[Dr. Green]

Spill or no spill, the cost of energy will be escalating in the future, though perhaps the spill will hasten the inevitable.

Most people seem to be living with their heads in the sand about the approaching days of increased energy costs (and energy shortages). Even without the blowout in the gulf, energy prices are on a long term rise as demand continues to increase around the world (China's oil imports in January were 22% above last January!!!!!, and India is not far behind). However supply continues to be roughly level with a slight downward trend (though not enough yet to tell for sure we are at "Peak Oil"). This is why the government is working hard on an Energy bill that will reduce oil usage (and moderate climate change).

Locally, a group is looking at how the Lakes Region will be affected by increased energy prices. LARELLA (the LAkes REgion Living Lightly Association) is hosting a public gathering on "The Transition Initiative: Supporting Local Resilience in the face of Peak Oil" at the Unitarian Universalist Society Gathering Room (in the basement) at 172 Pleasant Street, Laconia (1 block NW of the Train Depot) on Sunday May 16th at 6:30pm. A description of the event follows:

"We are facing a major transition in the next decade or two to having substantially less energy available (and at much higher prices) that will affect every aspect of our lives – transportation, heating our homes, vacations, food selection and quantity, etc. If gas is $12 a gallon, as the Wall Street Journal predicts, our normal approach to life will be turned upside down. How well we cope with these changes depends on how well we plan for them, and how resilient our local region is to disruptions in energy availability.

The workshop will explain terms like Peak Oil, Energy Descent, Local Resilience, and suggest a framework for beginning to plan for the inevitable shift to local economies. We will discuss the implications for the Lakes Region. For example, when the amount of energy per capita available in the Lakes Region decreases 50%, how would we adapt? What choices would we make in the best interests of the local communities? And what is the effect of planning ahead for when this happens rather than waiting until the situation is upon us?

Come join with others who are concerned about how we will prepare for the coming Energy Descent and who choose to create a positive future rather than a reactive, collapsing future. “Re-localization” is the idea of building a future that plays to our strengths rather than to our deficits. We care, and thus we work together to plan for an abundant, post-cheap oil region.
More info available at www.larella.org"