Village Vancouver and Vancouver Peak Oil are pleased to welcome Nicole Foss, aka Stoneleigh, of The Automatic Earth back to talk about the future of our economy. She packed a lecture hall at Langara College last year with tales of impending economic collapse.

Now, after the Occupy Movement launched last fall, she has a new upbeat tone and theme, The Storm Surge of Decentralization. This is the 99%’s reaction to what we now know about the Ponzi schemes embedded in our modern financial systems, and changes have already begun.

Nicole Foss is a globally-sought issues leader on transition and an expert on the macro-economics of resilience.

JOIN US TO HEAR NICOLE
Thursday Feb. 2, 2012
7pm – 9pm
Langara College – Theater 5, Room 130
100 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
By donation at the door.
Please register thru Langara 604.323.5322 (CRN 50965) or
RSVP here.

Posted by Dave Gardner on Dec 14, 2010

Metro areas in the U.S. with a stable population are proving growth is not the path to prosperity. Eben Fodor, community planning consultant and author of Better, Not Bigger, has just released a study comparing the fastest-growing metro areas of the U.S. with the slowest-growing, to test conventional wisdom that cities benefit from growth. This study ought to put the final nail in the coffin of the “grow or die” myth that misinforms public policies in many cities. Unfortunately, in most areas this myth is very much alive and well.

According to Fodor, “The slowest-growing MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) outperformed the fastest-growing in every category. The 25 slowest-growing MSAs averaged almost 1% lower unemployment rates, 2.4% lower poverty rates, and a remarkable $8,455 more in per capita personal income in 2009. They also had larger income gains from 2000 to 2009 and saw significantly lower declines in income from the recession (2007-09). “ Read the complete Post.

By Andre Piver – VPOE
Feb. 28, 2010

We have more stuff and less time, connection and beauty, while living at the speed of our fossil-fueled machinery. No longer knowing the source of our stuff, we have lost the blessing, the skill and the satisfaction of quality and craft. We have allowed a whole life to be torn apart and marketed back to us needing to go to the gym, the nutritional supplement store, the daycare  centre and eventually the nursing home.

The price for all of these dubious rewards is that Climate Change is in runaway mode.  e.g. melting permafrost represents 20% of the fixed carbon on the surface of the planet and is composting and liberating methane  which is 21 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than CO2.;  the warming oceans are less able to hold dissolved CO2; both of these cause the temperatures to rise more which causes both of them to occur even faster and so on.

The greatest global impact for all life is accelerating drought which is already occurring and running up against depleted aquifers and the predicted flooding of low lying areas with sea level rise affecting the most fertile lands. For humans the most devastating repercussion is crop failures. So yes re-localizing the capacity to grow food is an absolute necessity. Existing and predicted local impacts of CC include the loss of our glaciers, more of our precipitation in the winter mostly as rain with diminishing seasonal snowpack and earlier run-off ,this  eventually combined  with increasing burn-off of our highland tree cover. All of these  are reducing creek flow during our increasingly hotter and drier summers and climate modelers predict migration to this region by drought refugees from at least two directions.

We have already extracted most of the easily accessed oil and what remains is ever more difficult, and expensive to procure. Depletion of known reserves stopped being matched by the finding of new ones as early as 2005 while the pace of increasing consumption in the developing world has accelerated wildly.  In his book “Why Your World is going to get a Whole Lot Smaller”, Jeff Rubin who was the most quoted economist in all Canadian media as head of CIBC World Markets predicts $2.00 per liter gas around the corner as just the beginning of where it is headed. Read the complete Post.

As some of you may know, the City of Vancouver has now given complete permission to create a community garden on the east wing of the land we call Crows’ Point (Near the Nanaimo Sky Train station). The community garden will be developed under the guidance of the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA).

The City will now install water access at the furthest east point of the land; they will also provide a large pile of soil and all the wood chips we can handle. The city has already cleared the east wing for garden plots.

In preparation for longer warmer days, we are encouraging anyone that wants to join us to meet at Crows’ Point at 10:30AM this coming Sunday, Feb. 7^th, 2010 to embark on two separate plant salvaging missions.

Read the complete Post.

Fri – Sat December 4 – 5
9 am – 5 pm

Langara College, 100 West 49 Avenue, Vancouver

Co-sponsored by:
Langara College Continuing Studies, Village Vancouver and the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal

Join leaders of the transition movement in Vancouver for a 2-day workshop and dialogue introducing the principles, steps and lessons of the successful Transition Town model of local response to global challenges.

· What are the lessons for activists and concerned citizens?

· How can we increase resilience in every neighbourhood?

· What are the ways we might collaborate to get the impacts that are needed? Read the complete Post.

Climate change has opportunities for us all

by Toby Reid, VPOE

Recent declarations that we are in the midst of one of the greatest mass extinctions in the history of the planet are enough to make a person lose hope. In fact, this harsh reality is downright unsettling and, for this author, unacceptable. The means by which we’ve ended up in this position is important to understand, but more important is what we’re going to do to reverse the trend. There is no doubt that if we continue on our current path, humans are likely to be the biggest name on this extinction card. Some may not care about our current plight, but most of us feel the instinctive pull to try to do the right thing. But where do you start?

