Peak Oil report

The UK's Energy Research Centre has just published an important report that's essential reading for policy makers, analysts and anyone with an interest in business continuity.

The ERC are an independent body, and echo the calls of previous such as those from ITPOES - the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, who produced 'The Oil Crunch' in October 2008.

That central government departments are not planning or engaging the public or local authorities in peak oil or rapid carbon descent is yet another example of the inadequacy of our existing planning system (which is not planner's fault) to respond to 'game change' information shifts.

A series of 'rapid planning' events planned that we are planning for communities across Wales in the coming months will go some way to populating the plan that we need to map our way forwards.

a reason for action on food

Although it's off most people's radar, there is a real sense of urgency to get moving on community, regional, nation and humanity scale awareness of the risk and response to the challenges coming down the track in terms of our food supply. Such as this:

UNEP estimates that nearly 2 billion hectares of land are affected by human-induced erosion and soil degradation, and in its 2002 “State of World Soils” report, provided the shocking insight that if we continue on a business-as-usual basis, nearly half the world’s current arable land will be “unusable” by 2050. Farmers the world over will need to move rapidly and systematically to regenerative fertility-building systems that build humus and retain carbon in the soils. (Jonathan Porritt, 2009)

TYF EcoSapiens are working with the Soil Association, Cardiff Uni and others to create a draft food reslience plan for Wales. Email us if you are interested.