DC Petrocollapse Conference: Peak Oil, Culture Change & Post-Petroleum Sustainable Living May 6, 2006

The May 6th DC Petrocollapse Conference - www.petrocollapse.org *

* SURVIVING PEAK OIL: ECONOMIC DOOM OR TRANSFORMATION?
Culture Change and Sustainable Post-Petroleum Living *

~ Sponsored by Culture Change -- http://culturechange.org ~

You are invited to attend!
All Souls Unitarian Church
16th and Harvard Streets, NW, Washington D.C.
Adams Morgan (Red) or Columbia Heights (Green) Metro Stations
Saturday, May 6, 2006 9 am - 7 pm
Register online now! http://petrocollapse.org

FEATURING DC PREMIER OF NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM:
"The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil"

The sudden effects of perpetual oil shortage are likely to strike within
the next three years. Are we prepared? Sponsored by Culture Change, the
DC Conference will present the facts behind the hype about Peak Oil,
explore the root factors
of our present "oil-addicted" condition,
AND envision the strategies that we need to bypass unhelpful institutional
barriers and achieve post-Peak Oil economic sustainability.

Speakers at the DC Conference will include the most widely read peak-oil
author, Richard Heinberg. Experts on peak oil, small-scale agriculture and
alternative energy will discuss "petrocollapse," the imminent failure of
the petroleum infrastructure to continue to provide the myriad goods and
services that our consumer economy has grown accustomed to. Multimedia
presentations and multiple films will demonstrate solutions to the
audience.

At The DC Culture Change Conference we will ask

* What are we facing now as the economy prepares to hit the wall
known as resource limits? Will growth suddenly implode?
* What will be the effects of Peak Oil (a geological phenomenon) and
petrocollapse (an economic and social phenomenon) on food supply
and
other services we depend on?
* What other mitigatiion strategies are possible?
* What is the role of the market in determining how severe the
effect of shortage stemming from geological depletion will be ?
* Upon upheaval, deprivation, and a restructuring of social relations
in a "new" local economics system, will we choose to create a
sustainable culture?

DC CULTURE CHANGE CONFERENCE SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE:
*Albert Bates Global Ecovillage Network; author
*Richard Heinberg Author, The Party's Over and Powerdown
*Jan Lundberg Oil industry analyst; http://CultureChange.org
*Diana Leafe Christian Communities Magazine
*David Room, Energy Preparedness; Global Public Media
*John Darnell, Ph.D Energy advisor
*Faith Morgan & Pat Murphy, Community Solution, Inc.
*Michael Kane From the Wilderness publications
*Jenna Orkin Moderator; World Trade Center Environmental
Org.
*Mark Robinowitz, http://OilEmpire.us; author, Permatopia
*Joel Salatin, Organic Agriculturalist, http://PolyFaceFarms.com

YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!

Register online via PayPal at http://petrocollapse.org/register.html

Scholarships, work exchange arrangements, and "sliding scale"
options are available for students, activists, and others!
We aim to accomodate everyone: Send us an email with the
details of your situation, and/or what time or energy you
may have for volunteer activity for the conference. Send to
[email protected]

Registration cost of $100 will pay for lunch
AND attendance at a special noontime press
conference.

No one turned away at the door for lack of funds,
so long as space is available. But seats are filling
fast, so you're encouraged to register ASAP!

Please contact the registration coordinator -- Ethan Genauer --
if you have any problems registering, or for more details,
by email at : [email protected]

For more information, see http://petrocollapse.org and
the DC Petrocollapse press release below

*********

MEDIA ALERT -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DC Culture Change Conference: May 6, 2006
All Souls Church, Unitarian 16th & Harvard, Washington, D.C

A conference on the effects of peak oil and the growing global energy
crisis will take place in Washington, DC on May 6th at the All Souls
Church, Unitarian from 9 A.M. to 7 P.M. Speakers
include peak-oil author
Richard Heinberg.

