Transition Towns Otaki have invited local writer Kevin Cudby to discuss his book From Smoke to Mirrors.

From Smoke to Mirrors describes a master plan for banishing imported liquid fuel from New Zealand’s economy by 2040.
New Zealand does not need battery or hydrogen-powered vehicles, but just in case some people really want them, the plan is designed to accommodate these technologies.

Based on interviews with and reports from New Zealand and overseas engineers and researchers, From Smoke to Mirrors lays out a practical plan for developing a fully renewable supply of petrol, diesel, and jet fuel in New Zealand. It is based on solid, well-known technology, not airy-fairy things that might get invented sometime in the future.

It looks at the strengths and weaknesses of all the alternatives, and shows why simple, proven solutions are most likely to work. New Zealand scientists showed how we could do this way back in the 1970s. The technology wasn’t ready back then—but now it’s on the brink of practical reality.

From Smoke to Mirrors: Kevin Cudby

Thursday 19 April
6.30pm for potluck
7.30pm for meeting
Belinda’s home, 47 Te Manuao Road Otaki

Nicol Foss

HOW TO BUILD A LIFEBOAT

Nicole M. Foss

Canadian Energy Industry Consultant and Financial Analyst

Explaining the reasons for vanishing wealth, rising global unemployment and social unrest amid global tensions over resources

“and how families and communities can navigate the choppy seas ahead”

Peak oil and the economy. Senior editor of TheAutomaticEarth.org, which chronicles and interprets the ongoing credit crunch, and former editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance. She is an international speaker on energy and global finance and is currently on a speaking touring in Australia and New Zealand.

Nicole’s academic qualifications include a BSc in Biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, and the common professional examination in law and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.

Saturday 7th April

1.30-3.30 pm

Clean Technology Centre
47 Miro St Otaki.

Entry is by gold coin donation

Contact Mr. Leigh Ramsey from Blended Fuel Solutions NZ at; leigh@bfsnz.net

Kim Hill interview Nicole on National Radio get a link to the interview Here.

Nicole is also presenting in Wellington

Nicole M. Foss -

BUILDING LOCAL RESILIENCE

in an Era of Economic Turmoil & Resource Depletion

Energy and Industry Consultant, Financial Analyst, international speaker on current issues in finance, energy, environment and resilience

Wellington, Thursday 5th April
Presentation 12 noon to 1pm, workshop 2-3.30pm - entry with koha
Large Gallery 2nd floor, Turnbull House, Bowen Street

Peak oil and the implosion of high-leverage finance schemes around the world are converging into a “perfect storm” that may threaten prosperity and social cohesion. Communities should build local resilience for the challenging times ahead.

http://transitionvoice.com/2010/11/deflated-economy-in-a-talk-with-nicole-foss/
http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/2010/06/453356.html

Further information: Cr Paul Bruce, Tel 021 02719370, paul.bruce@gw.govt.nz

Nicole M. Foss is co-editor of The Automatic Earth (http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com), where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. Foss runs the Agri-Energy Producers’ Association of Ontario, where she has focused on farm-based biogas projects and grid connections for renewable energy. While living in the UK she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level.

Her academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.

Absolutely great article about the possibilities for New Zealand.

http://fleeingvesuvius.org/2012/01/11/will-new-zealand-be-the-first-developed-country-to-evolve-a-steady-state-economy/

As long as we can get the New Zealand politicians to read and understand these concepts.

Did you know that there is currently a New Food Bill going through Parliament right now that could restrict your rights to grow your own food and on-sell or exchange it. The Bill has already passed Select Committee stage, when public submissions are heard.

There is an posting on the Ooooby site and a discussion forum with a lot of differing views. Some people feel this is scare mongering, other feel this is the last straw.

ooooby.ning.com/profiles/blogs/food-bill-time-for-action?xg_source=msg_mes_network

There also a online Petition
www.petitiononline.co.nz/petition/oppose-the-new-zealand-government-food-bill-160-2/1301

Have a read and be informed and if you feel inclined sign the Petition.

Below is a Message that the Lower Hutt Transition Towns has posted on the Transition Towns New Zealand website.

See the original post here http://transitiontowns.org.nz/node/3335

Submitted by seemorerocks on 3 December 2011 - 10:41am

A message to Lower Hutt Transition Towns and other interested parties

At the time of writing this the situation in Europe looks as if it could come to a head quote soon.

