Center for Experimental Media Arts
A new media lab at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. The lab has been generously supported and funded by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
CEMA Blogs
The Dirt PDX
Regarding the Bakken formation
Being an energy geek I've been forwarded an e-mail about the Bakken formation on several occasions, which basically says it will make everything better. Some of the e-mails had vague claims that environmentalists wouldn't... something or other.
Anyway, here is the short version and you can read the following for details. I really hope there is more the the roughly 5 billion barrels of recoverable oil that is currently reported by the oil geologists as it's their opinion that counts. Actually I hope there is considerably more then 100 billion barrels because it makes our job a hell of a lot easier AND... it doesn't change the long term policy decisions. Please keep in mind that that in the context of 80 million barrels a day of worldwide oil consumption, the trajectory doesn't really change if Bakken had 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil with fairly high daily flow rates.
How I came to the above conclusion:
The fallacy of growth in a finite world
The headline on Page One of The Oregonian said it all: "Portland gridlock creeping back, and that's good news." The point? The return of bad traffic signals economic growth. And growth is good news, regardless of the consequences.
During these days of economic gloom, growth is especially good news. A hundred and seventy-five new NOAA jobs in Newport? Hooray! A new plan for vastly expanding Portland's urban growth boundary? Fabulous! Boeing plans for a $120 million investment and 152 new jobs in Gresham? Yippee!
The boosterism is understandable. In the short term, growth supports families, relieves social pressures that produce conflict and crime, pays for amenities such as the arts, offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and makes some of us exceedingly wealthy.
But growth is also an addiction. And, like most addictions, it threatens to destroy us. Not only does it clog our freeways, but it also paves farmland, wipes out open spaces, saddles taxpayers with ruinous development costs and crushes the quality of life that attracted us to our communities in the first place. Growth sucks irreplaceable resources out of the earth. It dumps poisonous pollution into our environment. It crowds out the planet's other species and utterly fails to deliver the human happiness it promises.
Sustainable Living Skills Immersion Program + Permaculture Design Certificate Course @ Aprovecho
Aprovecho's Sustainable Living Skills Program is the oldest program of its kind in the Northwest and includes hands on training in appropriate technology, sustainable forestry, natural building, and sustainable agriculture.
The 72 hour Permaculture Design curriculum is woven throughout the 5 week program leaving students with a framework for integrating strategies and techniques into cohesive designs for sustainable human settlement. A certificate of Permaculture Design will be presented at the end of the program.
Optical Surveying For Earthworks & Water Systems- 6 Day Advanced Permaculture Course with Tom Ward in Southern Oregon
Optical Surveying; Sharpen Your Eyes! Layout Skills for Earthworks and Water Systems
Advanced Permaculture Certificate Course with Tom Ward October 2010, 6 day course, $450. Early registration by Sept. 1st $350.Tom Ward Courses and Events . Two extended weekends, Fridays - Sundays, October 1-3 and 15-17, in the Little Applegate, Southern Oregon. For more information and registration, call Melanie 541-482-7909 or e-mail me at sassetta@mind.net Learn essential skills for implementing permaculture projects. Course includes use of surveying tools, keyline, mapping, flagging trails, staking pond, swale building, flagging keyline, pump lift calculating, water pressure, tools practice and review of surveying applications for permaculture projects. Optical Surveying for Earthworks will practice using surveying tools that are not digital or electric (no battery devices). Students will learn swale, terrace, ditch and pond layout, profile cross-section drawing, keyline and trail system locating, solar assessment, ditch and wiggle water way layout, small cabin orientation and pad layout, staking, note taking, and compass and map reading. We will use telescope-like devices and other hand tools such as sight levels, pocket transits, builders levels, A-frames and various vertical measurement rods, as well as measuring tapes and wheels. The course will include flagging for trails, swales and ponds, as well as observations on the landscape with mapping of plants, birds and trees.
5 Useful Medicinal Herbs with Dr. Orna Izakson
Orna Izakson ND, RH (AHG) Celilo Natural Health Center www.celilohealth.com 503-335-9479 v Location St. Francis Dining HallSE 11th & Pine Portland, OR
An Evening with Peak Moment TV
Join us for a conversation with Janaia Donaldson, host of Peak Moment TV Conversations. She and partner videographer Robin Mallgren are touring the Pacific Northwest to tape new programs for their biweekly series. Peak Moment TV showcases people creating locally reliant lives and resilient communities for a more sustainable, post-petroleum future. Janaia will share some perspectives from their media guests and other activists. However, the evening is intended primarily as a conversation. What are you and others observing, feeling, and doing around energy descent? Janaia notes, "I'm interested to hear from Portlanders: a lot has changed in our world in four short years since we last visited here." Peak Moment TV was launched in early 2006 in Robin and Janaia's hometown of Nevada City in northern California. While on tour in summer 2006, they taped several programs in the Portland area and met the Portland Relocalization group. Peak Moment TV's 177 conversations have garnered over 1.5 million viewings worldwide. Popular programs include "How We Live at Lone Bobcat Woods" (a tour of their homestead), "The Pee and Poo Show", and "Creating a Home Graywater System." Programs are online atwww.peakmoment.tv, where Janaia is blogging their near-daily tapings on the Pacific Northwest 2010 tour - here's the schedule.
