Post Carbon Institute announced January 14 that it was adopting EnergyBulletin.net as a core program. In this post, EnergyBulletin.net’s Managing Editor Bart Anderson introduces EB and explains why he thinks this marriage is a good thing.
-PCI editor
With social changes coming faster than ever, we need a more robust organization so we can continue to support the community that’s grown up around peak oil and sustainability.
If you’re not familiar with Energy Bulletin, you can see our front page at energybulletin.net. Every day we post excerpts from key news stories, plus articles and links submitted by contributors. Thousands of stories are available in our online archives, tagged by subject.
All relate to the themes of energy and sustainability.
We’ve been going since 2004. Currently EB has a full-time volunteer editor in California (me) and two part-time editors in the UK, Simone Osborn and Kristin Sponsler. In addition, we have a host of volunteer contributors who write articles and suggest links.
The number of visitors has risen steeply over the years, varying with the price of oil. When oil topped $100/barrel, we were getting 370,000 visits per month. Now, with oil at $45/barrel, the numbers have settled at about 250,000 visits per month (600,000 page views).
A shared “credo”
Getting together with Post Carbon is not a big step for Energy Bulletin. Post Carbon has been hosting the EB website on its computers, and it sponsored our conversion to Drupal web software earlier last June. We’ve cooperated on various projects over the years, such as a series of radio broadcasts with Jason Bradford.
In terms of our thinking, it sometimes feels as if we’re just channeling Richard Heinberg and the others at Post Carbon.
Post Carbon co-founder Julian Darley and I once sat down at a Silicon Valley coffee shop and wrote a credo on the proverbial napkin:
- Energy decline is inevitable.
- Big energy is not the way out.
- Reduce consumption and population.
- Start from where you are.
- Produce locally.
- Relish the power of symbolic seeds.
- Honor public service.
- Anyone is welcome. (non-sectarian, not promoting any political party)
- Hope and reason. (no rants, not fear-based)
Community newspaper for peak oil
While Post Carbon has been working on a number of fronts, we’ve concentrated on establishing a web presence for peak oil. At first, EB was a “clearinghouse for information” but as people and groups have emerged, we seem to have become a community newspaper for the movement.
In the spirit of a community newspaper, we:
- Publish authors with differing viewpoints and backgrounds.
- Address a general audience rather than one that is technical or partisan.
- Encourage a tone that is respectful and fair.
- Support good work by other groups and websites.
- Promote writing that is lively and interesting.
EB’s origins are in the grassroots and almost all the work done on EB has been done on a volunteer basis.
Sparked by a remark by Richard Heinberg
If you were concerned about peak oil in 2002 or 2003, the situation looked bleak. Overall, there was little awareness of peak oil. Media, government and industry were uninterested. Some people said peak oil would NEVER be covered in the media.
There was nowhere to publish, nowhere to discuss peak oil.
Adam Grubb, an Australian web developer and activist, heard Richard Heinberg speak about peak oil and was blown away. What could he do? he asked Heinberg after the talk.
Heinberg pointed out that no website existed to post peak oil information. Perhaps, as someone versed in the Web, Adam could create a website? This suggestion inspired Adam to design and code a website, and in March, 2004, Energy Bulletin was born. Adam and Liam Cranley, an Australian grad student, posted every important peak oil document they could find.
I joined the crew in July, having retired as a technical writer from Hewlett Packard. Like Adam, I had been inspired by a Heinberg talk. While searching for more information on peak oil, I ran across Energy Bulletin and liked their approach.
Soon the pace at EB quickened.
We found writers such as Tom Whipple, Sharon Astyk, Kurt Cobb and John Michael Greer. Still other writers found us. We publicized new sites such as The Oil Drum and ASPO-USA. We posted Congressional speeches on peak oil by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, and the long-lost speech by Admiral Hyman Rickover, Energy resources and our future.
Someone described peak oil as an ongoing graduate seminar. It certainly has been exhilarating, at times overwhelming. As John Muir said:
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
For example, if oil production follows Hubbert’s bell-shaped curve, why not coal, natural gas and phosphorus? And what’s the relationship between peak oil and climate? Peak oil and economics? Peak oil and political change?
In the meantime, the mainstream began to wake up and coverage of energy issues improved. Corn ethanol, energy independence and relocalization began to appear on the agenda. We tried to find writers versed in peak oil to add depth to the discussion.
It’s been gratifying to publicize the work of researchers, writers and activists. We felt especially close to efforts like Community Solutions, The Relocalization Network and the Transition Movement (here, here and here).
After several years of heroic efforts, Adam and Liam went back to real life and I took on the role of main editor. Support from Post Carbon enabled Energy Bulletin to continue publishing.
Prospects
Looking in the crystal ball, more content and staff is on the way. We envision improvements to the site, such as the ability to post video and audio. However, we plan to keep the basic site design the same. Evolution, not Revolution, seems to be a better policy for website design.
In the short-term, we will combine efforts with Global Public Media, the web-publishing arm of Post Carbon.
And for the long term? That’s hard to say. We have many projects in mind, and readers have put forward a multitude of good suggestions.
2009 and 2010 promise to be full of surprises, so we’ll have to be nimble to keep up with events.
