WorldWithoutOil.Org

Gala_Teah's Farewell

2007-06-01T22:23:34Z

Did we make a difference? I'd like to think so.

Yucky gives me some numbers: 1800 Netizen Heroes. Links going out to 1500 stories. Pretty good numbers - but that's just the start!

Add to that the stories on public radio. The articles in newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News. Online coverage by CNET, WIRED, Slate. Worldwide coverage, with articles in Le Monde and Der Standard and coverage by the BBC. Sites following the developments chronicled by World Without Oil in Russia, Italy, Spain, Japan, Poland, the Czech Republic (and of course the many heroes we have in Canada, Australia and the UK).

All told, over 50,000 people have come to World Without Oil to look at your stories and learn from you about the oil crisis. And that number is growing daily. Over 3000 blogs link to the site. If I put "World Without Oil" into Google today, I get over a quarter of a million hits referring to this site and what the Netizen Heroes have created here.

You guys are the rock making the big splash in the pond, and your words and images are rippling out far and wide. People all over the world are considering your accounts of the Oil Shock of 2007 and comparing them to their own perceptions. They are able to get past the talking heads spewing sound bites, through the door you have opened for them.

The 8 To Save Our Country have done our best - we gave what we could, hardly knowing what to do in uncertain times. But thanks to you the seed has been planted: next time, will it be the 8000 To Save Our World? Or 80,000? Or 800,000? And will they build strongly upon what has been started here? Upon your ideas of community, self-reliance, conservatism, and compassion. And inspired by your ability to look at the future honestly, keen-eyed, without blinders or rose-colored lenses. With your wits about you.

And now, and now. Now I must thank Blueski at rdy2rte. For saving my life, in a manner of speaking. I didn’t talk much about this, and neither did Inky, but here in our household we were going under. We were going to lose our house, and the threat of it had split my family apart. My husband had moved to Sacramento, partly to chase more income but mostly, I think, to escape the pressure cooker our house had become. Inky and I stayed in the house so Inky could stay in her school.

But then Blueski said what s/he said about holding on and letting go. And those words unraveled the knot I had made out of our life. Today we are renting out the house - successfully so far. Inky and I are here with Hubby in Sacramento. Inky is in a new school and loves it. I've found part-time work for a community paper/website. We let go, and now we're holding on.

It's been an honor to walk this road with you all. Thank you for guiding us along the way. - Gala_Teah, with Inky_J

Thank You

2007-06-01T16:45:58Z

I am currently sitting at the public library, wearing just a few more layers than what this city requires this time of year. I am hoping it won't take too long to thaw out.

We had a freakishly-beautiful snowfall last night. I went out in it and listened to it collecting in little drifts. Snow sounds like awesome. The bus lurched its way to the hardware store in record time. I picked up some caulk. I became a super handygirl and sealed up the draftybits in my place. There is now an intricate scheme whereby I close some vents or open others, based on where my place needs the most heat. My home is a moving block puzzle, click clack, snap.

The streets are very quiet. Le nest egg is mostly untouched, because I feel like I might have to be ready soon to start building up stores of things, of creating space where there's sunlight so that I can begin to provide for myself. A retail paycheck leaves little wiggle room, but I know how to scrimp.

I have become assimilated: all I've been thinking about lately is food miles, and energy consumption. Snuck up on a ladder and switched out the apartment building's hallway bulbs the other night. Beheh.

The train tracks worry me. The Blue Line is an old lady, shaking her cane, but she is trembling with uncertainty.

There was another derailment the other day. 5 injured.

Floatin' above the land, there is despair waiting. Walking, biking, sharing on the surface, we're holding it back.

At least, I hope so.

OK, time to catch the bus back to work.

Take care, everyone.

Moving On...

2007-06-01T04:29:06Z

Well, it's time to say so long, I guess. Things are changing for me and my family, so I'm not sure how much time I'd have to devote to this site anymore.

I've decided to retire a bit early and forfeit my full pension. I'll still get enough to get by (as long as we're careful). I had less than a year to go, but it just didn't seem right to stay when two other guys were going to lose their jobs. They're just young kids with new wives and families. They need their jobs more than I need mine. We'll be fine.

Anyway, a buddy of mine needs some help at his hardware store downtown. He's got some great ideas about how he's going to make the place work in the new world without oil. I thought it would be a nice change of pace for me. It'll be nice to have a laid back, normal job. And I'm close enough that I'll be able to walk or ride my bike without a problem.

A bunch of people in the community are encouraging me to get into local politics too. I never really though of myself as a politician, but maybe that's part of the problem. We need some politicians who aren't politicians! So I don't know, we'll see if that pans out.