Location St. Francis Che Room1131 SE Oak st. Portland, ORAgent of Change Class Informational Meeting
Attend an Informational Meeting for the no-cost six-session course:
How to Be an Agent of Change: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 7:00 p.m. Offered by the Center for Earth Leadership * Discussion of course content, take-away skills, and the growing Agent of Change Network * Hear from class graduates about the impact their eco-projects are having on our community * Learn how you can get involved in making your ideas a reality * Meet class architects Dick and Jeanne Roy, recognized leaders in the sustainability movement * Enjoy light refreshments Join the local network of over 500 Agent of Change class graduates who are creating sustainable change at all levels in our community! Additional & Contact: Ready to register for a fall Agent of Change class now? For registration, meeting location and general information, contact Emily Klavins, (503) 227-2315 or emily@earthleaders.org.
Location
Downtown PortlandPortland, OR
The Oil Crunch - a wake-up call for the UK economy
On 10 February 2010 at the Royal Society, six UK companies - Arup, Foster + Partners, Scottish and Southern Energy, Solarcentury, Stagecoach Group and Virgin - joined together to launch the second report of the UK Industry Task-Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES).
The report, titled “The Oil Crunch - a wake-up call for the UK economy”, finds that oil shortages, insecurity of supply and price volatility will destabilise economic, political and social activity within five years
Link: http://peakoiltaskforce.net/download-the-report/2010-peak-oil-report/ Link: http://peakoiltaskforce.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/final-report-uk-itpoes_report_the-oil-crunch_feb20101.pdf Business calls for urgent action on “oil crunch” threat to UK economy- Taskforce warns Britain is unprepared for significant risk to companies and consumers
- Poorest to be hit hardest by price rises for travel, food, heating and consumer goods
- New policies must be priority for whoever wins the General Election
- Recommended packages include legislation, new technologies and behaviour-change incentives
- Fundamental change in demand patterns triggered by emerging economy countries
London, 10 February, 2010: A group of leading business people today call for urgent action to prepare the UK for Peak Oil. The second report of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) finds that oil shortages, insecurity of supply and price volatility will destabilise economic, political and social activity potentially by 2015. Peak Oil refers to the point where the highest practicable rate of global oil production has been achieved and from which future levels of production will either plateau, or begin to diminish. This means an end to the era of cheap oil.
The report, “The Oil Crunch - a wake-up call for the UK economy”, urges the formation of a coalition of government, business and consumers to address the issue.
The Taskforce states the impact of Peak Oil will include sharp increases in the cost of travel, food, heating and retail goods. It finds that the transport sector will be particularly hard hit, with more vulnerable members of society the first to feel the impact. The Taskforce warns that the UK must not be caught out by the oil crunch in the same way it was with the credit crunch and states that policies to address Peak Oil must be a priority for the new government formed after the election.
Ninth Annual Build It Green! Home Tour and Info Fair
BUILD IT GREEN! HOME TOUR AND INFORMATION FAIR 2010
Presented by the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Sponsored by Metro, Energy Trust of Oregon, Solar Oregon, Oregon Home magazine, and City of Portland Bureaus of Environmental Services, Development Services and Water. Saturday, September 25, 2010
Home Tour: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Twenty tour stops throughout the Portland metro area
Information Fair: 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Hosted by Ecohaus, 819 SE Taylor St, Portland The 9th annual Build It Green! Home Tour features twenty green remodels and new homes around the Portland metropolitan area. This year’s tour highlights more affordable and small projects than ever before, while continuing to showcase innovative and modern design, so there’s sure to be a project that inspires you!
Comprehensive Organic Gardener Program!
In partnership with Seattle Tilth, the Organic Education Center offers the Comprehensive Organic Gardener (COG) program to students aspiring to garden for this first time or just learn more about organic techniques on a home-garden scale. The curriculum merges scientific and practical information with an emphasis on hands-on practice. This unique and popular course is designed to give the beginning gardener an introduction into the dynamic world of organic gardening and an opportunity to get their hands dirty in the process!