Let’s start with understanding how we got here. A friend recently laid it out this way, and it’s simply the cold truth of the matter – we’re in this mess because we’re using too much stuff. That’s right – stuff. Steel, fish, wood, oil, plastic, copper, fertilizers, cars, iPods, silicone breast implants – all of it. We’re drowning in stuff, and the byproducts of using this stuff to make other stuff. It’s a stuff-a-palooza gone horribly wrong.

The biggest, and most important step we all can make is to consume less stuff. I’m not suggesting that we go back to the loincloth and live in caves, but it’s a darn sight smarter than what we’re doing right now. We’ve got to scale back the amount of stuff that we consume. That starts with being less greedy, less needy, and more self-sufficient. Grandparents and great-grandparents are very helpful in providing guidance on this.

The next most important thing to look at is your housing situation. This also affects personal transportation, so it’s a biggie. If you live in the suburbs in a huge house for two, I’m sure it’s dawned on you that maybe that’s not sustainable living. You’re right – it’s not. The average single person needs only about 600 square feet to live, and the average family of four needs only about 1500 square feet to have a good home. Urban density is the way of the future.

Read the complete Post.

Intriguing Plan in Michael Moore’s Home Town: Bulldoze the Ghost ‘Burbs, Return Them to Nature
By Tom Leonard, The Telegraph (UK)
Posted on June 13, 2009, Printed on June 16, 2009

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 percent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.

Most are former industrial cities in the “rust belt” of America’s Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.

In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.

“The real question is not whether these cities shrink – we’re all shrinking – but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way,” said Mr Kildee. “Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity.” Read the complete Post.

BLUE NORTH FESTIVAL OF ART AND SUSTAINABLE CULTURE presents – How to save Civilization with a Movie – an eco-workshop with:

Teri Woods McArter – Co-Producer, How To Boil A Frog (documentary film by Jon Cooksey)
Rick Balfour- Architect, Urban Planner; Balfour and Assoc., Metro Vancouver Planning Coalition
Vandy Savage – Animation Supervisor, How to Boil a Frog; Communications Vancouver Peak Oil Executive

Join us for a FREE Illustrated lecture and discussion.

Get a sneak preview of the new film, How to Boil a Frog, created and produced on the North Shore. Get informed about strategies to transition into New Normal by building resilient communities from author, architect, urban planner, Rick Balfour. And find out how we won the People’s Choice Award for our 1 minute animated film teaser.

Date: Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am (registration onsite at 9:30am)
Location: John Braithwaite Community Centre – Anchor Room ground level
145 West 1st Street, North Vancouver

Cost: FREE

www.howtoboilafrog.com
www.plancanada.com

For more information visit: www.bluenorthfestival.ca

No longer the purview of anti-social types, experts warn we must embrace a massive lifestyle change

Feb 15, 2009 04:30 AM
The Toronto Star
Cathal Kelly
STAFF WRITER

While panic is not the prescription, experts are warning that the time to begin taking Peak Oil seriously is past.

“It’s not about believing. It’s about facts,” said Gord Miller, Ontario’s environmental commissioner. Miller has been warning about Peak Oil for years. He thinks we hit peak around early 2007.

“If we’re not there, we’re awful close,” said Dave Hughes, a geoscientist who once ran Canada’s national coal inventory.

Peak Oil doesn’t mean we have run out of the stuff. It means that we have crested the top of a bell curve of supply. Then it’s a roller-coaster ride down. Depending on who you ask, that ride will either be slow and uncomfortable or teeth-rattling and destructive.

“Depletion is taking somewhere between 5 and 6 per cent of (existing) world oil production per year,” said Hughes. “The reason that oil price is where it is today is that the economy has reduced demand.”

No one has found a major new oil field since the 1960s. It’s getting harder and more expensive to bring up the oil we know is there. All these signs point toward the peak.

What happens now? Read the complete Post.

What are the challenges facing planners and policy makers at our regional and provincial level in addressing transportation issues related to peak oil and climate change? How can we contribute to effective actions that address these challenges? Join us at the upcoming PlanTalk to discuss topics including the proposed provincial Gateway Program, the BC Carbon Tax, and other transportation investments as we debate and challenge one another to think critically about the future of transportation in our region.

Speakers:
Anthony Perl, Director SFU Urban Studies Program and Jordan Bateman, Media Spokesperson for Get Moving BC and Langley Township Councillor will lead this discussion by providing their insight into the unique transportation challenges that face our region in the immediate and long term within the context of peak oil and climate change.

Moderated by Bryn Davidson, Executive Director of non-profit Dynamic Cities Project

When:
Tuesday January 27th, 2009
6:30 PM refreshments * 7:00-9:00 PM speakers & discussion

Where:
SFU Harbour Centre
Segal Centre, Room 1400
515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
www.translink.bc.ca (for transit schedules and routes)
Cost:
$20 PIBC Members
$25 Non-PIBC Members
$5 Students
Payable by cash or cheque at the door. Receipts will be issued.

PIBC Members can earn up to 2.0 LUs of Organized CPD activity for attending this event.

Please RSVP by Monday January 26th to Brian Patterson MCIP, at bpatterson@urban-systems.com or 604-273-8700.