Just contemplating the shame should be enough

If proper Yankees in Hartford, Connecticut can have hens but Oregonians in Salem can't.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, in Beaverton, a boy was just mauled by a pit bull. The Salem zoning ordinance happily permits pit bulls. No hens though.

Salem needs to LEARN -- and fast

L E A R N

A one-page acronym to define five actions necessary to avoid societal collapse because of the imminent decline of finite fossil fuels:

LOCALIZE agriculture, energy production, social services, essential manufacturing, etc. All will have to regress to a limited “twenty-mile radius” community. This will not be a choice. The inevitable curtailment of transportation fuel will reduce future travel. Intercity light rail will be impossible without energy. www.postcarbon.org.

EDUCATE yourself and others. We passed peak oil in late 2008. Natural gas, coal, and fissionable uranium are not far behind. Without ever-increasing energy, real growth, including a debt-based financial system based on future principal plus interest, cannot continue. Recognize the fallacies of bogus solutions like: “There’s plenty left”; “The scientists will save us”; “We can efficiency our way out of our dilemma (not if we don’t reduce consumption)”; “Biofuels, including waste, cellulosic ethanol, and grease will suffice” (at the expense of food). The honest facts must reach the public, the media, and decision-makers even in the midst of denial. Start with www.peakoil.net, www.theoildrum.com, www.321energy.com, etc.

ADAPT to a very limited solar-electric future as our only hope of perpetuating any semblance of the brief fossil-fuel age. This vision could be sustainable, clean, and far superior to our ancestor’s harsh existence. A solar-electric sequel could integrate with waning fossil fuels and all other energy sources such as limited hydro or geothermal into a modern electrically-based system and allow individuals to take control of their own production with PV. Also included are wind and concentrated solar.

RATION all fossil fuels starting immediately with gasoline. This is the only way we can reduce consumption on a controlled basis without increasing price-competition and conflict over the remains. Rationing is probably our best chance to buy time for mitigation and give our kids a chance for the remnants of the party.

NEGATIVE population growth. This is the toughest and most critical issue. With peak oil we have passed peak growth. Our short cornucopia of excess resources (including fossil fuels and all natural resources) has ended. We have far too many people in the US and the world for a sustainable civilization. If we don’t get the correct facts out and convince people to begin negative population growth, mother nature will reduce population in her own cruel ways. See www.npg.org, www.optimumpopulation.org, www.worldpopulationbalance.org and others.

We all need to understand and project this acronym.

Source: www.solarcarandtractor.com

I bought and distributed several hundred copies of John Howe's excellent short book, The End of Fossil Energy and the Last Chance for Survival, so I'm already predisposed to like him. He has a gift for cutting through the extraneous and getting to the few crucial items at the root of things. His LEARN acronym is a great advance, offering us the chance to say, in a page, exactly what we must do as a society.

Why Repower Oregon

Global warming? Climate change? Whatever you prefer to call it, it is an urgent issue that we can no longer afford to ignore.

That's why I am inviting you to attend a very special event co-hosted by the Marion County Oregon League of Conservation Voters and the Healthy Climate Partnership.

Please join us for a special presentation on the benefits of taking responsible, immediate action in the fight against global warming vs. the high cost of doing nothing. Details are below.

Why Repower Oregon?

• WHAT: Experts will discuss what steps we can take, right here in Oregon, to minimize the negative impacts of global warming on our economy, our health and our community.

• WHEN: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 6 PM - 8 PM

• WHERE: United First Methodist Chuch, in the Carrier Room, 600 State Street (down the street from the Capitol in Salem).

SPEAKERS:

Representative Jules Bailey, Senior Policy Analyst at ECONorthwest -- Jules works at the intersection of economics, public policy, the environment, and urban development. As a Senior Policy Analyst at ECONorthwest, one of Oregon's oldest and most respected economics consulting firms, Jules has worked on several economic analysis and development projects, including managing the economic analysis for the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement project, conducting an economic impact projection for the Portland High Performance Green Building Policy, analyzing a state system of carbon taxes for Oregon, and writing a literature review of smart growth policies.

Bob Stacey, Exective Director at 1000 Friends of Oregon -- Bob has a long history with 1000 Friends and with land use and growth management. He was one of 1000 Friends’ first staff attorneys (1975 - 1986), and served on the board of directors (1996 – 2000). His professional career includes work as Director of the City of Portland Planning Bureau; Senior Policy Advisor on Urban Growth Management to Governor Barbara Roberts; attorney in private practice; Executive Director of Policy and Planning at TriMet; and Chief of Staff to Congressman Earl Blumenauer. He is a graduate of Reed College and the University of Oregon, and was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for the 2000-2001 academic year. In 2008, he became a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is a native Oregonian.

Catherine Thommason, MD, President of Physicians for Social Responsibility

Capacity is limited to 100 people. Please register now to reserve your seat.

Please register to attend.

I hope you can join us at this very special event.

Sincerely,
Tresa Horney
Marion County Organizer, OLCV [Oregon League of Conservation Voters]

And you're invited

Good Afternoon - Please join us for the Vision 2020 Spring Forum, next Tuesday, March 31st, from 5 - 7 pm at the Salem Conference Center. The Vision 2020 Spring Forum will be fun and interactive for all age groups.

A sampling of what you'll see and do at the forum:

- chance to see what the new downtown historic building markers will look like
- help choose the movies for this summer's Movies in the Park series
- test drive a virtual bike in a sharrow on Commercial Street
- be one of the first to experience Salem's new one-stop website for events and activities
- learn about new downtown restaurants and retail shops
- provide input on locations for public art downtown
- and much, much more!

For more information please contact Annie Gorski at 503-588-6178.

(No word on replacing the two kiosks for handbills were removed with a promise that they would be replaced.)