg

says the Petrocollapse Conference asks, " What we can do in advance of

the social upheaval and chaos that may produce a 'national New

Orleans,' to prepare or mitigate? What will the future look like during

and after a transition to non-petroleum living? " #######################

 

Background briefing for:

Petrocollapse Conference: May 6, 2006 9 A.M. - 7 P.M. All Souls Unitarian Church - 16th & Harvard Streets, NW Washington D.C.

The New York Times calls Peak Oil " almost certainly correct. " Fortune Magazine

says, " An economic tsunami is about to hit the global economy as the

world runs out of oil. " As oil prices soar and supplies of crude oil

and refined petroleum products strain to keep up with demand, as global

warming fuels out-of-control hurricanes that wreak havoc on oil

production infrastructure as well as upon devastated populations, the

critical issue of Peak Oil is finally becoming acknowledged in the

mainstream news.

But

the complete story is still suppressed, misunderstandings abound, and

the public remains in the dark about the vast array of consequences due

to hit from this looming " permanent energy crisis. " The sudden effects

of perpetual oil shortage are likely to strike within the next three

years. Are we prepared? Sponsored by Culture Change, the DC

PetroCollapse Conference will present the facts behind the hype about

Peak Oil, explore the root factors of our present " oil-addicted "

condition, and envision the strategies that we need to bypass unhelpful

institutional barriers and achieve post-Peak Oil economic

sustainability.

The

public is also not fully aware of the extent to which oil pervades our

lives not simply as fuel for transportation but also in the form of

pesticides, fertilizers and plastics. A decline in oil supplies will

affect our ability to grow enough food for the current global

population of six and a half billion people. Malnutrition and resulting

illness can be expected to spread far beyond the 3.7 billion who are

currently affected into the developed world.

Our

economy also depends on indefinite growth that will not be sustainable

once Peak Oil hits. Its arrival is likely to have a paralyzing affect

on certain sectors of the economy which will in turn spread both

nationally and globally.

Most

independent oil experts agree that the peak in global oil extraction is

occurring approximately now. The pressures of the market to distribute

the fuels and materials made from petroleum are already creating

intense competition for energy supplies around the world. As the gap

between supply and demand widens and prices skyrocket, supply will

tighten as never before due to hoarding. This will cause massive

repercussions in daily living and the global economy. Not only will

people have to adapt to an energy-poor world by concentrating on

sustainably working with their regional ecosystems for all their needs,

but will also have to cope with climate change which is rapidly

accelerating. This scenario is referred to by oil expert and conference

organizer Jan Lundberg as Petrocollapse.

As

the conference brochure states, " the world's peak in oil extraction is

about now -- although there is uncertainty and debate. The pressures of

the Market to smoothly spread around the fuels and materials made from

petroleum promise to create intense competition for energy supplies, as

seen already today on the world stage. As the gap between supply and

demand widens and prices skyrocket, supply will tighten as never before

due to hoarding. This will cause massive repercussions in daily living

and the global economy. Not only will people have to adapt to an

energy-poor world by concentrating on sustainably working with their

regional ecosystems for all their needs, climate change is

accelerating. "

** contact conference coordinator Ethan in DC **

Ethan

* (202) 966 2202