How bad can the NEWS get?
Skyrocketing prices at the gas pump.
Food shortages worldwide.
Economy going into recession.
Tar sands an environmental disaster.
Global conflict over oil and other scarce resources.
There is one thread that ties it all together into one Big Picture: ENERGY.
Are the MEDIA in Vancouver telling you the whole story?
Join us for a panel discussion with some of Metro Vancouver’s top
journalists about how the media is (and isn’t) reporting on the imminent
global energy shortage that’s going to change our lives, and what our city
can do to prepare. Brought to you by Vancouver Peak Oil and friends.
Panelists will include:
Barbara Yaffe from the Vancouver Sun
Charlie Smith from The Georgia Straight
Rex Weyler from the Tyee and Vancouver Peak Oil Executive
Sara Robinson from Blog For Our Future
Alex Smith from Radio Ecoshock
Saturday July 12, 2008
7 - 10 PM
BCIT Downtown Campus
Conference room 200/282/284
555 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC (a few blocks up from Waterfront station)
Tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
Advanced Tickets: CLOSED - PLEASE PURCHASE YOUR TICKET AT THE DOOR
Panelist bios and quotes:
Barbara Yaffe from the Vancouver Sun
Barbara Yaffe has been a cutting edge journalist for 30 years. She has worked for the Montreal Gazette. The Globe and Mail (stationed in Toronto, Queens Park bureau, Parliament Hill and Halifax as Atlantic Bureau Chief), CBC TV National News (stationed in St. John’s, Nfld. and Edmonton, Alberta) and The Vancouver Sun - national political columnist.
In addition to her written work, Barbara is a frequent commentator on CBC TV and Radio and Rafe Mair’s Open Line. Barbara was a co-recipient of the Roland Michener Award for public service journalism while at The Globe and Mail. She also won the Jack Webster Commentary Award 2004, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Animal Action Award 2004.
“Peak oil is probably THE most important topic the media is focusing on right now. The phenomenon is going to turn out to prompt social and economic change equivalent to what came out of the Industrial Revolution.” Barbara Yaffe
Charlie Smith from The Georgia Straight
Charlie Smith has been editor of the Georgia Straight since 2005. He began working at the Georgia Straight in 1994 as the news editor, and in subsequent years, he focused a great deal of attention on energy. He has been writing articles about peak oil since 2003. He has also worked as a story producer at CBC Radio and taught investigative journalism.
“The global energy situation has been the most under-reported story over the past five years in the mainstream media. Now, everything’s starting to go crazy with rising gasoline prices, and for the most part, the media still aren’t telling the full story.” Charlie Smith
Rex Weyler from the Tyee and Vancouver Peak Oil
Rex Weyler is a journalist, author, and ecologist. His work has appeared in books, magazines, and newspapers including the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vancouver Sun, and National Geographic. His current events commentaries have appeared on Omni Television’s The Standard news show, and a documentary about his environmental exploits aired on Global Television’s “Global Currents.” Weyler writes regularly for the Tyee online, posts his “Deep Green” column at the Greenpeace International website, and his blog appears at www.rexweyler.com. Weyler serves as a research consultant for the Vancouver Peak Oil regional planning organization.
Weyler’s most recent book, The Jesus Sayings: The quest for his authentic message (Anansi Press, 2008) examines the evidence of an historical Jesus, his original message, and his relevance today. His history of 1970s environmentalism, Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast, 2004), was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen award for political writing and for the BC Book Award for non-fiction. His history of the American Indian Movement, Blood of the Land (New Society, 1997), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
“Humanity now faces perhaps the greatest challenge of history: its own excessive consumption and its addiction to cheap fossil fuels that represent a billion years of stored sunlight.” Rex Weyler
Sara Robinson from Blog For Our Future
Sara Robinson is a Fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future in Washington, DC, where her weekly column on politics and the future appears at Blog For Our Future, TomPaine.com, and The Big Con. She also blogs on the dark side of social change at Orcinus (www.dneiwert.blogspot.com); and is a frequent contributor to Alternet.com and Firedoglake.
Sara will complete her MS in Futures Studies from the University of Houston in 2009. She also holds a BA in Journalism from the USC Annenberg School of Communication, and has worked as a columnist or editor for several national magazines.
A native of
“[W]hen we talk about moving off oil, we’re really talking about nothing less than the demise of American power throughout the world, and the end of the American Way of Life as we’ve known it for generations.” Sara Robinson
Alex Smith from Radio Ecoshock
Alex Smith is a radio host and producer in Vancouver, Canada. His one hour environment program “Radio Ecoshock” originates at CFRO 102.7 FM in Vancouver. It is rebroadcast on 15 college and community stations in Canada and U.S., as well as live broadcast over the Net, cable, and satellite. Several thousand people download the program weekly, or get it by podcast from the web site at ecoshock.org. The program began in May 2006 as a podcast, and went to radio in September 2006.
Alex also records public speeches of all kinds, co-producing “The Tuesday Brown Bagger” program for CFRO radio. The Ecoshock show specializes in the environment, especially climate change. Alex interviews top scientists and authors. The program also covers peak oil, militarism and the broader economy. Prior to his adventure in radio, Mr. Smith was an environmental researcher and print journalist.
“The lack of media coverage [about peak oil] has fascinated me. I do listen to a wide variety of radio programs, and until the recent spike in oil prices, Peak Oil has either been absent or relegated to the nutty stories file. The same mainstream media outlets depend upon millions of dollars in automobile advertising, not to mention full-page spreads from the big oil companies. But that is just a coincidence, I’m sure.” Alex Smith
vlsavage
July 7, 2008 | 8:36 pm1
Hi Walter,
I hope to see you Sat. night at the Peak Oil and the Media panel event. Like you, I am very keen on the development of alternative energy sources and strategies. I look forward to meeting you.
Vandy Savage
Vancouver Peak Oil Executive
Communications and Marketing
Walter Cicha
June 26, 2008 | 7:37 pm2
The scheduled 3-hour event, “Peak Oil & the Media,” should generate much diverse interest. Thus, it is essential that an accurate picture of the challenges surrounding energy and peak oil are presented and discussed on the evening of July 12th. One topic that should not be left out of the discussion, in my view, is the urgent need for more substantial development of clean technology to meet clean and susatainable energy needs, here in BC, in the rest of Canada a throughout the world. Carbon tax, caps and trades, CO2 sequestration and more efficient IC engines are not enough, although they should help. Nor will mass conservation movements be enough, even if they were possible, which they are not. All of these components are needed but the most critical, in my view, is the immediate focus on developing sustainable energy based on clean technology. By this I mean predominantly solar (PV and thermal), wind, tidal and geothermal energy. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies also will need to be involved in this mix, as essential “carriers” of energy in the form of electricity. And new generation rechargeable batteries also will be needed. For all this to happen at any meaningful level, we need 1) major private and government investment at local, regional, national and international levels; 2) increased understanding of the challenges faced during the large-scale development of these technologies, which of course includes making them more affordable; 3) public and corporate buy-in. The need for more aggressive development of sustainable energy is directly linked to the imminent threat of peak oil. It is critical that all the necessary players act now and in partnership, and that they are neither swayed by greed nor emotional arguments. The greatest challenge of the 21st century will require as much cooperation as it will require rationailty.
Thanks for reading,
Walter V. Cicha, NRC