I truly will miss being here, but it's time to move on. I've learned so much more than I even thought I needed to. Thanks to all of you - the rest of the 8TSOC, FallingIntoSin, prudentrver, peakprophet, redhatty, cycleboy, GailTheActuary, the list goes on...

We've done good, guys. We've done good.

There will surely be more work to do. Probably harder work than we imagine. But, for now, I say goodbye. Goodbye to all the heroes out there. Goodbye to all of my friends. Hopefully, we'll cross paths again.

Now is a Memory

2007-06-01T03:42:49Z

Somewhere along the way, I realized that time moves past so fast that *right now* is a memory an instant later. That means that all you really have is what you're doing now, and your memories. So, I thought, in my carefree youth, that what you should be doing now is filling up your head with the best memories possible.

Then, of course, I got distracted by life.

But you, the heroes who have helped each other through this, have made up for my lost time. You have filled my head with the best memories possible.

So, I want to thank all of you:

OrganizedChaos FallingIntoSin peakprophet mia blueski lead_tag MsGeek
ironmonkey prudentrver warnwood IllianaSpeedster Flashmouth Cycleboy Anda
RockLobster Tlachtga lucy1965 MTalon RedHatty jootbooner FieldsOfClover
isnochys JWIV Paradigm CeeGee burnunit Mérédith stapleton English_Villager Cid
Yama kevikens Andrew Jensen PeakOilParty mpathytest Pachinko happycube Lyoko is
Cool ThaJinx Gracesmom intwoworlds Hymir ARareJul electric-car-girl fabulareine
cissmiace baltpiker GailTheActuary Megiddo Tell nitefoll drewkitty aeldric
copystar drowned and the saved David Moisan GreaseWife Gerben1974 Rumpletoe
beep Lel saint3milion nulinegvgv graywulffe megawatt_seller lirath Nytris
Oxyde charybdis Fosedeitch unieuph Reid DivorcedDadPablo avantgame
chuckles Olympe GreenHornet Clearest MichaelLovett AJaX David_Mattock sfgabe
3:45am gala_teah Anna_Matter wolfy ScottyBomb eek tsalagi red Chuckmak pippa
brighton ManicHalo SandyJo andrewpmk Corrina readability Eigenseide JJason
WorldWithoutToil dessum9 Rory23 BrianEnigma James EthrDemon Genocide2killa Remy
adrienne campbell Weezel callmerusty trilobite coffeegirl18 Pippi Timantha
Shirauo erekiteru Green Hornet Chimakwa Anarchologist Juiceboy Ace Ryanruner
Mordy Blackwater Gasoholic Luke slyfox Irregular Times SuperRad PoeticExplosion
Tetsuniko vpisteve Finding Ulysses comfortE z28colt thomas The Fiddler
creatureattack The Constant Gardner greyisgame inky_jewel Shayler mistralwind76
msLisa teh_lisa xnera c-tizzz OrangeForAHead nagutron bothendsburning Ancalime
oakened wwoentroy Cherenkov elevendays Kudra Degaussed Poamin Global Culture
Tonamel fiftytwo cleverpig Bytesmiths JDDavis Houston torque LocalBoy
Artimaeis JasonBradbury Sbak723 Terra_Incog Guy Smiley Julia Warhola bill turk
nitpicker Oracle selvaluna marton Le Tuna Man Cannibal Lector outofgasinfl
patricknm lisavark onemanband RottenMike jakerose LarryO Katcut street_dave
Stilgar fathead-americano Amanita Pavlova Sonyap Spinney xkittykatx NeoOptik
SolarCowboy Snot Shazmatic xuratu Quadratrückseite Chrisjill86 hcriorix
the_chavi JohnGalt leo Ignacy ?ukasiewicz clinart danio xBLiTZxKRiEGx SeeGreen
Marissa mangoh zorbits Stax charliefree Vevilla petroleumworld Benny Doodles
EarthwormEnvy RipSaw Subject_Minus periscope JakobFrey kimyo Guz221 Dark Sevier
Digital_Diva WolfoftheAir RoninJinn Richard Z Chris Colt Becker KSG Michael
Gonzalez RES Bats Madge-O-Matic thirdijeremy gwenmcginnis karenlynnc Overnight
Sensation Reagan111 tim7168 Lauren ItsThomas GIIRyudo BNKK bambi.doe clittle
dollface Kokoro skywing Gertrude SheriD TARBush mayday gypsydog Firelight
Grant40k hapes Hercular gusgib darthbunny Catfish whoistoby ReJoyce Akinaz
imnobanana Strider

Bodi hits the road (biodiesel style)

2007-06-01T02:51:42Z

Bodi is feeling incredibly fragile today. I’m glad I got to walk the dogs with my old friend up here in the Santa Cruz mountains because the opportunity to articulate my sense of loss and uncertainty was an important step to finding solid ground even while holding the truth that right now there is no solid ground.

