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.

Students in the SFU Dialogue and Public Issues class hosted a discussion on the “oil crisis” (their term) yesterday, called “Beyond the TurmOIL”, involving students, activists, members of the general public, and 4 speakers. It was an interesting and fast-paced session anchored by Sara Robinson, futurist and blogger for Blog For our Future and other sites; Sara provided both hard facts and her personal story about the impacts of oil on her life.

Other speakers included Shannon Daub, who gave some results of her interviews with Canadian energy workers (including many in the tar sands) who support the switch to alternative energy, and Jennifer Fisher-Bradley, who’s working with her partner Stephen to make Port Alberni into Canada’s first Transition Town.

The fourth speaker was Ray Lord, PR man for Chevron. Lord too told his personally story, becoming choked up at a couple of points about how personally he takes his job (and the attacks that are sometimes aimed at his employer), then went on to talk about how Chevron is “positioning” itself to be helpful to Premier Campbell in successfully executing his climate change plan for the province.

Whether or not Ray, as the only person in the room who was paid to be there — and thus the only person with a sales agenda aimed at increasing profits — was appropriate as a speaker is open to debate; it’s certainly true that as a person he had a right to stand and tell his own story.

What was not appropriate, in my opinion, was the 2 minute Chevron commercial that the SFU students dutifully showed at Lord’s behest. The commercial, part of a series of commercials (conveniently available on youtube) under the general rubric “Human Energy”, is a montage of lovely images under carefully calibrated piano music intended to sell the idea that the folks at Chevron (actually ChevronTexacoUnocal since the mergers) are just moms and dads and football coaches like you and me, looking for ever-cleaner ways to power our world. An animation at the end emphasizes that they’re not just an oil company anymore, giving equal weight to their comparatively miniscule investments in clean energies. Read the complete Post.

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 California’s High Sierra, Sara spent 20 years in Silicon Valley before moving to Vancouver, BC in 2004. She is married, and the mother of two teenagers.

“[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

Come and meet author, economist, activist, Mike Nickerson

Join us Sat. June 28, 2008 7pm-9pm
North Shore Unitarian Church – downstairs
370 Mathers Avenue
West Vancouver, BC V7S 1H3

Mike’s latest book, “Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as if we want to stay,” outlines many practical ways for restructuring our current economic model for mutual provision to accommodate our “full” Earth. “It will take widespread popular assertion before sustainability is adopted as society’s goal.” http://www.flora.org/sustain/LMI/lmisummary.html

Join us. Admission is FREE. Everyone is welcome.

Brought to you by the team at Vancouver Peak Oil.
For further information contact:

Join us for this forum where we will look at how community kitchens, community gardening and other food-related activities can contribute to building a more welcoming and inclusive community for all. Presenters will talk about how food from our different communities can be used to create community kitchens or multicultural family food nights that can be fun and bring us together. We will also focus on how community gardens can be an integral part of our community. After short presentations, participants and presenters can exchange views about how we would like our community to include food, as well as issues of access to healthy & affordable food. With a facilitated discussion we hope to generate ideas and action steps with an emphasis on inclusiveness and welcoming newcomers and immigrants in our community.
<http://urbanministrygarden.wordpress.com/about>
Presenters Include:
Cease Wyss, Urban Aboriginal Food Enhancement Program
Devorah Kahn, City of Vancouver, Grow a Row, Share a Row/Sharing Backyards Programs
Lynn Leong, Vancouver Community Kitchen project
Andrew Rushmere, Sustainable Living Arts School

Are you ready…

… for $3 a litre gasoline?
… for sky rocketing food prices?
… to completely change the way live?

Join the Vancouver Peak Oil Executive for a screening and a panel discussion of “End of Suburbia“. This public forum made up of city planners, food experts and community organizers, will explore how ready Vancouver is for a low energy future, and what we can do to prepare for this turning point in history.

Friday April 11th 7:30 pm
Ukrainian Orthodox Hall
154 10th Avenue East, (10th @ Main st.) (map)
Tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
End of Suburbia Press Release
End of Suburbia Poster (PDF)
Facebook Event Page

Advanced ticket sales are now closed. Tickets will be available at the door for $12.

End of Suburbia Review on the Tyee

End of Suburbia Trailer

I just found out about this. James Howard Kunstler will speak in Surrey at the end of the month. Details below.

Monday, January 21, 2008
Vancouver, BC
CANADA

7:00 PM
Urban Sustainable Development Fellowship Lecture (SFU Surrey Campus)
Simon Fraser University—Urban Studies Program

To attend contact:
Terri Evans
Tel: 778-782-7914
Email: urban@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/urban

While local food grows in importance for the eating public, farmers, the crucial providers of this food continue to experience escalating and cumulative pressures which threaten their very ability to farm: the cost of land, an aging farm community, labour, and a seasonal income base.

What is the future of farming in BC? What innovations will re-establish a bountiful and sustainable food system which supports farmers? Your Local Farmer’s Market Society would like to address these questions in an inspiring, solutions oriented three-part speaker series at the Langley Campus of Kwantlen University College.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE: http://www.eatlocal.org/vendor/the_future_of_farming

Peak oil and climate change represent profound and unprecedented global challenges whose economic, environmental, and political impacts are intertwined and often divisive. On one hand, many climate activists argue that peak oil is a ‘distraction’ for local decision makers or, in some cases, an industry agenda aimed at removing barriers to oil extraction. On the converse side, many peak oil activists argue that energy-driven economic crises, and not climate targets, will be the real driving force behind the global energy transition. This presentation and panel discussion will seek to bridge these gaps by bringing together local advocates for action on peak oil and climate change to find common ground, define differences, and set priorities for action on the ground.

Bryn Davidson is a specialist in sustainable urban development whose current work in architecture and planning was preceded by several years as a mechanical engineer and environmental activist in Alaska. After graduating with a masters of Architecture in 2004 he started the design and planning practice Rao/D Cityworks , and co-founded the non-profit Dynamic Cities Project - a think tank working to help cities adapt to peak oil and climate change. Bryn’s presentations on peak oil planning have been well received globally, and have been translated into multiple languages. Locally, his current projects include a farm-integrated residential development in Ontario, a high performance home in Alaska, and sustainability consulting for local green-minded businesses.

Free admission. Co-sponsored by Necessary Voices Society.

Date: Tuesday Dec 11, 2007
Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch 350 W. Georgia St., Alice MacKay room

Contact: Necessary Voices Society
Phone: (604) 331-4044

October 26-28, 2007
At Langara College, 100 W. 49th Avenue, Vancouver
Co-sponsors: Langara College Continuing Studies, Canadian Co-Housing Network and the Yarrow EcoVillage

Most people in North America accept the realities of global climate change. We are increasingly clear that achieving greater sustainability for life on the planet is crucial. However knowing where to put our efforts is not so easy. Many of us would like to join in communities of people who are doing something. This conference will address the questions of how to become more sustainable in our own lives and how to connect with others in communities to create meaningful change. The conference tackles the challenge of becoming more sustainable in our communities in the context of three main themes:

1. EXPLORING LINKS BETWEEN COMMUNITY AND SUSTAINABILITY (Friday evening, October 26)
2. INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO OUR LIVES AND COMMUNITIES (Saturday, October 27), and
3. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? THE FUTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES (Sunday, October 28)

Details here: http://yarrowecovillage.ca/LSIC/index.html