Wild Youth

Sadly the title of this post ain't referring to me, sigh...but hey, this is going to be a jolly post with no mention of Peak Oil (dah!)

A weekend of climbing, hurrah! The Monkey Boy and I are heading up to the Castle this morning for a couple of hours of wall stuff. Then we're off to a kids/parents party, staying the night finally at Sam & Anna's.

Sunday sees me popping off to Mile End to start my three week bouldering course, which I'm hoping will finally get me over my grade 4 plateau.

Have to stop soon, Monkey Boy wants to get on to play games.

Just to leave off on the right cheerful note, here is a video clip of Generation X playing 'Wild Youth' in 1977, fab.

Ether

Oil hit $140 a barrel for the first time today, with warnings it could reach $170 later this year...golly!

Interesting to contrast that to the post on today's Peak Oil Debunked (don't be put off by the title, it is a dig at Doomers, whom the blog critiques) which presents a series of graphs showing a decline in oil consumption in countries such as Japan, German, Italy and Sweden.

So what is going on here? If consumption falls then surely prices should follow? At least that's what I learnt in my economics classes at university (when I wasn't snoozing that is).

Strange times indeed.

I was thinking about the London Olympic games today and started laughing, such a stupid waste of resources, such a stupid waste of time, old Nero has nothing on Gordon and the Mayor.

Peak Oil activities

I've so many thoughts, ideas, questions and feelings I want to get down on the subject of oil-depletion, peak oil, the post-carbon world...call it what you will.

I'm trying to see how I can group my posts under headings, which will hopefully help to clarify things.

Here's my working list of Peak Oil activities (POA):

• budget - work out what we have, what we spend, where we can cut-back, where we can save
• growing food - starting with the back garden, moving on to the allotment (when we get one), a spot of guerilla gardening and even the balcony at work. All using permaculture design techniques.
  
• activism - mainly focused (for now) on Transition Town (city!) status for Ely
• theory - applying Ken Wilber's Integral AQAL approach to all this
• psychological / spiritual development
• physical health
• clear understanding of the facts, theories, options
  
• more, more, more, there must be more but that's it for now, dinner is calling!
  

Practical responses to Peak Oil - An Integral approach

This doesn't exist yet (as far as I can see). I guess it is my big project...the integral AQAL framework is perfect for this complex area.

Expect more...

Harry Black - monkey boy!

Check out this video clip of Harry Black, my six and a half year old son, on the wall at Kelsey Kerridge.



The boy is going to go far! I love the somersault at the end...

Boulder boy!

Just got back from an excellent session with George at the Castle. First off, I arrived to discover I had won the May 'Boulder Ladder' competition, best male improver! The prize was a £50 voucher to spend at the Urban Rock shop, I bought a harness and a caribiner.

Then George and I did some top-roping. I was a tad nervous at first as I hadn't used ropes since my initial climbing course last October. However, after a few goes it all came back to me and we had a great time trying out various routes.

Peak Oil moving up the agenda?

(Note: this post has also been published on the Ely Sustainable City blog)

Good to see that EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs acknowledging the existence of Peak Oil in his blog. His latest post is worth reading for an insight into some of the thinking taking place in Brussels.

While you're there, take a look at the comments further down the page. One response is from a Doomer, which is interesting only to demonstrate the ridiculous knots these people can tie themselves in. A more considered, and critical, response, is from Euan Mearns, editor of the excellent Oil Drum (Europe).

Also good to discover the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO). I had no idea such a group existed in UK politics!

They have a useful website with MP3s of talks, including one by Rob Hopkins on Transition Towns, well worth downloading from the site. There is also a link to an online petition urging the government to re-evaluate their position on an imminent peak in global oil production.

So...good to see Peak Oil slowly making its way into the mainstream.

Train like Sonnie Trotter

Gosh, this is impressive, note taken!



Comment on You Tube by 'Iluluu':

"One session per week is ok for intermediate climbers. Rest 5 minutes or more, to find yourself ready for the next Campus set.

For endurance is good to do 5 sets of 3 minutes non stop climbing with 1 minute rest between sets.

Train in a way: Day 1 Power (campus, boulders, etc), D2 Endurance, D3 Rest, D4 Power, D5 Endurance, D6 and D7 Rest."

Climb Defoe!

Met George for an hour's climb at the Castle last night. I felt on good form and managed three 5a routes, so hopefully that shows an improvement in my climbing. My strength is increasing but I know I have work to do on technique. The upcoming bouldering course at Mile End should help with that.