All our familiar terrain is shifting. Everything is fluid and I don’t realize how I am counting on something to hold me up or offer me some level of protection until suddenly it too is gone. When we trekked up to this mountain cabin I hadn’t realized that my partner (bless him) had stashed our duvet into storage along with our futon. He figured our friends would have plenty of bedding for us to borrow but me, when I realized at bedtime that our duvet was gone, I felt like someone had just knocked all the wind from me, I went into no-time, lost my bearings, teared up, sat down (legs wouldn’t hold me). Okay, got to acknowledge all the changes are hitting me harder than I can effectively integrate. And I say this even while feeling life is rich and full of goodness.

I’m with Gala_Teah; life is pulling on me hard: internet access used to be a breeze and a given on every waking day. It’s not anymore, or right now at least, it’s not. And easy income streams have been drying up. It’s not just the goalposts that moved, the playing field has gone. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area you know all about landfill acting like jello in an earthquake. Well we’re in jello (or deep shit is another analogy that springs to mind) and we DO need all our wits about us (it’s not just a fairy tale).

I want to tell you, with the help of our biofuel gas station friend, we scored a 24 foot biodiesel RV with three 40 gallon tanks that will take us 2000 miles without re-fueling. It’s a 1983 but with a truck engine that could go forever and had been the longtime love of a mechanic so all the rubber hoses are in good shape. We’re heading out by invitation (not to Tennessee but appreciate your extended hand Peakprophet)to an(other) old friend who has a homestead in Joshua tree desert (yes funny; good plentiful water is not an issue on his land). I could say we have no plan but in truth every weaving we have had with this friend in times past whispers to me that somewhere in the great Cosmos, there was a premonition of this eventuality and pieces were set in place to support and sustain us now.

I have to believe that and, like Gracesmom, I have to focus on the LOVE (of which there is MUCH). What an extraordinarily rich seedbed this wwo milieu has been. Maybe we won’t have craigslist forever but it got me here.

Lots of love and never stop telling your stories,

Bodi

A to Z: A World Beyond Oil

2007-06-01T01:30:15Z

All of us in the WWO community who have spent months documenting the crisis – we won’t just forget it. We know we’ve done something important. We’ve shown the world what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like -- even what it smells like and what it tastes like! -- to live without oil.

It’s a life most of us never imagined until we lived it. When things got really bad -- I mean really bad -- I kept thinking – we should have thought about this sooner. Maybe then it wouldn’t have been such a shock when it actually happened. But we never figured out how to imagine our world without oil, until it became a reality.

In the end, we managed to snap out of our shock. We put our minds together. We talked about our neighborhoods and our cities. We shared the details of our families' lives. We traded strategies, and we argued about whose strategies were right.

You all came up with so many creative solutions. You gave each other reasons to be optimistic, and tons of ways to make little changes.

So, yeah: People working together, sharing ideas, and experimenting with different ways of going about their everyday lives. That’s how I plan to remember the Oil Shock of 2007.

Of course, it’s not enough just to remember. To keep us moving forward, from a world without oil to a world beyond oil, Emil and I have put together our complete A to Z kit of life without oil.

Some of it’s silly, some of it’s serious, and some of it's just plain strange -- and awesome.

Our A-Z list barely scratches the surface—you could make this list a dozen times over and never repeat a story. But for the rest of the big picture, there’s always the full week by week archives on the WWO site. We promise to keep the archive up there.

Because it is truly an amazing story you’ve told.

A World Beyond Oil, from A to Z

Architecture Without Oil
Breathing Without Oil

Car Culture Without Oil

Dating Without Oil

Eating Without Oil
Fellowship Without Oil

Guerilla Gardening Without Oil

HealthWithout Oil

Immigration Without Oil
Jobs and More Jobs Without Oil

Knowledge Without Oil

LOL Without Oil

Music Without Oil

Neighborhoods Without Oil

OMG Without Oil

PDAs Without Oil

Quick Thinking Without Oil

Real Estate Without Oil
Soldiers Without Oil
Teens and More Teens Without Oil
Urban Adventure Without Oil
Vision and More Vision Without Oil
Wacky Without Oil
Xtreme Partying Without Oil
Your Mama Without Oil
Zoom Zoom Without Oil

worldwithoutoil @ 2007-05-31T17:05:00

2007-06-01T00:06:04Z

Some Netizens have been noting the similarites between the five stages of grief and the way people have been reacting to the oil shock. Like many of you, I have recently been racking up grief experience points. (Oh boy. ) Turns out, I'm not the type to dwell in anger or bargaining. I take that back. A lot of my grievy mindset is spent bargaining that I could skip all the depression for the good ol' days of denial.

