The Oil Drum: Local

This is an allegory explaining some of the monetary issues associated with the current financial crisis. It was written by Jason Bradford. Jason was an academic biologist who "retired" at a young age to become a community organizer and learn how to farm with peak oil in mind. He also hosts a biweekly radio show on public radio called The Reality Report.

I have never been a huge follower of Star Trek, but when thinking about the financial beast thrashing about the Borg comes to mind.

"I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward, you will service us." - Locutus of Borg.

"Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile...Your culture will adapt to service ours." -- The Borg.

The Borg is a hive-like hybrid swarm of humanoid species, turned partially robotic. They are distinctly goal oriented towards “assimilation” of all other humanoids and press themselves relentlessly with the creepy mantra “Resistance is futile.”

The money system is eerily Borg-like. Because it structurally requires growth, it works relentlessly to assimilate all forms of capital. The natural consequence is that everything must be for sale. Values of freedom, independence, self-reliance, and even conservation are subservient to the goal of growth—which is really just growth of the financial Borg, not human welfare or the security of a habitable planet.

Last week, Nate Hagens was interviewed by Jason Bradford on the "Reality Report". The radio program is about 47 minutes long, and Nate's interview is the last 40% of it. A link to his interview can be found

here

The first part of the show is an interview with a woman who has been living without electric power since Hurricane Gustav hit. She talks about how the experience has changed her life, and about her thoughts regarding preparing for future energy shortages. The latter part of the show is an interview with Nate on various subjects related to hurricanes, the credit market, hedge funds, and peak oil. He talks a little about the Fannie and Freddie bailout, and about trying to change people's way of thinking about the future.

Noon EDT on http://www.kzyx.org. Have a listen!

This is a guest post by Jason Bradford who has written here previously on "Relocalization: A Strategic Response to Peak Oil and Climate Change" and "Does Less Energy Mean More Farmers?". Jason has a PhD in Biology, is the founder of Willits Economic Localization (WELL) and runs a CSA in Willits, CA.

As a fan of Bruce Springsteen, I am keenly aware of the American fetish with the automobile, and travel in general. Check out these opening lines from the 1975 Springsteen classic “Born to Run.”

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
And steppin’ out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

The car does more than get you between home and work. It represents freedom, sex, power, fun, status, and if need be a way to fly away from your troubles, at least temporarily. What then, does the following graphic (updated through April) from the U.S. Department of Transportation portend for “the runaway American dream?” Has the U.S. passed Peak Travel?

This is a guest post by Jason Bradford who has written here previously on "Relocalization: A Strategic Response to Peak Oil and Climate Change" and "Does Less Energy Mean More Farmers?". Jason has a Phd in Biology, is the founder of Willits Economic Localization (WELL) and runs a CSA in Willits, CA.

"Can we rely on it that a ‘turning around' will be accomplished by enough people quickly enough to save the modern world? This question is often asked, but whatever answer is given to it will mislead. The answer "yes" would lead to complacency; the answer "no" to despair. It is desirable to leave these perplexities behind us and get down to work." E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful

I would rather have titled this essay "Where the Hoe Meets the Soil" but that phrase is not part of our cultural lexicon, which is itself a symptom of the problem I am working to address. Setting aside any prolonged discussion of whether or what about the modern world should be saved, this essay is primarily about what it means to "get down to work" as Schumacher puts it. But very quickly, to me saving the modern world means setting a goal for the human economy to be properly scaled relative to the global ecology, and maintaining a sufficiency of social stability necessary to manage a transition.

Nate and Jason will be discussing the demand/consumption side of peak oil, focusing on habituation, addiction and their impacts on our energy situation.

(Some slides discussed below fold)

http://www.kzyx.org (you can listen live by clicking on upper right 'listen live')

This is a guest post on energy and our agricultural system, by Jason Bradford, who has written here previously on "Relocalization: A Strategic Response to Peak Oil and Climate Change". Jason has a Phd in Biology and has written/published on the topics of relocalization and ecological economics. He is the founder of Willits Economic Localization (WELL) and runs a CSA in Willits, CA. (He also has a biweekly radio show "The Reality Report", where next Monday at noon EST he and I will be discussing evolution, addiction and economics. His show can be heard streaming online at www.kzyx.org.)

(*Note - This is a guest post by Jason Bradford, Phd in Biology and friend of TOD. In this post Jason writes on the important topic of relocalization within the broader context of ecological economics. Not only are these topics he cares about, but he is actively implementing these principles as the founder of Willits Economic Localization (WELL) in Willits, CA - Thanks for living by example Jason).

Here are a few of my predictions: Many trends of the last century or more, made possible by cheap and abundant energy sources, are going to be reversed. These trends include population growth, centralization of political and economic power, vastly increased quantity of global trade, and mass tourism. But what does that mean?

Global Public Media has links up to Friend of TOD Jason Bradford's interviews with TOD's Nate Hagens discussing many of the common misconceptions about energy supplies (Part 1) and the cognitive, social and psychological factors that make it difficult for societies to agree, even when all the facts are open and transparent (Part 2). Two darned good interviews, in my humble opinion (Nate's height definitely comes through in the interview)--both related to Nate's three part series featured here over the last couple of weeks (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

Also, under the fold are links to a few of the perennial pieces of media that you can send to folks to explain the basic arguments regarding peak oil. First is Matt Simmons on CNBC talking about the GAO report (7 mins), then under the fold a link to Jim Kunstler's latest talk on the American car culture, Albert Bartlett's wonderful lecture on exponential growth and how it affects our lives, and then the venerable Boone Pickens on the issue as well.

Please feel free to provide more media links in the comments. As always, I cannot recommend enough going over to Global Public Media and surfing their archives.

Jason Bradford (of Willits Economic Localization fame) has taken over as host of a show called The Party's Over on KZYX, which is the public radio station in Mendocino County, California (where Willits is). Jason recently interviewed me on his show for an hour. We had a good talk, and then took various callers. Jason gave me an MP3 of the show, which I've placed on the Oil Drum.

Warning: it's a 25MB MP3 that runs for an hour. Ok - I want to listen anyway.