E-M:/ Our Local Future

[Aaron Wissner <aaronwissner@yahoo.com>]

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Enviro-Mich message from Aaron Wissner <aaronwissner@yahoo.com>
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The future will be local.  We can see it everyday in the headlines.  The 
prices for energy are rising.  Food costs are rising.  The entire 
structure of the economy is shifting away from globalization, and 
towards a local future.

Today's Wall Street Journal illuminates how the "Big Three" automakers 
will all soon be closing up shop, perhaps in less than two years.  For 
the USA, this should be the wake up call that getting local is 
necessary.  For Michigan, home base for the automakers, the time for 
idle talk is over.

As we march forwards through this peak oil era, it is necessary to 
change, but making this change takes intention and effort.

The goal of the Local Future nonprofit is to help people prepare and 
transition to this new, low-energy, future of tomorrow.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

You may be aware that Local Future hosted the inaugural "International 
Conference on Peak Oil and Climate Change: Paths to Sustainability" in 
Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier this month.  The conference was a 
complete success on all dimensions.  Not only was it organized in a 
record time (less than five months), but it brought together fifty 
speakers and a total of over two hundred people to learn about why we 
must make this transition, and how to do it.

But the live event was just the launch of the conference.  We 
meticulously video recorded practically every talk and seminar at the 
conference.  I am now looking at a row of about fifty hours of video 
tape, and a primary goal for the conference is to get all of this video 
published to the Internet.  Already, the first videos are online, at the 
conference web site, with new videos being published every week.  And 
via this method, the conference is already increase "attendance" by over 
50%.

As a success of this conference, our sights are now on future events.  
The intention is to host next years conference in late April or early 
May.  This would most likely be a four-day conference which would add 
more discussion and networking time, as well as a deeper focus on solutions.

We are in the process of considering a host city for next years 
conference.  If you would like to help host the conference in your city, 
please let us know.

VIDEOS

The videos of the conference, and other talks, are available for free at 
LocalFuture.org

In addition, our goal is to edit the conference videos for DVD.  The 
current effort is to edit the Friday evening event (2 1/2 hours) and 
master that as the first DVD.  Editing is proceeding smoothly on this 
project, and this DVD should be complete before the month is out.  These 
DVD's will be available for cost, and may be reproduced for free.  The 
goal is simply to spread the word and make this information available to 
everyone.

In addition, this videos will be edited into one-hour DVDs specifically 
designed to be broadcast over community access and local TV stations.

Again, all of the talks will be provided for free on the internet, 
hosted by YouTube, but also available through LocalFuture.org and 
SustainabilityConference.org

Thus far, main stage talks by George Heartwell, Vernon Ehlers, Aaron 
Wissner, Pat Murphy, and Megan Quinn Bachman are online.

http://localfuture.org/media/index.htm

Preparing video for publication can be a time consuming task, with each 
one hour of video taking about ten hours to properly edit and publish.  
As such, if anyone is interested in assisting with this effort, please 
let us know.

FUTURE CONFERENCES

Using the weekend conference model, we are looking for other host cities 
to hold national, regional, state, or city level conferences.  The model 
can be adapted to any number of speakers.  The web site structure is 
available for use.  A reasonable time frame is that the venue and date 
should be secured at least six months in advance of the event.  If you 
would like to learn more about this possibility, again, please let us know.

We are also looking at creating an additional one-day model conference.  
The goal of this one-day model would be to take all the best components 
from the International Conference, and include them in a one-day event.  
One possibility is to host a one-day conference in the Grand Rapids 
Michigan area to build upon the local initiative to educate the area to 
the issues.  Again, please let us know if this is of interest to you.

Finally, we are seriously looking at hosting a weekend scale conference 
at Crystal Mountain resort in Michigan.  The conference facility can 
accomodate over 400 people and the President of Crystal Mountain is very 
peak oil aware and fully supportive of hosting a conference there.  Stay 
tuned for more news on this.

CONFERENCE FEEDBACK

For those who attended the International Conference, there is an online 
feedback form here:

http://sustainabilityconference.org/details/contact.htm

Feedback on both what went well, and what can be improved with future 
conference, would greatly be appreciated.

LOCAL GROUPS

Our efforts with the pilot group are continuing in Middleville 
Michigan.  Here, we have a three pronged approach:  1.  free educational 
events that detail both the problems and the solutions, 2. the formation 
of an "Energy and Climate Uncertainty Task Force", and 3. working 
directly with local media outlets.

Middleville hosts an event this week on Tuesday, June 21, at 7 p.m., at 
the EMS building to discuss ways to move the community forward towards 
sustainability.  For more information on Middleville, see this page:

http://localfuture.org/org/us/mi/49333/Middleville/index.htm

In addition, the Grand Rapids and Holland efforts are moving along.  In 
Holland, Local Future has teamed up with a local sustainability group 
and the public library to host a series of films and discussions.  In 
Grand Rapids earlier this week, a group gathered to learn more about 
peak oil with professor Ken Piers and to discuss future efforts in the 
Grand Rapids area.

Finally, the Wayland group is set to launch in the fall, using an 
improved model based on the learnings from the Middleville pilot.

If you are interested in starting a local future education effort in 
your community, please let us know.

DONATIONS

Several have asked if donations are accepted, and of course, as a new 
nonprofit corporation, Local Future is always extremely grateful for 
donations both large and small.

In addition to the efforts detailed above, which do require significant 
monetary expenditure.  In particular, we would like to apply for 
tax-exempt status under code 501(c)(3) of the U.S. IRS code, and the 
proper preparation of the paperwork, plus the application fee, will 
probably take nearly $3,000.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit this web page which 
has additional details:

http://sustainabilityconference.org/details/donation.htm

CONCLUSION

Local Future's goal is to empower people to smoothly transition to the 
lower energy future that we are quickly approaching.  The era of 
globalization was one supported by extremely inexpensive energy, but 
this era is quickly drawing to a close.  The future will be local.  
Energy, fuel, food, and all essential and basic needs will be met at the 
local level.  This is transition can be either rough or smooth.  By 
learning, working, and playing together, we can make this change with 
courage, grace, and compassion.

Best regards,

Aaron

--
Aaron Wissner
aaron@localfuture.org
269 - 795 - 4311  (home)
269 - 487 - 6952  (mobile)

The International Conference on Peak Oil & Climate Change: Paths to Sustainability
http://sustainabilityconference.org

Local Future: Saving Earth by Going Local
http://localfuture.org

Value System: Gas Prices, Peak Oil, Money and The Future
http://valuesystem.livejournal.com

Aaron Wissner founded Local Future, a nonprofit educational organization, which hosts The International Conference on Peak Oil and Climate Change: Paths to Sustainability.  Wissner speaks, writes, and produces videos on peak oil, climate change, sustainability, money, and the future.  He is a veteran public school educator of sixteen years, and a past president of his local, county, and regional education associations.  Wissner is a graduate of the University of Michigan, with a major in mathematics and a minor in physical science.  He lives in rural Michigan with his wife Kimberly and their infant son Michael.



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