When I wasn't scrambling in survival mode & conducting experiments in community, I spent the first half of our 9 month adventure feeling down. First because my longtime kitty companion perished, and then because the grimness of the really bad time, when chaos hit hard & was overwhelming. But somewhere in there acceptance hit--this is our life now, high high gas prices and people coming out of the woodwork to participate in meaningful workarounds. And World Without Oil serving as the central meeting point where we could all report our progress. There has been a certain motivation, a certain fire to fuel, in working for WWO to help keep us all buoyant and active. Now it sounds like it's closing down as an active site, and so is my volunteer stint helping netizens get their contributions posted & updating you-all via podcast. Sounds like the next week is our last.

I feel a fresh round of grief coming on. I will miss this meeting place, and the people who breathed life into it.

This is a familiar feeling, actually. And it's a particular brand of grief. I call it Adventurous Disaster Let-Down, or ADLD. "Addled." I've felt it back in my automotive days, when one car died and I needed rides & public transport till I found the next car. There was a special crackle in the air, Something was Going On. I've felt it every winter, truth be told, when some shallow-rooted tree tips in the soggy forest soil and blocks the road out to civilization, or knocks out power lines. It's not rare for the power to be out a few days or a week, and I start foil-wrapping potatoes dotted with garlic & butter to toss in the glowing coals of a fire, and fish out my special pot for fireplace hot buttered rum. Then, when the power comes back on, or the usual way to work is restored, it's sort of a drag to go back to business as usual. Life looks a little less interesting.

We've just had the longest adventurous disaster I've ever experienced first-hand. It was long enough for the sense of adventure to come, wear off under struggle, and be restored in a "we can do it," steady-pace form. (That's like, what, energy flagging & coming back as euphoria while jogging a marathon. I hear. Not having jogged one.) And I'm heartened by fellow Netizens who say our work will continue now that we know better. Ahh, optimism.

But I've also racked up some experience points announcing new projects and convictions. I can do *anything* I set out to--for a few weeks. And for much much longer, it turns out, given the right supportive surroundings and motivating circumstances. But I've seen countless Big Plans of mine dwindle and fade away. It will happen, invariably, when I am answerable to no one, or a default path becomes easier. Now that gas is coming down in price and this site is going into archive mode, I worry that I won't be the only one vulnerable to drifting back into "business as usual."

So, here's a mission from me, worth a Carboneer: share with your fellow Netizens what you will do to keep the progress we've made sustainable. Without WWO to report to, without this site as a motivating resource to cheer you on, how will you keep your life less oil-dependent? How can we keep encouraging the people around us to do the same? (Without lecturing them--CeeGee is right about the folly of lecturing people.) Dessum9 tells me we'll be able to facilitate your contributions just for the next week, so hurry! Respond in a comment to this post now, so all your great ideas will be in the wwo archive for as long as we can keep the site on the web. I know I'll need them!

And an extra carboneer to anyone with a good idea for how to use their carbon offset credit as a motivator-- for yourself, a friend, or a company that could use a carbon offset...

"I'm who I am today because I knew you"

2007-05-31T00:55:52Z

Someone called me a pollyanna the other day. I had to ask Uncle Frank what they meant--I saw a lot of disney movies when I was a kid but that wasnt one of them.

I never meant to be the cheerleader of the 8tsoc. You ask anyone who knows me around here, Uncle Frank, Tom, the guys from school who still keep in touch--I am Shay the Slayer, kicking butt and taking names. At least I was, and then I met Nico and the butt to be kicked got a whole lot bigger than my boot.

My cosy future where Grace grew up to be everything I wasnt, good in school, maybe a varsity athelete or, heck, even homecoming queen if she wanted to--that future is gone by the wayside. Now I am trying to make a world for her where she doesnt go hungry, where she can be safe and secure and not worry about being gunned down for her bike or whatever food shes got in her house. I want her to be able to laugh and sing and hang out with good friends and know how to take care of herself when nobody else will. I want her to be as smart and capable as all the people I have met here in this community. And if I have to be called pollyanna to do so, well, there it is.

