A Japanese animation about food security - what it is and how to get it. Very well done.

By Rick Balfour, VPO

Plan B Questions are mandatory for all civic, provincial and federal politiicans.

Poor answers or no answers deserve no votes; we need leaders with both guts and vision.

We need action, not more talk. We have little time to change.

1. How high is your own concsciousness, relative to Global run away impacts on our communities, about Peak Oil, Global Warming and the inevitable shift in job markets and mass migration from difficult areas to highly preferred areas. Is it higher than most, are you ahead enough in the issues to lead and be proactive?

Take a page or ten minutes. No excuses, no glib answers.
Read the complete Post.

The decision on Richmond’s Garden City Lands will have far-reaching implications for agricultural lands

Wendy Holm
Special to the Sun
Original article

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Several weeks ago, the process for public comment on the Agricultural Land Reserve exclusion application for Richmond’s Garden City Lands drew to a close.

This Monday, almost two years to the day after rejecting it for the first time, an Agricultural Land Commission panel convened to re-evaluate whether this 55-hectare parcel of land in the heart of Richmond should be removed from the ALR and slated for development.

Haven’t heard about it? Doesn’t affect you? Think again. Read the complete Post.

Climate change will dramatically affect rainfall patterns in the Lower Mainland in coming years. But as Metro Vancouver engineers like Stan Woods prepare our water infrastructure for the future, will it be enough?

Michael McCarthy
Vancouver Courier
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A heavy rain hammers down on tiny Rogers Lake. High above, a spectacular waterfall plunges hundreds of feet down from Palisades Lake at the peak of the Capilano Watershed. Far below, down at the Cleveland Dam, the floodgates stand ready to open. With late summer rains, the reservoirs are already filling, and with winter coming soon Vancouver is perched on the edge of a precipice. Global warming is changing world weather patterns in ways nobody dreamed about. Heavy storms and flash floods are sweeping the planet.

According to those in the know, Vancouver won’t escape unscathed. Our rainfall may increase as much as one-third, all of it coming down during the very wet winter months. And Vancouver’s water infrastructure isn’t prepared for the coming deluge. Read the complete Post.

Commodity Online
2008-08-20 17:50:00
By Rex Weyler
Original article

As the era of cheap liquid fuels draws to an end, everything about modern consumer society will change. Likewise, developing societies pursuing the benefits of globalization will struggle to grow economies in an era of scarce liquid fuels. The most localized, self-reliant communities will experience the least disruption.

Oil is a fixed asset of the planet, representing stored sunlight accumulated over a billion years as early marine algae, and other marine organisms (not dinosaurs) captured solar energy, formed carbon bonds, gathered nutrients, died, sank to the ocean floors, and lay buried under eons of sediment. Like any fixed non-renewable resource, oil is limited, and its consumption will rise, peak, and decline.

World oil production increased for 150 years until the spring of 2005, when world crude oil production reached about 74.3 million barrels per day (mb/d), and total liquid fuels, including tar sands, liquefied gas, and biofuels reached about 85 mb/d. In spite of the efforts since, and tales of “trillions of barrels” of oil in undiscovered fields, liquid fuel production has remained at about 85.5 mb/d for three years, the longest sustained plateau in modern petroleum history. Discoveries of new fields peaked 40 years ago. Read the complete Post.

Tue Sep 2, 2008 1:58am EDT
By Rob Taylor
Original article

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Drought in Australia’s main food growing region of the Murray-Darling river system has worsened, with water inflows over the past two years at an all-time low, the government’s top water official said on Tuesday.

The drought will hit irrigated crops such as rice, grapes and horticulture the hardest, but would have less impact on output of wheat, which depends largely on rainfall during specific periods and is on track to double after two years of shrunken crops.

The rainfall is sufficient to support hopes for a strong wheat harvest, but not enough to replenish ground water, which troubles those farmers who grow fruit rather than grain.

The record drought, which has gripped much of the country for close to a decade, was the worst in 117 years of record-keeping, with 80 percent of eucalyptus trees already dead or stressed in the region as large as France and Germany combined. Read the complete Post.

As sent to Herb Barbolet, VPOE member and co-founder of Farm Folk/City Folk:

Hello herb,
From what you have written, it is obvious that you understand the crisis facing us, but I am concerned that you will be disappointed when you try to do something about it. Doing something will require people get involved rather than just talk. I actually found that it is much easier to get people to give money than their time. Along the way you may feel inspired because of the verbal support you will receive, people will say all the right things, but it means nothing. They will hear people make nice sounds like “food security” and “local production” but don’t forget those are just sounds that mean nothing, they are just talking in their sleep and do not or cannot wake up. Regulations have been passed that make it increasingly difficult, even illegal for farmers to produce food. I cannot legally sell meat in produced in a humane and sustainable way. If animals disappear into an “approved” slaughter house how can I guarantee that the meat in the box is from my animal? And those places will now be in charge of inspecting themselves? Besides, the most humane way is to kill the animal is on the farm. It is now illegal for people to have healthy milk from their own cow. The bureaucrats actually seized some (I believe that is theft) and are interfering with people who wish to have milk the way we have always had it: straight from the cow. Is it unreasonable to assume that soon it will be illegal to sell eggs? The raw milk people set things up legally but the rules seem to have changed. Fighting in court will be futile, because the corporate/government partnership will keep making laws that benefit them, and they have unlimited resources when it comes to spending time in court. The organic talkers did nothing to protect Fred from the marketing board, and the raw milk issue certainly has not had the shock value that it should have. Every person who talks about anything having to do with food security, healthy food, etc should be making many phone calls a day, and taking whatever other action they can to show the bureaucrats that they have gone too far. Read the complete Post.

The Vancouverpeakoil.org panel discussion from July 12th is now available for download, courtest of Alex Smith at Radio Ecoshock.

The CD quality version (56 MB) is at:
http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock08/ES_080829_Show.mp3

The lower quality Lo-Fi version (mono, faster download, 14 MB) is at:
http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock08/ES_080829_Show_LoFi.mp3

There is no copyright on this work, feel free to use it as you like.

Saturday 23 August 2008
by: Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service
Original article

VPO Note - as alarming as 2048 is as a date when we won’t have enough water globally, remember that water is local - shipping it globally depends on having cheap oil to do so, and cheap oil is likely to be in short supply long before 2048.

Stockholm - A spectre is haunting the cities and villages of most developing nations, warns a senior official of a World Bank-affiliated organisation.

“It’s the spectre of a food, fuel and water crisis,” says Lars Thunell, executive vice president of the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group.

“I believe we are at a tipping point,” he said, because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition.

Speaking at the conclusion of the weeklong Stockholm International Water Conference Friday, Thunell said the growing demand for water is outpacing supply. Read the complete Post.

Visit the conference website now.
Hold these dates for the Fifth U.S. Conference
on Peak Oil and Community Solutions:
October 31- November 2, 2008
Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan

Why Attend This Conference?

Skyrocketing oil prices, mounting geopolitical tensions, grave economic realities, and dangerous climate changes are threatening our lives and communities like never before.

The age of cheap, abundant fossil fuels is coming to an end, and urgent action is required to transform our over-consumptive society into one that uses far less energy.

By acting now to reduce household energy use and re-localize economic production, we can create resilient, sustainable communities that will be able to weather the coming economic and ecological storms. Read the complete Post.