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GAIA Host Collective
Creation of "Clear Morning Voluntary Energy Knowledge and National Security Directive For All American Public, Civic and Private Organizations, and Individuals
A national day of notice on Sept 11 2006, the 5 year anniversery of 9/11 and coincidentally at the same time as the next OPEC meeting, redeclaring the American energy crisis as a national security issue, based on the knowledge that almost no oil we import can be affirmed in it's reliability, is not third party confirmed, and thus subject to a catastrophic surprise/collapse/disruption for a multitude of reasons, and that it from this day, 9/11/06 be the responisibility of the local, township, municipal, county, state, regional, and national governments and organizations, business at all levels, educational organizations includng K through University, civic minded private colleges, civic and human service organizations, health care facilities and organizations, youth organizations, and any and all other organizations that profess to be civic minded in America, AND all private business, commercials utilities, sales and marketing organization, real estate and tourist development organizations, metro and private water and sewer districts, and private business of ALL TYPE, if they claim to be and strive to be civic minded, to establish clear and direct instructions, educational material, directives, activities and educational and public relations material to:
Mission Statement
A. Inform their employees, owners, boards, directors, customers and management of the clear fact that the United States has no reliable information and statistics on the fuel supply, refining and transport system in America, and thus must act accordingly, assuming the possibility of any surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE.
B. Inform any and all government agencies, neighborhood associations, municipal boards, city managers, alderman, county governments and departments, state governments, cabinets, legislatures, and state government departments, regional associations and departments, and interstate coordinating agencies, United States government legislative elected representatives, U.S. governent cabinents, departments, functionaries and managoers and directers of departments, bueareaus and agencies, and the United States Executive branch government departments, cabinets, and bueareaus, and all Staff Departments of America's highest executive agencies of the clear fact that the United States has no reliable information and statistics on the fuel supply, refining and transport system in America, and thus must act accordingly, assuming the possibility of any surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE.
C. Inform all civic groups, civic organizations, non profit groups, social and civic agencies, public action and political action groups, and any and all groups engaged in promotion of improving civic affairs in the United States at all levels, including groups engaged in public awareness and education of the clear fact that the United States has no reliable information and statistics on the fuel supply, refining and transport system in America, and thus must act accordingly, assuming the possibility of any surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE.
D. That all schools, colleges, universities, private educational facilities of a civic minded nature, educational institutions of a scientific, technical and research nature of a civic minded nature, of the clear fact that the United States has no reliable information and statistics on the fuel supply, refining and transport system in America, and thus must act accordingly, assuming the possibility of any surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE.
It is hereby requested that all the organizations, governemet agencies and groups at all levels, utilities, health care facilities and organizations, mission critical services, human and social services, businesses, groups, agencies, educational institutions, civic groups, public action groups, and any and all groups and organizations, chartered in the United States of America including all listed to this point above, but not exclusive only to these, and any and all organizations in the Untited States who hold as part of their mission or misssion statement dedication to the improvement of civic life in America, undertake actions to insure the education and information of al persons and parties involved with and attached to them to convey the central message of this statement:
The fact that the United States has no reliable information and statistics on the fuel supply, refining and transport system of critical fuel in America and the world, and thus must act accordingly, assuming the possibility of any surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE.
It is asked that this and the following actions be taken as a contribution to the national security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the United States of America, and to the security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the respective organizations listed above, and that all above organizations who hold as part of their mission or misssion statement dedication to the improvement of civic life in America, be directed by the responsible owners, directors, boards, board of directors, outside directors, employees, managers and customers that the organization in question should create, by whatever means customary to their respective organization, a mission statement, directives, goals, oversights, procedures and plans to implement the beginning stages of the above educational action and program, and to begiin the groundwork for planning and implementing the follow on steps to achieve the follow up goals, plans, procedures, commitments and steps, to achieve the following follow on steps as listed in section II.
It should further be made clear by all responsible owners, directors, boards, board of directors, outside directors, employees, managers and customers that the organization in question should be viewed as the fudiciary responsibly party, the party that will bear responsibility for beginning this openly public contribution to the national security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the United States of America, and to the security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the respective organization in particular, and will be held accountable to the public, and all involved and interested paties for the efficiency, effectiveness, creativity, reach, and innovation with which this program is carried out. Each respective organization will be expected as a matter of due dillagence, as a function of organization effectiveness, as management and fudiciary responsibility and as public indication of commitment to the stated mission of the organization in improving civic life in America, and as indication of their commitment to the national security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the United States of America, and to the security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the respective organization to implement, document, publicise, and enhance and improve on a continuing basis the ongoing funtion of the program.