I needed you all to step up and tell me what we had to do. I needed your wisdom, your ideas, your stories--even the bad ones told me what to watch out for, how to avoid trouble in its many forms. I depended on people who remembered what rationing meant, what and when to plant , and what to do when all youve got in the house is beans, and how to knit and what tools we had to make sure we had and how to make sure water is clean and ways to cut costs and save energy. Everyone seperately had a few good ideas, a piece of knowledge to share, something to pass along to the rest--together we have enough to fill a book.

Could we have done more? Maybe. It was hard to think about putting down ideas when every day was a battle to get thru. I know my head was spinning for many weeks, as the news got worse and the shortages started and the little bit of security we had up here in the woods was chipped away by things we had no control over. I wouldve liked to talk to more of you. I wish we could have had more time to set up meetings like Mia and lucy1965 did. And I wish I had known about the UK Transistion Towns and blueski's community meeting a lot sooner. The crisis may be "over" but the dialog has to continue. We cant sit on our hands and think weve done enough, ever. This was just the warm-up exercise.

Because Nico told me--this was just the beginning. And I will never doubt his word again. So what's next? Uncle Frank and Tom have been talking about going into business together. They've got lots of contacts between them, and some good ideas on how to help people not fall thru the cracks again. Ways to maybe blow out the flame before the fires get out of control. They toss around a lot of military jargon about objectives and logisitics and first responders and such, and I have not seen Uncle Frank this, well, ALIVE in a long time. So I am going to do whatever I can to help them make this a reality. We're talking about selling the house and moving south, somewhere where we dont have to pay for heat and the cost of living is a little better. Somewhere with a few acres of good land that we could plant if we wanted to. Somewhere sunny where we could put up solar panels and try and get off the grid. Somewhere...over the rainbow...NAH. :) It's gonna happen, but it will be a real place and not pollyanna's farm. I will be working hard wherever I am, better it's for myself and my family than some stupid pimply faced manager in an ugly tie.

So here's my last mission for you all. Take care of your families. And if you don't have blood kin, then make your neighbors your family, or your co-workers, or the old folks at the home, or the kids down the street. Carve out a piece of human real estate that you feel responsible for. Then teach everyone how to take care of themselves, and each other. Show them the stories here and let them tell you new ones. Come up with a list--Top Ten Things to Do When the Next Oil Shock Happens. Here's my first one: take a deep breath, and THINK.

My love and best wishes to you all.

Sharon, Grace, Uncle Frank and Shaggy

Whistling Through The Graveyard

2007-05-30T22:17:58Z

Okay so here's the kind of thing that makes me laugh: that even now governments are still executing on plans that, at the base of them, assume the good ol' days of oil plenty. And rely on data that's unchecked (and uncheckable) given to them by people who profit if they dissemble. The ship is too big, people; how will we EVER get it turned away from the iceberg?

Our Days Are Numbered

2007-05-29T22:22:57Z

It pains me to be the bearer of bad news, but somebody's gotta come out and say it: We here at 8tsoc can't keep this website going much longer. The tipping point is what's going on now with Gala_Teah, which could be a long story except that a short one will do: the oil crisis is trying to claim another victim - three actually, GT, Inky_J and her husband. They're trying to save their house.

Meanwhile, Gracesmom got another phone call from Nico (remember Nico? He's the guy who tipped us off about this oil shock coming). Nico says that a second shock is "inevitable - as soon as it's clear you are able to pay more, you will be." So our days are numbered in more ways than one.

So now is the time, folks. You lurkers out there, speak up and tell us how your life is going in this time of economic hardship and $5.50 gasoline. And everyone, let's get the truth out there: What can we do to better prepare for the next oil shortfall? Should we get a rationing plan ready? (What would it look like - who should run it?) What should we do about our energy consumption patterns? (How about a 50 mph national speed limit?) Now that we have good ridership, how can we take our transit systems to the next level? And what about food security? And the fragile among us? We need some good solid plans and priorities.

Tell us too about the people around you. What are _they willing to do? Or are they so happy to be paying only $5.50 a gallon that they can't be bothered to think about the future? Look forward to hearing and seeing what you got to say.

p.s. You can email us your story: wwo (-at-) worldwithoutoil.org - or call it in: 1-866-WWO-TSOC (1-866-996-8762)

Lessons

2007-05-29T19:22:05Z

It was bound to happen sometime.

I met a girl. A female girl. The kind of girl I've always wanted to meet. I dig her, she digs me. We've both been so busy during this crisis that we've spent weeks together before realizing that there's a spark there. Well, really more of a wildfire. But anyway.

So she and I were talking the other day about what things are going to be like down the road. Lord help me, we were talking about children. No, we're not to that stage yet, it was just rhetorical conversation. Really. And we wondered if this was the kind of world that we'd bring up our kids in. What if this happens again? Sure, we're starting to pull out of it now, but will people remember how bad it was? Will they pretend it was just a one-time deal?