After the climb we met Pete at the Daniel Defoe on Church Street and sat in the garden enjoying a pint out in the summer evening.

Felt a bit sore in my hands this morning but otherwise all is good.

Stages of Oil Depletion Grief

I like this list from Dr. Michael E. Mills' essay 'Evolutionary psychology and peak oil':

1. Denial:"Peak oil? Baloney! There's lots of oil left. No worries, mate."
2. Anger "It's the damn ________'s (oil companies, governments, OPEC, etc.) faul that oil prices are going up. They're gouging us. The bastards!"
3. Bargaining:"But what about new oil discovery technologies? What about biofuels? I can keep my SUV, right? Someone, or some new discovery will save us ...right?"
4. Depression: "Damn... no renewable energy source is as energy dense as oil, or quickly scalable... Holy crap. We are _________ (in for a rough ride, doomed, etc.)"
5. Acceptance:"Ok, even if we are in for a rough ride, what I can do? What can I ask my government representatives to do? How can I make a difference? How can I prepare? How can we support research into potential technological breakthroughs?"

I haven't read the essay in detail but will do later this week, it certainly looks intriguing.

Peaks and troughs

What is Peak Oil?

“Peak Oil is about the end of cheap and plentiful oil, the recognition that the ever increasing volumes of oil being pumped into our economies will peak and then inexorably decline. It’s about understanding how our industrial way of life is absolutely dependent on this ever-increasing supply of cheap oil.”
(Transition Initiatives Primer)

So last night four of us met to watch the ‘The Power of Community' DVD. How did I arrive here?

For my part, I first heard of Peak Oil a year or so ago via the ever excellent ‘Alchemically Braindamaged’ blog/podcast.

Since that first exposure, I have gone through three distinct phases.

Phase one –denial: My first reaction was to treat Peak Oil as yet another internet conspiracy fad. I made a note of it for interest’s sake and then ignored the whole thing.

Phase two - anxiety: The problem with denial was that this ‘thing’ kept coming back. Further mentions in blogs I respected, an article in The Guardian, rising petrol prices.

I conducted a little research and started lying awake at night worrying. I desperately searched Google for ‘peak oil fallacy’ but uncovered absolutely nothing to reassure me.

Phase three - acceptance: Then suddenly, and only very recently, I passed through to the next phase. Peak Oil didn’t have to be treated as a ‘Year Zero’ doomsday scenario. Yes, it was very serious but inventing Mad Max scenarios at 3am in the morning was not going to help.

I looked around on the web again and came across the Transition Towns (TT) movement.

What are Transition Towns?

“The thinking behind (Transition Towns) is simply that a town using much less energy and resources than currently consumed could, if properly planned for and designed, be more resilient, more abundant and more pleasurable that the present.

Given the likely disruptions ahead resulting from Peak Oil and Climate Change, a resilient community - a community that is self-reliant for the greatest possible number of its needs - will be infinitely better prepared than existing communities with their total dependence on heavily globalised systems for food, energy, transportation, health and housing.”
(Transition Initiatives Primer)

With the TT imitative I found something positive, something concrete I could do in the face of the more-than-likely life-changing possibilities heralded by the end of cheap oil.

Unsure where to start, I emailed the East Cambs Green Party to see what they made of TTs. I got back a useful, friendly email which put me in touch with other Ely residents interested in setting something up here.

One of those residents invited me to the DVD showing, which I saw last night…

First steps towards sustainable Ely...

Tonight I joined three other Ely residents to watch a video dealing with how Cuba dealt with its very own Peak Oil crisis after the collapse of the USSR. The video is called 'The Power of Community' and is very much worth seeing.

I could write a lot more here but I am tired and want to be fit and full of energy for tomorrow night's climb at the Castle.

Confirmation

Just got back from an hour session at Kelsey. I was hoping to bump into the Cambridge climbers I had met the week before at the Castle but they didn't turn up.

I spent some time trying out different routes, concentrating on using features only. I can do things now at Kelsey that I couldn't manage earlier in the year, its good to see my strength improving, hopefully my technique is also on the up...we'll see when I start the bouldering course at Mile End.

There were another five climbers, they all seemed to know each other. I exchanged a few nods and grins but didn't actually go as far as talking to anyone.

Sigh...next time...be brave!!

Starting afresh

I'm going to start blogging again as I have some new interests and motivations.

I did start a climbing blog over here but I'm going to retire that and have everything in one place...makes more sense.