There have been warnings of this, including from Muenchau who warned that the Euro could collapse within the next 10 days.

http://www.businessinsider.com/wolfganc-munchau-the-eurozone-has-10-days-at-most-2011-11

This will have immediate consequences in Europe: it would lead to the failure of banks and social unrest and panic, especially in countries like Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, although as we know countries like Ireland, Belgium and France are in trouble.

The elected leaders of Greece and Italy have resigned and been replaced by “technocrat” leaders who, without exception are linked with international banking cartels.

All the “solutions” to the crisis involve the loss of sovereignty of affected countries.

The British Home Office has been reported by the Telegraph as putting together plans to evacuate British citizens from affected countries.

http://www.robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2011/11/prepare-for-riots-in-euro-collapse.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8917077/Prepare-for-riots-in-euro-collapse-Foreign-Office-warns.html

There is NO DOUBT that such a break-up of the Eurozone would have immediate and devastating effects on the world economy - and that is why we have seen emergency meetings of US president Obama and his officials with officials of the EU (NOT the political leaders).

The elections in New Zealand have made it perfectly clear that no help is going to come from the government and that it is up to the citizenry to make some preparations.

One of the most relevant comments recently came from Winston Peters who said that New Zealand is in crisis and the citizenry are not being prepared.

It is known that the Reserve Bank in New Zealand has (or is) enacting policies to be introduced in the case of failure of one or more banks that involves “haircuts” for investors, including depositors - so I would not assume that your money is safe in the bank.

http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2011/11/important-warning.html

When the crisis in the Eurozone does come to a head it is likely that this will lead to a rapid succession of events that will affect not just Europe but the United States and eventually the whole world economy.

There are already signs that economies EVERYWHERE (Including China and Japan) are in crisis - our guess is some time during the northern winter, perhaps during our Christmas holidays.

It is also possible that these events may be kept at bay by the further injection of debt-based electronic money by the United States. Everyone knows that this situation is unsustainable and is really only buying time.

We do not see this as either doom-and-gloom or a reason to panic.

Rather, it is important that our Transition Town community keep in contact with each other; that we keep in contact with our families, friends and neighbours and be prepared to help each other in what would be difficult times.

We consider it would be prudent to (if you haven’t done so already) make some basic prepartions, which might include the following:

1. Ensure that you have a supply of food in the house as you would in the case of an earthquake. The amount involved, frequently mentioned is about three weeks supply.

2. Make sure that you have a readily-available supply of cash so that you are not dependant on cash machines and EFTPOS in the case of crisis. One suggestion was to have the amount of money you would use over a 5 day period - and double that.

3. Have a quantity of fuel available

4. Have some water stored (as you might for an earthquake) and an alternative form of cooking.

Geoff Burn

Juanita McKenzie

Natalie Hormann

Pam Crisp

Robin Westenra

I add my name to this list

Andrew Rundle-Keswick

On the 19th of November a meeting was held of people who wanted to support and further Transitions Towns here on the Kapiti Coast.

I sent out a call for interested people as a email and a notice on this website, only 1 week before. As a result many expressed interest but were not able to make the meeting on the 19th.

This is to let you know that there is a 2nd meeting Planed for Saturday the 17th of December.

A report of the last meeting is being edited together and will (hopefully) be published here for you to read before the next meeting.

If you are interested in coming to the 2nd meeting please email me andrew@ttk.org.nz and I will send you the details.

Andrew

Alan Preston here up in Mangawhai.
I’ve been busy since the Rugby World Cup finished, doing my best to get this issue into the media and to get it picked up by the opposition parties…. no takers in either camp. Seems that the election campaign has been tightly stage managed to ensure that issues like this are excluded. Maybe it’s time to join on the growing stack of cynics.

I put the following together and have sent it out to the Greens, Labour , Northland Councils ( and media) Rail and Maritime Transport Union, Federation of Rail NZ , Gisborne Rail Action , Campaign for better transport, Sustainable Energy Forum, Engineers for Social Responsibility, Greenpeace, Transition Towns et al
Caio.
Alan

The issue of National Significance

The money NZ spends on importing oil has risen 22% this year to over $21 million per day, $7.7billion for the 2010 year,and while the International Energy Agency is warning us to reduce our vulnerability to what are going to become increasingly expensive post 2006 peak oil prices, the National Government is diverting funding from social, health, education and welfare programs to benefit their benefactors in the Auto-Petro lobby by committing more than $11billion on Roads of ‘ National’ Significance‘ and threatening to close another 5 of our regional railway lines.
Activists involved in promoting sustainable energy, sustainable transport and those active in various environmental issues, environmental health and Climate Change have a huge body of evidence that would support a complete review of National’s approach to the provision of Transport Infrastructure .We also have evidence that they are systematically covering up advice and covering up research that isn’t consistant with their desired outcomes.