Conference organizer and speaker Jan Lundberg is a former oil industry
analyst who ran the market research firm Lundberg Survey. Lundberg,
who quit serving the oil industry so he could put his knowledge to use to
protect the environment, says "M. King Hubbert, who developed the
theory of peak oil, observed that we do not have an energy crisis but
rather a culture crisis. This fits with the theme of the Washington DC
Culture Change Conference that there is no technofix for our energy
dilemma. Society will have to bring about a closer level of community and
rediscover what local economics are about."

The May 6th conference will feature Richard Heinberg, the most-read peak
oil author (The Party's Over, and Powerdown). Films and music will be
also offered as part of a varied program to stimulate discussion and action
by attendees. Heinberg and Lundberg and others will perform
music
including oil-satire songs. Films will include premiers of "Our Synthetic
Sea" (plastics pollution in oceans) and "The Power of Community: How
Cuba Survived Peak Oil."

Lundberg says the Culture Change Conference asks, "What we can do in
advance of the social upheaval and chaos that may produce a 'national
New Orleans,' to prepare or mitigate? What will the future look like during
and after a transition to non-petroleum living?"

For more information, see http://petrocollapse.org

# # # # # #

Background briefing for:
Petrocollapse Conference: May 6, 2006 9 A.M. - 7 P.M.
All Souls Unitarian Church - 16th & Harvard Streets, NW
Washington D.C.

The New York Times calls Peak Oil "almost certainly correct." Fortune Magazine says, "An economic tsunami is about to hit the global economy as the world runs out of oil." As oil prices soar and supplies of crude oil and refined petroleum products strain to keep up with demand, as global warming fuels out-of-control hurricanes that wreak havoc on oil production infrastructure as well as upon devastated populations, the critical issue of Peak Oil is finally becoming acknowledged in the mainstream news.

But the complete story is still suppressed, misunderstandings abound, and the public remains in the dark about the vast array of consequences due to hit from this looming "permanent energy crisis." The sudden effects of perpetual oil shortage are likely to strike within the next three years. Are we prepared? Sponsored by Culture Change, the DC PetroCollapse Conference will present the facts behind the hype about Peak Oil, explore the root factors of our present "oil-addicted" condition, and envision the strategies that we need to bypass unhelpful institutional barriers and achieve post-Peak Oil economic sustainability.

The public is also not fully aware of the extent to which oil pervades our lives not simply as fuel for transportation but also in the form of pesticides, fertilizers and plastics. A decline in oil supplies will affect our ability to grow enough food for the current global population of six and a half billion people. Malnutrition and resulting illness can be expected to spread far beyond the 3.7 billion who are currently affected into the developed world.

Our economy also depends on indefinite growth that will not be sustainable once Peak Oil hits. Its arrival is likely to have a paralyzing affect on certain sectors of the economy which will in turn spread both nationally and globally.

Most independent oil experts agree that the peak in global oil extraction is occurring approximately now. The pressures of the market to distribute the fuels and materials made from petroleum are already creating intense competition for energy supplies around the world. As the gap between supply and demand widens and prices skyrocket, supply will tighten as never before due to hoarding. This will cause massive repercussions in daily living and the global economy. Not only will people have to adapt to an energy-poor world by concentrating on sustainably working with their regional ecosystems for all their needs, but will also have to cope with climate change which is rapidly accelerating. This scenario is referred to by oil expert and conference organizer Jan Lundberg as Petrocollapse.

As the conference brochure states, "the world's peak in oil extraction is about now -- although there is uncertainty and debate. The pressures of the Market to smoothly spread around the fuels and materials made from petroleum promise to create intense competition for energy supplies, as seen already today on the world stage. As the gap between supply and demand widens and prices skyrocket, supply will tighten as never before due to hoarding. This will cause massive repercussions in daily living and the global economy. Not only will people have to adapt to an energy-poor world by concentrating on sustainably working with their regional ecosystems for all their needs, climate change is accelerating."

Official Website: http://petrocollapse.org