THE CRITICAL NATURE OF WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO UNDERTAKE CANNOT BE UNDERESTIMATED IN THE POSITIVE EFFECT IT COULD HAVE ON THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND ON YOUR ORGANIZATION AND ALL STAKE HOLDERS IN THE ONGOING SUCCESS, STABILITY, RELAVENCE, AND THE SURVIVAL OF YOUR RESPECTIVE ORGANIZATION.
After the opening phase of the program of education and public awareness of the serious energy information issues facing the United States and all respective public organization in America, in which the respective organizations have used the best of their respective talents, methods and tools to ensure complete distribution of the central message, the organization can begin to engage Section II of the plan directive in whatever way and using the best respective methods of each respective organization, including organization, documentation, publication, and continuing improvement.
As in Section I, Each respective organization will be expected as a matter of due dillagence, as a function of organization effectiveness, as management and fudiciary responsibility and as public indication of commitment to the stated mission of the organization in improving civic life in America, and as indication of their commitment to the national security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the United States of America, and to the security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the respective organization, and would be judged by their respective owners, directors, boards of directors, customers and stake holers on this criteria.
Section II
"Clear Morning Voluntary Energy Security and Contigency Plan Directive"
This Directive should be carried out in whatever manner is most effective, possible and viable for the respective organizations, including, but not exclusive to, all organizations listed above having agreed to the "Clear Morning Voluntary Energy Knowledge and National Security Directive For All American Public, Civic and Private Organizations".
The Mission Statement for Section II,
"Clear Morning Voluntary Energy Security and Contigency Plan Directive" is as follows:
The respective organization will research, plan, create, and implement a Change and Contigency Plan to:
- Enhance energy security of the respective organization in the event of and assuming the above mentioned possibility of any surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE IN ENERGY PRICE, RELIABILITY OR SUPPLY.
- Enhance the respective organization in it's ability to withstand energy surprise or disruption, or price or supply shock, and be able to continue normal operations throughout one or more EVENTS OF ANY LEVEL OF POSSIBLE UNPLEASANT AND THREATENING DISPRUPTION AND OR LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE IN ENERGY PRICE, RELIABILITY OR SUPPLY.
- Continue enhancement and improvement of Change and Contigency Plan plan to allow the respective organization to withstand above listed disruption in price, or any magnitude change in energy price, reliability, or supply.
- Document and publicise the ongoing implementation and improvement of the Change and Contigency Plan to the satisfaction of all respective owners, directors, boards of directors, customers and stake holders on this criteria, as goal of enhancing the national security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the United States of America, and to the security, safety, prosperity, stability and survival of the respective organization.
Implementation of Section II major goalsEach and every organization in the U.S. to pledge to consider the above goals as part of their overall corporate, governmental and organization civic responsponsibility, and to assist the United States of America in it's absolute imperative to become fortified to the greatest possible degree to weather energy price instability, possible supply disruptions, and catastrophic energy failures due to foriegn or domestic action, weather and other natural emergencies, and international or logistical failures.
THIS PLAN IS TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON THE BASIS THAT EXPEDIENCY ALLOWS.
(WORK IN PROGRESS-FIRST ROUGH DRAFT
Roger Conner known to you as ThatsItImout
P.S. Dates were date that first document was assembled and read by local supporters......RC
Please allow a few remarks.
- It's one thing to say people should prepare. But how do you want them to do that? What practical measures do you recommend?
- You want to reach as many people as possible. That means you have to write as accessible, and as concise, as possible. While the effect of repetition can be positive, it makes your piece unnecessarily long and hard to comprehend. The "explain it to me like I'm a six-year old" rule applies. Avoid bureaucratic blubber where you can.
- Run a spellchecker. It's an easy way to get rid of typo's, even in a first draft.
You mean to say "overestimated". Something that can't be underestimated approaches zero value, as in you can't go low enough in your estimate."Underestimate" as a verb means "To make too low an estimate of the quantity, degree, or worth of." So swap that into the sentence:
"The critical nature of what you are about to undertake cannot have made too low an estimate of its worth."
In other words:
"The critical nature of what you are about to undertake is worth less than you can possibly estimate."
So the poster really does want to say either "cannot be overestimated" or "should not be underestimated", depending on whether he wants to emphasize its innate importance or our risk of ignoring it.
Thank you for the kind words, but it is just what it says, a first rough draft, put together with several contributing ideas, to get us started. