Posts Tagged ‘peak oil’


ICLEI Day Two: Tidbits

Today was another splendid instance of connections with colleagues. I had an impromptu conversation with a number of young elected officials about possibilities for an ICLEI network of younger members. There will be a formal discussion on this that I’m moderating tomorrow at city hall.

Councillor Ben Henderson of Ward 4 and I twittered our way through the sessions.

I attended a great session on EcoMobility in the morning (more on that tomorrow), and one on cycling cities in the afternoon. I secured media accreditation for Sarah to come and write something for her popular blog, which I’ll link to when she posts.

Looking forward to Pecha Kucha tomorrow night, theme is Ideas Inspiring Sustainability. I hear we’ve sold more than 600 tickets.

Lastly, briefly, a heads up for Thursday evening’s FREE talk from Peter Neuman put on by the University of Alberta’s City Region Studies Centre:

Resilient Cities: Responding to the Crash, Climate Change, and Peak Oil

Thursday, June 18th

Lecture 7:00 pm, Doors open 6:45 pm

Shaw Conference Centre, Salon 4

Notes from Calgary

I’ve been in Calgary since Wednesday night for two reasons: first, the Gaining Ground Sustainable Urban Development Leadership Summit; the other, a friend’s wedding today.

Because of the wedding I haven’t had a chance to record all of my thoughts, but this is the second year I’ve attended the Gaining Ground event in Calgary, and for the second time it has proven provocative, enlightening and inspiring. For example:

  • Provocative: Economist Peter Tertzakian told us that almost anything said about the future of energy is speculative; question all assumptions except one: we are an ‘energy obese’ planet.
  • Enlightening: Daniel Lerch from the Post Carbon Institute told us about Portland’s Peak Oil Strategy and its connection with the Oil Depletion Protocol.
  • Inspiring: I intend to devote a separate post in the coming days to moving remarks delivered by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the energy and pollution challenges and opportunities ahead, and our obligations to future generations.