Is this the way forward for NZ ?
Alan Preston
www.thewayforward2011.org.nz & saveourrailnorthland.org.nz

================================================================
A call to action !

Those of us advocating for sustainable energy, sustainable transport, various environmental issues, environmental health and climate change mitigation have never before enjoyed what we now have:
The total support of the International Energy Agency.
Recent (May 2011) announcements by the IEA validate and substantiate the imperative for our government to be acting in accordance with their advice ( which NZ pays for ) on reducing our dependence, consumption and vulnerability to what is set to become increasingly expensive post peak ( 2006 ) oil AND to act to dramatically reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

If any of the candidates in any of the political parties have used this clincher, it hasn’t been picked up by others in the debate about which is the best ‘way forward’ for our country. - And it seems there has been a conspiracy of silence in the media.

This is THE TRUMP CARD for the opposition parties in this week’s general election

The time to play it is now !

Citing the IEA’s advice to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels provides the justification for cancelling projects such as
the roads of ‘National’ significance and for re-directing funding into developing more appropriate energy generation and transport systems:
-By which we’ll achieve a range of win/win outcomes:
A more resilient, sustainable, environment-friendly, efficient and competitive economy and a better New Zealand to live in.
Reductions in our emissions-related health costs ( 730 premature deaths attributed to air pollution in Auckland in 2010 @ $3.50million per life )
Reductions in our Green-House-Gas emissions , in accordance with our committment to the Kyoto Protocol,
Jobs in the ‘green’ sector.

We need to get the conversation going so that people can go to the polls on Saturday the 26th of November 2011 with an awareness of this issue ( read on down for more context and enjoy getting lost in the links ! )

Please consider forwarding this on through your /or other networks of NZers, write a letter to the editor, call talkback radio, write to candidates, and be sure to let others who don’t use the internet know about this.
Newspapers in New Zealand.
NewsTalkZB
Radio Live
Candidates e-mail addresses.
Other Networks
Facebook
=================================================================================================

In May of this year the International Energy Agency (IEA), an historically conservative organisation, revised their earlier forecast that peak oil was not due to occur until sometime after 2030, following a study of 800 of the world’s oil fields. They are now saying that they believe the peak in conventional oil production actually occurred in 2006 and that unconventional sources (natural gas and tar sands) are extremely unlikely to make up the shortfall because of growing demand from China and India, concluding that ‘the age of cheap oil is over’ (Radio New Zealand National’s Nine To Noon Program on the 25th of May 2011 with the International Energy Agency’s Chief Economist , Fatih Birol). The IEA go on to warn that governments around the world urgently need to reduce their vulnerability to increasing fossil fuel prices. It is prudent to note at this point that as a member nation of the IEA New Zealand pays for their advice.

In the context of the above revelations, paying attention to and acting upon New Zealand’s dependence on oil is imperative. Early in their first, and current, term in office the National Government was presented with the 2009 Ministerial Report on Oil Prices and Resilience in the Transport Sector which outlined some of the vulnerabilities that New Zealand faces, vulnerabilities that are further intensified by the IEA’s latest findings. The National Government appears to not only ignore the agency’s warnings, but has sought to ignore and indeed conceal critically relevant information.

The above Ministerial Report was one of at least two significant documents that were only made public after use of the Official Information Act forced their release. The other, the Bolland Report, the Ministry of Transport commissioned in 2010 to provide independant advice on the costs and benefits of rail vs road for freight transport. The report found in favour of rail. This finding is consistent with the IEA’s clear indication that more sustainable approaches to transport must be pursued. Why then is this government intent on rationalising New Zealand’s rail network in their KiwiRail Turnaround plan - which includes the ‘mothballing’ of 5 regional railway lines? Such action only serves to increase our vulnerability to oil while concurrently decreasing our resilience.

Equally alarming is this National Government’s focus on building roads, and in particular the ‘Roads of National Significance’ (RoNS) projects. If it is in the country’s, not to mention the planet’s, best interest to reduce oil dependency, why is the government embarking on such major road building initiatives while systematically dismantling the rail network?

