Friday, June 12th 2009
Interview with Carl Etnier
Montpelier
Posted By: JuliaH in Climate Action
Interview with Carl Etnier
Since 2006, Carl Etnier has served as director of Peak Oil Awareness, an educational organization focusing on how peak oil will change our lives and the climate. Peak Oil Awareness is related to two main things– media and organizing. Carl Etnier works with the media in several ways. For example, Carl writes columns for the Times Argus weekly. Also, he is on radio shows on WDEV and WGDR, in which he interviews guests about peak oil. For organizing, Etnier works to organize groups to be more self-sufficient, such as bike and pedestrian groups. He teaches people to ride bikes safely because he predicts that soon there will be fewer cars on the roads. He is also working with the Carbon Sustainability Network to dig root cellars for citizens so they can store food for the winter. As he says, "Up here in Vermont, it's pretty easy to grow a vegetable garden, but it's harder to store that food during winter." Carl also talked about Transition Town Montpelier, a organization that recently planted a vegetable garden on the Montpelier Statehouse lawn.
Some of you are probably wondering what peak oil is. I certainly was! Carl Etnier explained that as companies pump oil from the ground, the rate of available oil curves up and then down with time. Oil reached its peak last year, 2008. Now the rate of oil is slowly decreasing again. Carl predicts that as a result of peak oil falling, less cars will be able to run, causing less polluting emissions to be put into the air. Without this extra peak oil, people will also not be able to use as many energy-consuming appliances. Carl wants Vermont to start investing in local economy now so we can be prepared for a time with less oil and energy resources. For example, he mentions group transportation. 77% of Vermont citizens currently drive cars individually. If just one percent switches over to riding busses, we would have to double the number of busses on the roads. We used to have a trolley car that went between Montpelier and Barre, but it was destroyed on the flood of 1927. He says that we can also work to preserve farmland and make more land edible.
Carl Etnier talks about the ways three groups can help prepare for the peak oil decreasing: households, small buisnesses and the government. The government can set up more group transportation, and plant more edible plants in parks and public areas, so that if times go lean we can get some food from fruit and nut trees. Small companies can grow organic seeds and sell them nationally, promising a profit and helping the environment. Many local dairies are going organic. Carl tells us that there used to be a Home Depot near Montpelier. When buisness was bad, it had to close up. He says more local buisnesses know how to "tighten their belts". Individual households can also work to prepare for less oil by learning basic do-it-yourself kind of skills, such as pickling vegetables, canning food, darning their own socks, etc. Also, they can invest in better equipment and animals for gardening and supplying their own foods. Carl mentions that he recently received a dozen chickens, which he raises in his yard.
If you would like to hear sessions from Carl Etnier's radio shows, visit www.equaltimeradio.com and type in "Carl Etnier".
Since 2006, Carl Etnier has served as director of Peak Oil Awareness, an educational organization focusing on how peak oil will change our lives and the climate. Peak Oil Awareness is related to two main things– media and organizing. Carl Etnier works with the media in several ways. For example, Carl writes columns for the Times Argus weekly. Also, he is on radio shows on WDEV and WGDR, in which he interviews guests about peak oil. For organizing, Etnier works to organize groups to be more self-sufficient, such as bike and pedestrian groups. He teaches people to ride bikes safely because he predicts that soon there will be fewer cars on the roads. He is also working with the Carbon Sustainability Network to dig root cellars for citizens so they can store food for the winter. As he says, "Up here in Vermont, it's pretty easy to grow a vegetable garden, but it's harder to store that food during winter." Carl also talked about Transition Town Montpelier, a organization that recently planted a vegetable garden on the Montpelier Statehouse lawn.
Some of you are probably wondering what peak oil is. I certainly was! Carl Etnier explained that as companies pump oil from the ground, the rate of available oil curves up and then down with time. Oil reached its peak last year, 2008. Now the rate of oil is slowly decreasing again. Carl predicts that as a result of peak oil falling, less cars will be able to run, causing less polluting emissions to be put into the air. Without this extra peak oil, people will also not be able to use as many energy-consuming appliances. Carl wants Vermont to start investing in local economy now so we can be prepared for a time with less oil and energy resources. For example, he mentions group transportation. 77% of Vermont citizens currently drive cars individually. If just one percent switches over to riding busses, we would have to double the number of busses on the roads. We used to have a trolley car that went between Montpelier and Barre, but it was destroyed on the flood of 1927. He says that we can also work to preserve farmland and make more land edible.
Carl Etnier talks about the ways three groups can help prepare for the peak oil decreasing: households, small buisnesses and the government. The government can set up more group transportation, and plant more edible plants in parks and public areas, so that if times go lean we can get some food from fruit and nut trees. Small companies can grow organic seeds and sell them nationally, promising a profit and helping the environment. Many local dairies are going organic. Carl tells us that there used to be a Home Depot near Montpelier. When buisness was bad, it had to close up. He says more local buisnesses know how to "tighten their belts". Individual households can also work to prepare for less oil by learning basic do-it-yourself kind of skills, such as pickling vegetables, canning food, darning their own socks, etc. Also, they can invest in better equipment and animals for gardening and supplying their own foods. Carl mentions that he recently received a dozen chickens, which he raises in his yard.
If you would like to hear sessions from Carl Etnier's radio shows, visit www.equaltimeradio.com and type in "Carl Etnier".