Classes will be taught at Luscher Farm:
125 Rosemont Road West Linn Oregon 97068
September 9th - 30th: Thursdays 6:30 - 8:30 pm and Saturdays 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
$250 or $225 for Lake Oswego residents & Tilth members
Limited number of scholarships available upon request!
For more information, please visit the Oregon Tilth Website!
What to Do about Earth Change: Mobilizing for Action
The profound and even disastrous changes to our habitat, the Earth, can lead us to a wide range of responses – including mourning, anger, argument, denial and paralysis. They can cause us to contemplate, to pray, to gather and to discuss. They can also stimulate action.
This evening is an opportunity to focus on action steps for adapting to the descent of Earth’s systems and resources. We will brainstorm what we can do and then how to evaluate, select and prioritize such efforts.
Many of us have already made significant changes in our individual lifestyles. The adjustments that will be necessary, however, also require a community effort. Our meeting, facilitated by Jim Newcomer and Allan Smith, will zero in on what we can do as a team.
Please join us to help envision a plan for action!
Energy Descent Action Plans - a primer
The concept of Energy Descent Action Plans isn't a widely known or discussed one. Even the issue which forms the EDAP's main inspiration - Peak Oil - may not be widely appreciated. So I've written a background briefing below. It's a work in progress, and being adapted from a document written for the Melbourne Food Network, so there may be some regional assumptions. But I hope that it might be a useful source document for others.
Link: http://energybulletin.net/node/16859 Link: http://www.eatthesuburbs.org/edap-primer/
Introduction
An Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) is a local plan for dealing with Peak Oil. It goes well beyond issues of energy supply, to look at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of health, education, economy and much more. An EDAP is a way to think ahead, to plan in an integrated, multidisciplinary way, to provide direction to local government, decision makers, groups and individuals with an interest in making the place they live into a vibrant and viable community in a post-carbon era.
This document is a primer on EDAPs, designed to help spur on the process of creating them. Since the concept of an EDAP is inspired by looming Peak Oil, as well as the permaculture design system, and the inevitability of economic relocalisation — I've also included a brief introduction to these three topics. This is followed by information on Kinsale, the small Irish town where the first EDAP was written, an inspiring plan which has now been taken on board as official policy by the town council. Then a few musing on how to start the process of getting an EDAP off the ground here in Melbourne.
Energy descent action plans for cities: some thoughts…
This post was prompted by an email from Brian Davey on behalf of the Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) Group in Transition Nottingham. The subject under discussion is EDAPs (or Community Resilience Plans… or whatever you want to call them), and how one does them for cities, or even if one does them for cities. Their questions give me an opportunity to reflect on the Totnes EDAP process, and to explore some emergent aspects of Transition, especially in the urban context. The Nottingham group have given me permission to reprint their initial email in full, so I will start with that, and then move on to my reflections on the points they raise. This post is as much an invitation for your comments and thoughts as anything else….
Eco-mUNITY's Asset Mapping Workshop for Transition PDX
Hello. We at Eco-mUNITY are excited to conduct a workshop on asset mapping for TransitionPDX. We would like to provide some basic information before the workshop, and give you an opportunity to come to the workshop with some idea of what your needs and assets might be, and possibly even have your asset map and avatar filled out to some degree. Let me know if you need a blank one. I created these using the google documents drawing feature, so the template can continually be developed and changed.
Your Asset and Needs Avatar
This map is designed to communicate who you are, your needs, and your assets at a glance.
In the center (red) is your avatar. Choose an image to put in the circle that represents who you are. Of course as you change, you can alter your avatar as well.
The first (green) circle of bubbles surrounding your avatar is where your needs are mapped. In this way, you can let others know how their assets might match up with your needs. You can list up to 5 needs. In each circle will be a badge that represents that need. You can draw a badge that represents your need, or find a royalty-free or creative commons picture to use. Local artists will be encouraged to develop these. Below the green bubble is a green label so you can label the need. This makes it easier to read and understand.
The next (yellow) circle of bubbles surrounding your avatar is where your assets are mapped. In this way, you can let others know how their needs might match up with your assets. You can list up to 12 assets. It is good to list a mix of skills and resources. For instance, if you can fix bikes (skill), you might also have extra bike parts to list (resources). In each circle with be a badge that represents that skill or resource. These will be developed along the way. Don’t forget to label your assets!
Below the avatar, you list your name, neighborhood, and contact information.
Location St. Francis Che Room1131 SE Oak Portland, ORExploring the EDAP: Energy Descent Action Plan
Central to the worldwide Transition Initiatives is the EDAP – the Energy Descent Action Plan.
Come explore the how and why of creating an EDAP for your city/county/neighborhood.