You should see all the geologists around here, thick as thieves. My folks said they haven't been drilling wells like this in South Texas since the 80s. Buncha optimism. It's a little scary. I'm frightened that entropy or enthalpy or whatever the heck it was we learned about in high school chemistry will take over and we're just going to slide back to where we were. But I'm not going to let that happen to me.

Although we're rural here, we've established strong ties. Those who had no supplies bartered services with those who did. The bartering system has worked out so well that I think we're going to keep it up. Not only that, but we've met so many of our neighbors now and have built strong bonds with them. We won't let them get into trouble in the future. I see a lot of people saying the same things on their blogs and videos, and it does my heart good. Keep it up, y'all.

Got a date tonight. I'm cooking for her. Venison medallions and pumpkin soup. All stuff I've harvested myself. I haven't had pre-packaged store food in months, thankfully! But I sure am learning to cook a mean meal.

What have you learned since April?

Warm as a summer's day

2007-05-28T13:50:39Z

OK, Inky, it took some doing but I made a video. :) I hope Uncle Frank likes what we did with it! Mostly I was thinking about building community, and what we need to do to stay attached to other people.

Summer seems like such a distant memory now, but watching the images of that day makes me feel all warm inside.

What makes you warm inside? Show us!

Get out the cameras! SHO ME TIME

2007-05-26T00:36:06Z

i am liking very much what Illiana_Speedster said, that people should get out their camera s and lets see photos of gardens and neighbors and friends and especially WWO stuff. i LOVE this phohto of Grace And Her Mom and mr lead_tag is showing us working horses. ANd of course me and mom did some work showing you one of our friends going to pick up veggies on her bicycle. and jootbooner's wife went walking and VladimatorMushuPork talks about how teens suffer too ! RIGHT ON. its great because it is the POSTIVE STUFF that mPathytest was talking about. Cmon peeps you can do it!

The Inky_J Efficiency Challenge

2007-05-24T00:20:35Z

So my daughter is angry again, no surprise there - lot of people are angry these days, they've cut to the bone and fuel prices are STILL killing them. She is angry, however, at us (you, me, everyone older than 16) because of this chart.

Now there are a lot of things that are interesting about this chart, but the thing that has got her spitting mad - I am not joking about this - is the gray area, the LOST ENERGY. According to the chart, over 60% of our energy here in the U.S. is lost, i.e., it actually serves no useful purpose, does no work, transports nothing, accomplishes nothing.

She can't fathom how we would make a system that is so wasteful, then kill one another etc. rather than make it (or remake it) to be more efficient. And this is doubly true since she is also following the climate change situation and of course, to be destroying the planet to generate energy that no one uses strikes her as something worth being angry about.

So here is my challenge. I know we have challenges aplenty, but: (1) tell me how and why this energy is being lost and (2) propose some ways we can reduce that waste. I'll give out my Carboneers for the best responses. Hurry, please, this household's harmony depends on you.

Worth a Thousand Words

2007-05-24T00:00:24Z

And maybe a Carboneer award.

Go put a photo up. I did.

Mission hints

2007-05-23T02:58:57Z

♥ The number is just that: one number.

♥ This number is unique to me, and I am intensely curious to see what your numbers are, and what you can do with them.

♥ Because of my circumstances, my number will likely remain constant for at least a little while longer. It's been the same since long before April 30th.

Any ideas?

Math Is Hard

2007-05-22T03:23:36Z

Hey, I have a mission for you.

It's sort of split in two, like my moods have been, lately. :P

The first part of the mission is to figure out what this number is. Once you've got that, e-mail me at pachinko.chance (at) gmail . c0m to see if you've sussed it out. (I totally give out hints, don't worry)

The second part of the mission is to make your own image - make it like a poster, or a mysterious postcard, or a calling card by which you will proclaim your own number.

Submit your mission to the WWO-org-a-licious site, and be sure to tag it with words like mission, and math is hard.

Ready, set, go!

Seeing the good - finally

2007-05-21T14:10:48Z

I don’t believe in destiny. I’ll get that out of the way.

It was just random synchronicity that Emil wandered by that box of free lemons last week at exactly the same time that Gracesmom started working on her epic post about how the Tide is Turning and the Time is Now and The Generation Beyond Oil and all that– you know, the post that the media has been quoting non-stop as evidence that it’s grassroots movements and not the government that is going to get us out of this mess. (Go, Sharon!)

