Inspiration for all

 

Chris Goodall "How to Live a Low Carbon Life"

Chris Goodall "How to Live a Low-Carbon Life"


 

Richard Heinberg "The Party's Over"

Richard Heinberg "The Party's Over"


 

George Monbiot "Heat"

George Monbiot "Heat"


 

DVD - "The Power of Community"

The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil - DVD


 

DVD - "The End of Suburbia"

The End of Suburbia - Oil Depletion & the Collapse of the American Dream - DVD



1. Organise
2. Powerdown
3. Recycle
4. Substitute
5. Stay
6. Generate
7. Grow
8. Invest
9. Make
10. Community
Peak Oil
Climate Change
About Us
Post-Carbon Homes
Post-Carbon Blog
Contact


 

From the Library Shelf:

Authors A thru D
Authors E thru H
Authors I thru L
Authors M thru Q
Authors R thru U
Authors V thru Z
Kids' Books

 

Proud Co-Founders of Transition Town High Wycombe

 

Organise | Powerdown | Recycle | Substitute | Stay | Generate | Grow | Invest | Make | Community

Post-Carbon Living = Inspiration for ALL

No Hippies! Post Carbon Living for the Rest Of Us

Welcome to Post-Carbon Living. This is the inspirational vision of an alternative to a century of declining resources. Declining oil production - declining food production - spiralling debt - decline in climate stability. 97% of us understand that we are contributing to Climate Change but less than 2% of us have switched to a Renewable Electricity Tariff. 74% of people felt that “we are heading for disaster if we don’t quickly change our habits”, yet 59% said that “they are doing nothing about it”. What we need to stop doing is thinking of it as a problem that is too expensive to solve. This is a socioeconomic opportunity and there is no alternative to solving it. All we need is the wisdom and the roadmap.

 

This Post-Carbon Life is not environmentalism. It isn't "green". It isn't "eco" this or that. This isn't a "lifestyle" choice. It is just how life WILL be. The Post-Carbon Life is an inspirational glimpse of the future... A vision that will be here quicker than you think.

Glimpse the future: what one ordinary family can do

Our "Post-Carbon" Superhome!

The latest additions to this web site. You can read the book reviews via the blog below.

 

Post-Carbon Living is the home of the "Post-Carbon Homes" initiative. Real homes, not new homes. Since most of us, in 2050, will be living in the housing stock that already exists, all the talk of Carbon-Neutral Building Standards are a little academic.

 

We aim to take normal homes and turn them into resilient homes. Homes that generate their own power, their own hot water, their own food, all with a minimal footprint upon our children. All in a cosy home you can live in - not some horrid science project gone wrong.

 

In August 2010 our work was recognised when our own PCL Post-Carbon home in Buckinghamshire, UK, was elected to be Britain's 59th "Superhome": www.SuperHomes.org.uk The public will now be able to visit our "super" Post-Carbon Home by logging on to the Sustainable Energy Academy website and watching out for our open days. There are now 60 such homes in England and Wales (see map below) - check for one in your area. 75% of the UK population is now within 40 minute drive from a Superhome.

 

 

To be a "Superhome" you need to have reduced your home's Carbon Footprint by at least 60%. The PCL Post-Carbon Home was estimated to have reduced its Carbon Footprint by 90% down to 0.88kg/sqm. However this just a benchmark based upon average homes in a computer model. It somewhat ignores actual usage and lifestyle changes which means that 90% is pretty conservative by our reckoning!

The World of Post-Carbon Girl

Milla Wants Her Future SecuredWelcome to the adventures of Post-Carbon Girl. We believe the problems mankind faces are so simple a child could understand. We also know the solutions are equally simple. Post-Carbon Girl will share with us what her family are doing in the great transition. She appears on many pages to give the child's eye view of what us grown ups must do.

The Ascent of Post-Carbon Man

Low Carbon ManWelcome to the adventures of Post-Carbon Man. Read his blog here or see below. He appears in many places giving his thumbs-up and thumbs-down to this Post-Carbon Life. Use him as a guide through this site.

Get the roadmap = the Ten Step Vision to Post-Carbon Living

Organise - the first step - change your mind. Study the evidence, think about the future, decide to do something. Measure your Carbon Footprint. How dependent are you on oil? More here...

Generate - step six. Become your own power station. Why be a slave to the grid & outdated energy infrastructure? Break free. Get independence. Get security. Generate from your rooftop. More here...

