Peak oil, energy, and society

Welcome to the learning project on Peak Oil, Energy, and Society.

This learning project is an online version of a course at a small high school in progress from March-May 2008. You are welcome to add! Additions, comments, and questions by all are very welcome.

Content summary
What happens when the oil runs out? Oil is a highly-concentrated, easily portable source of energy which has made our society what it is today. Yet some say that we will soon reach the peak of global oil production and that oil will then become extremely expensive. How will our society change if and when that happens? How much does our culture depend on cheap energy, and what would a future without it be like? And, what can we do about it? ksafasklf kajsfbsfbajkf

Subpages
Anyone can create a new subpage - click the "edit this page" tab at the top, then put the cursor where you want to put the link to your new page, type in the name, and put brackets and a slash around the name of your new subpage... like this: '/nameofyourpage/' (leave out the quotes). If it's red, that means it has no content yet; click on it to create it and add content. You could change the name of your page, too, by editing this page.

Building recycling

Geothermal

/Ian's page/

/Adam's page/

/Caleb's page/

/Meg's page/

/Charlotte's page/

/Frederick's page/

Topics and homework for each unit
Peak Oil, Peak Everything

Read:
 * Intro: PD, chap 1, §1,3,4,6
 * Standard: PE, Introduction

How Systems Function: Ecology, Economy, Energy Flow, Our Homes, & Complex Societies

Read: Also Read: Selected news articles.
 * Intro: LE, chap 7, part 1
 * Standard: Van Der Ryn, chap 6
 * Advanced: Diamond, Prologue

Ecological Footprinting


 * Intro: Watch The Ecological Footprint
 * Advanced: Read “The Ecological Footprint” pages (7) at 

Renewable Energy: the solution?

Read: One chapter from either:
 * Chiras, Guide to Renewable Energy
 * OR Pahl, Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook

Renewables, continued, & Farming

Read:
 * Intro: PE, ch. 2, “Fifty Million Farmers”
 * Advanced: Pfeiffer, Eating Fossil Fuels

Climate Change
 * View An Inconvenient Truth

Despair & Social Change

Read:
 * PE, ch. 7, “The Psychology of Peak Oil”

Actions for Our Future

Read:
 * PO chap 6 “Managing the Collapse”
 * AND PD chap 2-5 ONE chap of your choice.

Reading Notes Due Each Tuesday

Lessons

 * Lesson 1: /.../
 * Lesson 2: /.../

Activities

 * Activity 1
 * Etc.

Learning materials
Readings, Wiki links, Web links, other resources

Wiki links
Links to pages in Wikiversity that you could work on, or you might find useful. Please add links!
 * About Sustainability & Energy
 * Sustainability Full of useful links and sub-topics. This project is one of them!
 * Topic:Ecological sustainability Also has good links; this project also is listed on this topic.
 * Category:Sustainability Categories are collections of links to related pages. This is the best category of the three; has the most useful links.
 * Category:Ecological Sustainability
 * Category:Renewable energy
 * Topic:Renewable_Energy Needs adding to.
 * Topic:Renewable_energy Different page, also needs adding to.
 * Renewable energy systems Could use some adding to.


 * About Wikiversity
 * Introduction Great way in for beginners!
 * Introduction to Wikiversity More detailed explanations and instructions on editing.
 * Adding content tutorial Useful for adding whole pages.
 * Learning projects The concept behind the name.
 * Learning Philosophy of learning at Wikiversity. Very abstract, but Frederick's into it.
 * Learning by doing More educational philosophy.
 * Wikiversity teachers


 * Wikipedia add good links you find here!


 * Web links add good webpage links you find here
 * View Ian & Adam's bookmarks at del.icio.us
 * View Frederick's bookmarks at del.icio.us
 * Massachusetts Innovation Center in Fitchburg

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Learning materials
Learning materials and learning projects are located in the main Wikiversity namespace (i.e. without any prefix such as 'Topic:' or 'School:'). Simply make a link to the name of the learning resource, lesson, or learning project (these are independent pages in the main namespace, and sometimes subpages when appropriate) and start writing!

You should also read about the Wikiversity:Learning model. Lessons should center on learning activities for Wikiversity participants. Learning materials and learning projects can be used by multiple projects - and you are encouraged to cooperate with other departments that use the same learning resource.


 * }

Bibliography and abbreviations

 * Chiras, Dan. The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2006.


 * Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. London: Penguin, 2005.


 * PE: Heinberg, Richard. Peak Everything: Waking up to the century of declines. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2007.


 * PD: Heinberg, Richard. Powerdown: Options and actions for a post-carbon world. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2004.


 * PO: Heinberg, Richard. The Party’s Over: Oil, war, and the fate of industrial societies. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2003.


 * LE: Kunstler, James Howard. The Long Emergency: Surviving the end of oil, climate change, and other converging catastrophes of the twenty-first century. New York: Grove Press, 2006.


 * Merkel, Jim. Radical Simplicity: Small footprints on a finite Earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2003.


 * Pahl, Greg. The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook: Community solutions to a global crisis. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2007.


 * Pfeiffer, Dale. Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, food, and the coming crisis in agriculture. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2006.


 * Van Der Ryn, Sim. Design for Life: the architecture of Sim Van Der Ryn. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2005.

Notes & Responses
For each unit we’ll have two (2) assignments: notes or reports on the readings, and responses to the issue. The responses are small products (such as a one-page paper) of your thinking; many of them may focus on actions or strategies. Once each in the term, your response must include a graph, a map, a drawing, a budget, a wiki entry, and a story: please see the separate menu of assignment options.

Major Project
The major project involves identifying and carrying out (1) a change or improvement to the Meeting School’s ecological sustainability; (2) a community awareness-raising effort, or (3) an experiment in renewable energy. The class will choose a format (e.g., blog, wiki, paper handbook) and publish its work for use by the other members of the community (e.g., the board’s Sustainability Committee, the community’s Physical Plant Committee, parents)


 * Potential Projects
 * Make biodiesel in a five-gallon pail
 * Grow oil (for biodiesel) with algae
 * Apply for a grant (write first draft) to install a full-scale renewable-energy system at TMS
 * Buy & install a small photovoltaic (PV) panel
 * Set-up a House-by-House energy audit for one source (e.g. oil, electricity, wood, etc.)
 * Organize & host an awareness event, e.g, a “second hour” at Monadnock Quaker Meeting; a café evening at the Peterborough or Winchendon Unitarian-Universalist churches; a presentation to Mountain Shadows School, etc
 * Insulate the damn water heaters and install timers on them
 * Do a rough ecological footprint or carbon audit for the campus, using a book or website calculator
 * Create a budget for offsetting TMS’s carbon footprint using RECS
 * Write a proposal for building a methane generator on the campus.

Learning Project Summary

 * Time investment: 65-70 hours? (8 weeks)
 * Assessment suggestions: See below.
 * Portal:(List main portal/s here) Portal:Interdisciplinary Studies
 * School:(List main school/s here) School:Practical Human Life
 * Department: Topic:Ecological_Sustainability
 * Level: Work level aimed at high-school (ages 14-18) but uses readings aimed at the general adult public.

Active participants
Active participants in this Learning Group
 * Frederick 05:00, 1 April 2008 (UTC)