And it was just by chance, a fluke really, that she was talking about making lemonade out of metaphorical lemons at the same moment Emil was using all those literal lemons to make, okay not lemonade, but lemon yogurt and lemon sorbet and lemon chicken … well, that’s close enough to be an eerie coincidence. Made me do a mental double-take.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that the WWO sign Emil saw sitting by the box wasn’t actually a sign. Not in the grand, what’s the meaning of life sense of the word, anyway.

But still. When I woke up today and saw Gracemom’s post… when it really hit me, all those signs that she has collected from you already that people out there are remaking a better civilization in the wake of the shock…

And when I thought about how much that small gesture of a neighbor sharing a backyard harvest, and how it instantly changed Emil’s sense of what was possible…

We’ll, I don’t believe in destiny, but as of today, you can count me as a believer in change. The big change. I believe the worst is over. The signs are all around us. We are finally waking up from our nightmare.

Maybe that sounds naïve. I know I’ve been stupidly optimistic in the past. Back when we were just getting started, I was babbling on this blog and in our manifestos about how we could avoid all of the bad stuff and get to the new, better way of life with hardly any hardship. Expecting like an idiot for the swarm commuters and the biomimetic neighborhoods to just pop up overnight, waiting for the reports of Instant! Magic! Innovation! Worldwide! I was totally blindside by how bad it became so fast. God, I was devastated.

So maybe I have been waiting for a sign. Waiting to be right about the opportunity the 2007 Oil Shock really was. A gift in disguise, maybe? A chance to re-design our lives and our communities, slowly but surely?

I think you’re ready to see the signs, too.

After all, you guys have already proven that you’re sharp seers, watchers, observers, reporters. You’ve been documenting everything you’ve seen around you for the past 20+ weeks, and you have been unbelievably good at it.

Maybe the mainstream media wants to focus on the gloom and doom, prey on our fears, keep us focused on chaos and paralyzed with our initial shock– after all, even without oil, there’s still ratings. But you know better now. You know where to look to see the new, the better. And if you aren’t seeing it yet, then you at least have ideas about what you want to see, what you need so see.

So let's start a new discussion. What are you seeing that makes you optimistic?

And if you’re not seeing enough of the new and the better yet, then let’s start problem solving. What plan would you propose for your part of the world?

Think about it this way. Could you bring the oil prices down where you live, just by changing how you and your neighbors lived your everyday lives? What would it take to create equilibrium again where you live? Tell us about it.

Poll: Your Losses (Gains?)

2007-05-20T22:53:31Z

Let's compare the official numbers with a poll of our own. Tell us:

(1) How much money have you lost since April 30? Tell us the top reasons: Paid out in fuel surcharges? Lost income? Lost property?

(2) How much less fuel do you use since April 30?

(3) Has your quality of life declined or increased? What are the top reasons?

Post your answers as a comment. NOTE: this blog open for all readers to comment.

Heads Will Roll?

2007-05-20T21:47:57Z

You've probably all heard about the GAO investigations into "resource resiliency" and "set-asides." It looks like Congress will begin their own investigations next week, so I think the circus has begun and woe to the expendable minor officials who dipped into the oil stream with too heavy a hand. Let the scapegoating begin!

Mission: Secret Signs

2007-05-18T20:22:57Z

I was walking home about 20 blocks from the supermarket last (Kal called me with a tip on a milk shipment) when I passed by a house with a box of fresh lemons in the front yard. Propped up on the box was a handwritten sign that read "free lemons" -- nice! But even better -- there was a hand-drawn WWO symbol right next to it.

Wow.

It's one thing to come on the website and see the WWO community getting bigger every day. That feels great. But it's another thing to go out in the real world and realize that all around you there are fellow heroes walking around every day, doing their part, sending little signals to let you know they're out there.

It really knocked me out to see that sign. I'd been feeling pretty alone lately, with Evie all the way on the other side of the country. Plus, no one has come by to pick up the drop spot near my apartment yet -- every day when I walk by it, I wonder if I'm the only one out here. But a gesture like that -- sharing lemons growing in their yard -- and the drawing, it totally made my week.

And of course, it inspired a new mission.

This one is so simple.

Leave a message somewhere where other heroes might spot it -- and include a WWO symbol or "world without oil" so they know it's coming from the WWO community.

The message can be anything -- a piece of advice, few words of optimism, an arrow pointing to a free resource, or just something to make other heroes smile during all of this madness. (We need more of that, right?)

Maybe you think no one will notice it, or know what it means. But I bet they would. Evie mailed me some stats from the Team 8TSOC site today, and it's amazing. There are heroes everywhere. All 50 United States, and literally dozens of countries, from Norway to Venezuela to Brazil to Japan to France to Iraq... and for every one person signed up as a hero, there are at least 30 more following along as you document this oil shock. So trust me. If you make a secret sign, someone will spot it -- and it will amaze them.