Powerdown - step two. Switch things off. Kill your standby. Don't leave lights on. Learn some simple self-discipline. Imagine sky-high food and energy costs. More here...

Grow - step seven. Break free of the supermarket. Grow your own fruit and veg. Enjoy the exercise and peace in gardening. Reduce your food miles to zero. Eat healthier too. More here...

Recycle - step three. Easy! Why throw good stuff away? Pride yourself on how little you need to dispose of - not how much you consume. Re-use & have an empty bin. More here...

Invest - step eight. Get out of debt. It is a big threat to your security in a steady-state economy. When money doesn't grow its supply collapses. Invest in trees and carbon-neutrality. More here...

Substitute - step four. Simply swap old fashioned things for new energy efficient things. Job done! No one will sit in the dark or go cold. Good riddance to bad rubbish. More here...

Make - step nine. Get a hobby. Work with your hands. Re-skill. Some DIY skills will improve your self-reliance and be of benefit in a future of expensive fossil fuels. It will give you new life. More here...

Stay - step five. Having a carbon neutral home is easy. But it all goes wrong when you step foot out the front door. Why are we travel crazy? Try staying at home. More here...

Community - step ten. Join a Transition Town. Embrace your town, your neighbours, your island, your village. You will be more resilient as a team. The more help the better. More here...

WHY do we need a new vision?

 


 

The Graph on the left shows the trend in the Global Air Temperature over the last 150 years. It shows a steady rise since about 1910. This information is from the CRU - the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. You can follow this curve as they occasionally update it on line at the web site www.cru.uea.ac.uk.

 

The Graph on the right shows the trend in the Price of Oil. If you hover your mouse pointer over it you can see the trend over the last month, the last quarter, the last year or the last five years.

 

One thing you can be sure of is that Temperature and Oil prices are going to rise in synch for the foreseeable future. This is because both climate & oil are finite resources. These resources are depleting more quickly than they will renew. This is a finite planet but the human enterprise continually expands. Something will change. We will switch to a smarter way of working to mitigate the risks of declining resource.

 

The risk comes from the threat to fuel, food & economy. All are carbon-based and none can expand forever. It is not a question of if they "peak" - only when. Evidence shows that this 21st Century will be the Century of declining resource. But this isn't doom-mongering. We have the ability to build a more resilient post-carbon society with clean air, healthy food and more fulfilling lives. It will be unlike anything we have considered before. A vision, not a nightmare. An achievable dream, not a fantasy. A cultural renaissance the likes of which we have never seen before.

 

"Who cares? I don't believe in man-made climate change......."

Nobody-who-matters cares if YOU believe in man-made climate change or not. Governments believe. The market believes. The scientists believe. So why fight it? The decarbonisation of the economy is the logical conclusion from observable reality. No modern economy will continually expand based upon finite and declining resources. The argument about Climate Change is now only of academic interest because it will be rapidly over-taken by issues of security and scarcity.

 

The bottom line will be the price of carbon. Scarcity of such a critical resource as Oil will lead to sharp price rises. If scarcity doesn't do the trick then Government intervention will. You will live to see carbon rationing, carbon budgets and carbon taxation. So why wait? Mitigate the risk. Move away from Carbon - completely. It is no longer a question of being a bit "low-carbon". We must now think about what lies beyond carbon. What does the post-carbon world behold? Get it right and we all win. There are only opportunities for the pioneer.

A quick recap

  • Economic Chaos - Oil has peaked in production. There will never be as much cheap oil again. What is left will become very difficult and expensive to extract. Oil & Gas will become so expensive that our economies will cease to function. This will happen within thirty years.

  • Climate Risk - It matters not whether Climate Change will cause warming or cooling. It matters not whether it is man-made or natural. We are vulnerable to ANY climate change.

  • Food Security - The combined effects of Peak Oil and Climate Change are to reduce our usable agricultural land, ie, our ability to feed ourselves.

  • Energy Security - Our 'security' is another man's suffering. Suffering will find its way home to us.

 

....but this isn't a problem, it is an opportunity! Since fossil fuels are the source of all our problems, and we know how to run an economy without them, what are we waiting for? Leadership? Hope? Vision? A world of clean renewable energy, thriving local economies, unpolluted fresh air and healthy food awaits.... Lead, follow or get out of the way.

