There is currently one monthly VPO meetup. For date and time of the upcoming meeting, see the VPO events calendar (sidebar) or check our Facebook or Meetup.com pages.
The monthly VPO meetings are a great place to trade info, get questions answered, and work toward the goals on this TAKE ACTION page. But we need you to do more than attend - we need you to take a leadership role to help us achieve our next two goals:
1) We want to work our way up to weekly meetings, so each month different meetings can feature speakers, movie nights, and other organized activities that will make them more than just talking about the news and worrying about the future. We need you to volunteer to help us organize that, to anchor one meeting a month, to get speakers & bring in DVD’s, etc. There’s an opportunity for everyone to get involved!
2) Once this template is working at our downtown meeting, we want to start new meetings in others areas of town: Kits, Commercial Drive, Strathcona, the North Shore, Burnaby, Surrey, White Rock, Victoria, Sunshine Coast - you name it. When the merde start to hit Le Fan, a lot of citizens are going to be looking for a place to get answers about relocalization and other peak oil solutions, and we want to be ready to serve!
Time is short, and the person who’s going to make the difference is YOU. Email Neil or Brennan for more info on how you can help.
If you’re visiting our website from outside of the Lower Mainland, it’s worth checking Meetup.com to see if there’s a peak oil-related group in your area. You can also google “peak oil” and the name of your city - groups in other Canadian cities are listed on our Resources page.
But if you ARE in the Lower Mainland, can’t get to our downtown meetup, and absolutely can’t wait for our orderly expansion…then by all means jump the gun and start your own in your own neighborhood - it’s a good hedge against ever-increasing gas prices and ever-decreasing amounts of free time for commuting. If you DO decide to start your own meeting (even in your living room), write us at to let us know, and we’ll list your meeting on our sites - it may be that people currently attending the downtown meeting will find it more convenient to attend YOUR meeting. And we can supply you with a recommended agenda.
Think you couldn’t do something like start your own meeting? Consider these words from one on our founders (Jon C.) below:
A peak oil group has to be a grassroots organization that spreads the word person-to-person, sets up meetings and events, brings in speakers, holds permaculture demonstrations, sets up car-free days — whatever works. The most basic level starts with a monthly meeting, open to all, at some place where people can talk (preferably over food and drink). Our VPO site and Facebook and Meetup.com pages will work just as well to let people know about multiple meetings all over the Lower Mainland.
If you want to start your own meeting, our suggestion would be to use the VPO Facebook page - or set up a connected page for your specific group — and start to spread the word through your own personal list of friends, co-workers, etc., and whatever other means you can think of (flyers, free ads, Craigslist, etc.) Every group needs a person to anchor it, at least initially, and it looks like that’s going to you. But if you go to the mountain top and yell: “Who’s worried about high gas prices?“, you probably won’t be alone very long.