(Of course, as always, send us photos and stories about what you're doing out there. There are more Carboneer Awards to pass out for the most creative secret signals.)

Move along. No green energy here.

2007-05-18T18:16:27Z

I know alot of power companies out there offer green alternatives. Customers can pay a little more and be confident that the energy they use is created by wind, solar or some other green alternative. Netizen BrianEnigma just switched over to 100% windpower. Has anyone else taken advantage of that option (if it's available?)

I've been waiting for years for our power company to offer a green alternative. Back in '99 they were going to try out what they called a "green" alternative - wood. I, um, guess that's sort of green.

When I sent an email asking about their current green options I received this response...

Thank you for contacting NIPSCO. While we currently do not have a "Green Power" tariff, we do offer a Net Metering program to residential customers and schools (K-12) that own and operate a solar, wind or hydro-electrical generating facility, with name plate capacity of less than or equal to 10kw. Information about the Net Metering program is attached below.

Feel free to contact us again if we can be of further assistance.

So I guess I'm on my own, huh? Don't worry. I'm not done with them just yet. I'm going to do a little more investigation.

So here's a Carboneer mission for you. I want you to do a little research. Find out if your power company has a green alternative. If they do, find out how much more it would cost you to go entirely green. Get as much information as you can. Email them. Call them. Find out all the details. If they don't have a green option, contact them anyway and ask why. Email them. Call them. I'm giving away a One-ton Carbon offset. Impress me and you'll be the one to get it.

Mission: Local food

2007-05-17T05:29:33Z

I need something to keep me from feeling sorry for myself. Can y'all help?

Here's what ya do:

- You post a picture of yourself buying or picking local food. Hit up your backyard garden or the local farmer's market. Or the local farmer, for that matter.
- Take along a WorldWithoutOil.com sign and make sure it's in your pic.
- Then take a picture of the excellent vittles you produce with what you purchased or picked or plucked. Post.
- Don't forget to submit it to the WWO site and put a link to it in a comment on this post.
- Extra credit for recipes!

Things are rough here, but I'm sure we have it better than some of the other folks. We didn't get much from the storm, really. Not like a couple of years ago when all the trees blew down. Resources are tight, but we're not going hungry. Well, too hungry. The local ranchers are actually trying to train their cattle to pull plows, which is both funny and sad to watch. Mostly sad.

So yeah, cheer me up, please! There may even be a little something in it for the most creative folks.

The Whatever Without Oil Challenge - and winners!

2007-05-15T15:24:39Z

The Whatever Without Oil challenge is in full swing.

Our goal: to create a complete A to Z guide of doing everyday things without (or with less) oil. Band Practice Without Oil, Lawn Care Without Oil, Shoe Shopping Without Oil, Dog Walking Without Oil... whatever!

But remember: we're not just looking for how-to instructions. You have to make it real! So it's not enough to think about doing something without oil. We want your real stories: fun descriptions of you actually trying this out, and photos, videos, diagrams, or whatever else will help us see how it went.

Today we got our first winning entry - "S" for Shaving without Oil! Thanks, lead_tag. You are our second One-Ton Carbon Offset award-winner. In other words, YOU are a carboneer.

So for the rest of us, that leaves... umm... 25 letters (and 25 winners) to go!

What letter can you claim? Submit your story now! (And be sure to tag it "mission" and "Whateverwithoutoil" so we can find it....)

UPDATE: miawithoutoil provides us with our second winning entry - "M" for Music without Oil! Thanks, Mia. I appreciate the creative approach. Go Carbooners!

World Without Oil in French

2007-05-14T19:38:52Z

hi everyone, Gala heard from cycleboy_wwo and Andrew and even from lead_tag all the way from Iraq about the French stories from our correspondent in France, meredith stapleton. Meredith is translating our updates into French, very elegantly! thank you Meredith.

She also added some questions for teachers which i think ar eREALLY good - translated by lead_tag's friend:
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The teachers questions as translated by my friend.

1. Find 5 things that would improve once the price reached its highest
point?
2. In the case of production failure, what would happen with the debt to be
reimbursed?
3. Do you think the families will have more or less children? Why?
4. How could an enterprise prepare themselves for the power outage?
5. Which kinds of buildings are well prepared for this? Which ones are more
inclined to have problems?
6. Once the downfall of petroleum industries take effect, which areas of
activities will seem to be the most lucrative?
7. What educational program could the universities offer to better prepare
the students for a great world situation change?

good questions don't you think?

lead_tag

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so i am giving Carboneers to everyone! -IJ