 

Everyone can implement the new vision of a post-carbon future. "Post-Carbon Living" is a positive vision and example of how we will all be living very soon. Solutions, not problems. Follow the Ten Step Plan. Let's all transition to a post-carbon future.

From Global Vulnerability to Local Security

Imagine the Britain of 2020. Petrol is £5/litre. It will cost you £1200 to heat your house for a year. Another £1000 pays for a year's household electricity. Energy prices are doubling every year. There is a shortage of food in the shops. You haven't seen a Banana in three years let alone snow. The Summers are long, hot and dry. Sometimes there is no water. Sometimes no electricity. Unemployment is 20% and rising at 5% a year. There are riots and mass homelessness. Crime is rampant. TV News shows the body bags flown home from the endless foreign wars.

 

Now imagine if you made different decisions in your life in 2010. You moved to a smaller home with wood boiler and some land. The new home is extremely well insulated, you now grow your own food and make your own hot water & electricity through the power of the sun. Your Business diversified out of fossil-fuel dependency and into renewable and local alternatives. Your Community erected a Wind Turbine and supports itself now after transitioning to system of self-reliance. All Food & Fuel is now locally supplied. You aren't just surviving - you are thriving and have job security. These were the best decisions you, your Community and Business ever made. The decisions of millions like you increased security for all of us.

 

Wouldn't you do the right thing too?

 

There is no techno fix. No magic bullet. Sustainable, renewable energy and food is very unlikely to sustain a consumer society. Your world is about the start shrinking. We will go from global to local. Everything will be a lot smaller. Small is beautiful and local is security.

Something To Do Today

  • www.uswitch.com where you can compare suppliers of renewable electricity online

  • Insulate your home

  • Stop flying

  • Live close to work

 

Check these illuminating web sites for a glimpse of the future:

 

 

 

 

The Post-Carbon Man Blog

 

Even our Money isn't sustainable

Post-Carbon Living considers our future socioeconomic opportunities as needing a holistic approach. We can't ignore economics. Did you know our money supply was unsustainable? Once you realise all our money is just debt you will discover that it needs an exponentially growing economy to keep it going. That economic growth is on a collision course with finite resources. We are raising money for our friends over at Transition Town High Wycombe through a sale of the "Money as Debt" DVD. This DVD is in multi-region format. We have just 6 of these for sale. We are offering these at a discount price of only £5.99 each. You'll enjoy the DVD too as it is one of the most thoroughly entertaining and educational animations you will ever see.

 

***PLEASE NOTE THAT PAYPAL PAYMENTS MUST BE MADE TO "donationsATtransition-wycombe.org.uk" (REPLACE "AT" WITH "@") ONLY.***

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To Buy Money as Debt II - Promises Unleashed

 

This Movie will have a profound impact upon your life as it explains how the macro-economics of nations are locked into a money-debt system that leads to dead-end of resource depletion and Climate Change. We must consider the reform of our Money=Debt system. We are now also selling the "Money as Debt II - Promises Unleashed" DVD. This DVD is in multi-region format. We have 8 of these for sale. In the UK you will have to send off for these from Canada and one DVD will cost the equivalent of £15 depending upon the exchange rate. However we can offer these for £13.99 each.

 

***PLEASE NOTE THAT PAYPAL PAYMENTS MUST BE MADE TO "donationsATtransition-wycombe.org.uk" (REPLACE "AT" WITH "@") ONLY.***

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1. Organise | 2. Powerdown | 3. Recycle | 4. Substitute | 5. Stay | 6. Generate | 7. Grow | 8. Invest | 9. Make | 10. Community | Peak Oil | Climate Change | About Us | Post-Carbon Homes | Post-Carbon Blog | Contact

References & Notes
  • The 1% figure for Green Tariff switches is reported in an article "How Green is your Energy?" p8-12 Organic life Magazine April 2007. The actual numbers for the UK are £54million out of a total market of £18billion.

  • Ipsos-Mori Poll results http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/22/climatechange.carbonemissions

  • Figures on UK Population awareness of Climate Change causes comes from an ICM Poll taken in March 2007.

  • For an insight into why Western-style Democracy and neo-liberal Globalisation Policies are unable to solve these problems, read Chris Goodall's "How to Live a Low Carbon Life" opening chapter.

  • Note that a 2nd edition of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life is to be published by Earthscan in February 2010

 

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A Krofire Enterprise - supporting the Transition Town Movement since 2008

Krofire Enterprises Ltd