This question becomes even more significant when set alongside the SAHA Roads of National Significance: Economic Assessments Review which identified that at least three of the seven projects assessed prove economically non-viable (that is with BCRs of less than 1). The report also warned against putting too much weight on the incorporation of Wider Economic Benefits (WEBs) as their use is still in its infancy and to some degree contentious. This report was not released for public scrutiny.

What was released to the public was the SAHA Summary Report. This report appears to be a reworking of the original with what can only be described as manipulative changes to the data, including placing unwarranted emphasis on the WEBs despite the above caveats.

Mike Pickford, Independent Economic Researcher and former Chief Economist at the New Zealand Commerce Commission has reviewed both the ‘First‘ and ‘Second‘ SAHA reports . His findings point to inconsistencies both within the original report and between the two reports, as well as highlighting the unconventional and questionable practice of assessing the RoNS program as a whole ‘portfolio’ as opposed to the more appropriate approach of assessing each project on its own merits. It is this ‘amalgamation’ process that allows the disguising of the negative returns of some of the projects.

There seems little doubt that taxpayers are being sold a misrepresentation of the facts in order to validate the current National Government’s uneconomic and unsustainable approach to transport infrastructure. The question then has to be ‘who stands to benefit?’

Thank you.

Alan Preston and Marianne Riley.
for Save our Rail Northland
www.saveourrailnorthland.org.nz
e-mail:saveourrailnorthland@gmail.com

For more background on this issue :
Documents released under the Official Information Act reveal National Government systematically denying appropriate response to IEA warning

contact Alan Preston
e-mail @ e-mail:saveourrailnorthland@gmail.com
web-site: http://www.saveourrailnorthland.org.nz
see also: www.thewayforward2011.org.nz

If we don’t change them,
we‘ll end up where they‘re taking us!

Contact: ALan Preston ( a campaign co-ordinator )
Mangawhai Village, Northland , New Zealand
e-mail: thewayforward2011@gmail.com
web-site: www.thewayforward2011.org.nz

This Bill could adversely affect the local exchanges/sales/bartering of food and home made foods.

A Wellington lady Johanna Knox has written a great page about it on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/notes/johanna-knox/the-food-bill-and-how-it-could-affect-small-scale-and-hobby-food-traders/289877337707788

Also there is
http://benwarrensblog.com/?p=429
Which highlights the issues around Raw Milk, which many home cheese and yoghurt makers value highly.

In the USA they already have draconian laws around home grown/produced food or farms selling direct to the public and you only need to do a quick search on youtube to find videos of shop being raided by armed offices just because they sell raw milk.

You can find out more at this website http://nzfoodsecurity.org/

Also CDC admits not a single person has died from consuming raw milk products in 11 years
http://www.naturalnews.com/034169_CDC_raw_milk.html

So if you value home grown local produce please consider doing a submission about this bill.

I have added a new Page to this website which explains Peak Oil very well with graphics. See it at Peak Oil Explained

Hi People on the Transition towns Kapiti Mailing list.

I am sending out a call for anyone who would be interested in getting together to support and further Transitions Towns here on the Kapiti Coast.

Andrew here, many of you may know me as the presenter who introduced to you any number of documentaries or speaker’s over the last couple of years, Or maybe you meet me at the Transitions Towns Kapiti tent at the KCDC Sustainable Home and garden show.

Kevin Baker, who was involved with Transition Towns Lewes UK, before emigrating here to New Zealand and now lives in the Reikorangi Valley, has asked Me about reinvigorating TTK. I would happily Join with Kevin and any of you who would like to help further Transitions Towns Kapiti.

Kevin has suggested a Meeting Next Saturday morning (19th) getting together at 9.30 am for a 10am start aiming to finish by 1pm at the latest.

Depending on the number of people interest in attending, will depend on where we hold the meeting either at Reikorangi Valley Hall or at Kevin’s home in Reikorangi Valley, SO, Please send me an email and let me know if you are thinking of coming.

(We have decided to have the meeting at Kevin’s home. Please email me, Andrew, for address, if you are interested in coming.)

Also if you are interested in helping to further Transitions Towns but cant make it Saturday morning please send me an email so that we know of the numbers of interested people.

If you are not able to help in support of TTK but would be interested in attending TTK Films, Speakers or other events please also let me know, (if you have any suggestions on TTK Films, Speakers or other events please include those suggestions)

Thanks

Andrew

andrew@ttk.org.nz