Editor’s Note: ASPO conference and more

The road ahead looks bleak for oil. Photo: John Tomasko.

In early October Team Transition Voice headed to Washington, DC for the 6th annual Association for the Study of Peak Oil Conference, whose theme was Seeking Common Ground.

We’ve said before that we’re geeks, and, living up to all expectations, this three-day Peak-a-palooza was nothing short of a peak oil advocate’s dream.

Now, it didn’t hurt that, climbing up out of the rural Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for an extended weekend in DC we got to feast on exotic international fare and vegan meals in the DC area. But the real stars of the show were the many tirelessly devoted scientists, educators, analysts, food advocates, oil-industry insiders, social commentators, and others who presented a rock-star line-up of peak oil information.

Because let’s face it, can you ever get enough of peak oil, climate change, economic crisis, and other doomsday scenarios?

Well…

In all seriousness, there is no craving to indulge in these topics out of glee.

But there is a certain satisfaction that comes, after analyzing the data, from meeting with others who have drawn the same conclusions and who, like you, are trying to make sense out of how it will all shake out. And it is quite satisfying to sit in the presence of those who have devoted hours, years, a lifetime to their particular branch of study and who can offer compelling and coherent analyses and narratives on their branch of the peak oil family tree.

For those reasons we’ve devoted the lion’s share of this issue to the ASPO conference and our interviews and stories with some of the figures present there this year. We hope you’ll enjoy devouring it as much as we did.

And speaking of devouring, we’ve also got a brilliant essay by film director Brian Wimer on what Zombies have to do with all of this, and, for those who prefer devouring the fruit of the land to chomping the fruit of someone else’s, er, hind-ish-quarters, we’ve got an imaginative vegan Thanksgiving menu by chef Kelly Burns.

In the spirit of the harvest that Thanksgiving inspires, we hold up John Tomasko’s barns gallery for you as a reminder of our agricultural past and, one hopes, our growing farming future. And speaking of pilgrims, our own Elizabeth Scarpino continues her foray towards the Pilgrim’s Progress with an essay on an economy built on sandy loam, (and that’s putting it very delicately).

Finally, we’ve got reports from places as disparate as Montana and the UK, but curiously both advocate a kind of preparedness for the unknown future. There’s so much more besides, so please look around at our spirit section, book reviews, blog, and more.

Most of all, as you read things you like, or that make your blood boil, please comment. We want to hear what you have to say!

We hope you’ll continue to enjoy the evolving Transition Voice, checking in often to see what’s up on our blog. We’ll also release our mid-month mini-mag (very mini mag)…uh, sometime mid month, with a special section you wont want to miss.

And next month we’ll take on the issue of economy with a vengeance. Unless we get bought off first.