What this means, if I’m right, is that we may have just moved into the endgame of America’s losing battle with the consequences of its own history. For many years now, people in the peak oil scene – and the wider community of those concerned about the future, to be sure – have had, or thought they had, the luxury of ample time to make plans and take action. Every so often books would be written and speeches made claiming that something had to be done right away, while there was still time, but most people took that as the rhetorical flourish it usually was, and went on with their lives in the confident expectation that the crisis was still a long ways off.

We may no longer have that option. If I read the signs correctly, America has finally reached the point where its economy is so deep into overshoot that catabolic collapse is beginning in earnest. If so, a great many of the things most of us in this country have treated as permanent fixtures are likely to go away over the years immediately before us, as the United States transforms itself into a Third World country. The changes involved won’t be sudden, and it seems unlikely that most of them will get much play in the domestic mass media...

China or the U.S.: Which Will Be the Last Nation Standing? by Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute
Silly me. Here I had thought that world leaders would want to keep their nations from collapsing. They must be working hard to prevent currency collapse, financial system collapse, food system collapse, social collapse, environmental collapse, and the onset of general, overwhelming misery—right? But no, that's not what the evidence suggests. Increasingly I am forced to conclude that the object of the game that world leaders are actually playing is not to avoid collapse; it's simply to postpone it a while so as to be the last nation to go down, so yours can have the chance to pick the others' carcasses before it meets the same fate...

To Curb Climate Change, We Need to Protect Water by Maude Barlow, Common Dreams
[Comment about this article from Dave Ewoldt: "Here's an interesting article on water that falls into the connecting the dots category
amongst ecological, social justice, economic, and corporatism concerns.  It also addresses comments that are too common in the Southwest desert--but I've heard them in the wet Pacific Northwest as well--from sustainability activists. This is the idea that we can just capture all the rain that falls for exclusive human use. The problem with this disconnected, selfish, short-term thinking is the destructive environmental impacts directly contribute to anthropogenic global warming.

We must get back into balance, or holistic integration, with the web of life. While rainwater harvesting can help alleviate the current overpumping of aquifers, we cannot escape the fact that a healthy and vibrant environment is the core foundation for a healthy and vibrant human economy and any hope for a meaningful quality of life."]

It is widely acknowledged that greenhouse gas emission-fueled climate change is having a profound and negative impact on fresh water systems around the world. Warmer weather causes more rapid evaporation of lakes and rivers, reduced snow and ice cover on open water systems, and melting glaciers.

What is less understood is that our collective abuse and displacement of fresh water is also a serious cause of climate change and global warming. If we are to successfully address climate change, it is time to include an analysis of how our abuse of water is an additional factor in the creation of global warming as well as solutions that protect water and watersheds...

Jan Spencer returns to Bellingham! Sponsored by Transition Whatcom, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, and Sustainable Bellingham.  Friday March 5th at Sustainable Living Center above the RE Store. More details to come.

Global Trends - Local Choices is a timely, practical and humane call for personal empowerment and action, given the current state of our economic system, culture, natural environment and world.

GTLC recognizes the global trends that challenge us are all symptoms of deeper issues.  GTLC put its focus on those deeper issues - ourselves, culture, economics and our communities.

GTLC is action oriented - describing choices and strategies  people can make at home, in their neighborhoods and communities that can mitigate virtually all the challenges we face at the same time.  There are enormous opportunities to create positive outcomes, in these changing times, that require no permission beyond ourselves.

The  presentation is philosophical, practical and passionate while offering many visual images and descriptions of real life pioneers of eco logical culture change.  GTLC affirms that virtually all the assets, models and tools for creating a  healthy and peaceful world already exist.  Its simply a matter of the choices we make.

See Jan Spencer's Suburban Permaculture website, and check out the YouTube trailer for Global Trends - Local Choices DVD. 

Sustainable Bellingham is proud once again to be a sponsor for the Cascadia Workshops NVC Spring Learning Series. Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 10am - 5pm, plus the six (6) following Tuesday evenings, 6-9pm. Taught by Alan Seid, this is an in-depth learning series for the highly acclaimed process for preventing and resolving conflicts, creating rich and powerful relationships, and much more! One full-day Saturday plus six weekday evenings. Register here, or contact Angela MacLeod, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , phone 398-1096.

Where: Explorations Academy Library, 1701Ellis St., between Ohio & State, Bellingham, WA, USA. Cost: $400 Full Tuition •$350 Early Bird Special if paid in full by April 1, 2010  •Includes Snacks & Refreshments •Please Inquire if Needing Financial Assistance. Empowered Communication (also known as Compassionate Communication, Nonviolent CommunicationSM or NVC) is a way of speaking that facilitates the flow of communication needed to exchange information and resolve differences peacefully. It helps us identify our shared values & needs, encourages us to use language that increases goodwill, and avoid language that contributes to resentment or lowers self-esteem. Click here to learn more about NVC.  Download flyer here.

Sustainable Whatcom, A Permaculture Approach to County and Regional Planning by Michael Pilarski, Cascadia Weekly, 1/20/10 (Large pdf, beginning page 8)
Real Communities are Self-Organizing by Dimitry Orlov, ClubOrlov
Secret Handshakes by John Michael Greer, the Archdruid Report
Gram and Me: Community in Time and Space by Sharon Astyk, Causabon's Book