In preparation for this meeting:
- Please come knowing what neighborhood you live in. If you are outside the city limits, what CPO (county planning organization) or service district etc. Be ready to tell something unique about your locale!
- (choose A or B – both if you wish!)
A. Find out if, when and where the neighborhood/CPO/district organization meets. How many people attend?
B. Go out and meet the neighbors whose property borders on yours.
Anybody you met for the first time?
This is an experiential meeting… please come prepared to vision/dream/and plan.
Location St. Francis Che Room1131 SE Oak Portland, ORTPDX General Meeting - Neighborhoods
Everyone in Transition PDX is invited to gather and hear progress reports from existing efforts, the Hub, as well as feedback and discussion from the larger Transition community.
This meeting will focus on neighborhoods, neighborhood and crafting an effective Energy Descent Action Plan in your part of town.
Location St. Francis Che Room1131 SE Oak Portland, ORSuburban Renewal - One Backyard at a Time by Peakmoment TV
Jan Spencer shows his quarter-acre permaculture project transforming a typical suburban lot. Lawn and driveway were replaced with fruit and nut trees, vegetables, brambles, and native habitat, plus a 3500 gallon rainwater catchment system, a sunroom heating the house, and a small detached bungalow to increase residential density. [www.efn.org/~spencerj]
Video:
7/3 Summer Pruning for Fruit Trees with the Portland Fruit Tree Project
Want to learn Summer Pruning for fruit trees? Come out to one of our hands-on workshops!
In this hands-on workshops, you will learn the basics of summer pruning in order to increase the health and quality of your harvest. This fun workshop will be an opportunity to gain a basic understanding of the different types of pruning cuts and when these cuts should be used.
Summer Pruning (hands-on workshop)
Saturday July 3rd, 2010. 10:00am - 1:00pm
We're excited to have Dennis Karas as our instructor for this workshop.
Location SE Portland - Richmond neighborhoodTBA Portland, OR, 97215East Portland Action Plan - June 2010 meeting
The East Portland Action Plan (EPAP) acknowledges community strengths and supports existing efforts, while looking strategically at opportunities to improve livability and at policies to address some of the challenges facing East Portland. The EPAP committee was convened by the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and now U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, for the specific task of providing “leadership and guidance to public agencies and other entities on how to strategically address community-identified issues and allocate resources to improve livability for neighborhoods in the East Portland Neighborhood Office (EPNO) coalition area.”
East Portland – generally east of Interstate 205, is a changing community that is home to 28% of the City of Portland population. Some of the fastest growing neighborhoods in the City of Portland are in East Portland and this growth is creating a transition from a suburban and semi-rural environment into a more urban community. People are moving to the area in part because of the supply of existing and new affordable housing and the reputation for high quality schools. Racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity has increased in recent years (surpassing that of other areas of Portland), offering exciting opportunities and the challenge of inclusive multilingual and cultural community building.
Unfortunately, this rapid growth is straining the area resources: lack of sidewalks; insufficient road ways; inadequate community services; need for localized commercial main streets; and underdeveloped school facilities. The design and quality of new housing is sometimes inconsistent with the desired neighborhood character and livable environments for families. Parks and green space are less prevalent than in other parts of Portland and established facilities are often sorely underdeveloped.
To address the need for East Portland improvements will require creative thinking and action specific to this area that has developed differently and at times separately from the remainder of the City (e.g. sidewalks were historically not required with development; increased housing costs in inner-Portland have lead to displacement of families to the more affordable neighborhoods of East Portland).
We need YOU to make the improvements identified in the East Portland Action Plan become real in our community!
Additional & Contact:
Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and the Transition Initiative
On Wednesday June 30, a trained practitioner on organizing communities based on the talents and skills that people can offer will present an outline of that work to Transition PDX. Mike Vander Veen, who is an AmeriCorp member serving at the East Portland Neighborhood Office, will introduce this approach to community work called Asset Based Community Development – ABCD.
When Jim Newcomer heard him speak last week, he told a story about a Chicago neighborhood that has started its own bank, taken over an abandoned hospital building and turned it into a co-housing development, and in general enabled the community to flourish for the past 30 years by listening for and utilizing the human assets provided by members of the community, a struggling community.
Michelle Obama has worked and studied with the developers of ABCD, John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, becoming a member of the ABCD Institute faculty. Michelle has endorsed the ABCD approach in speeches since becoming First Lady.
On Wednesday we will have a chance to ask Mike about finding and utilizing community assets – interviewing people, cataloguing their skills, organizing their efforts - and talk about how we might adapt it to communities where we live. This will be one of the great evenings in Transition PDX’ development.
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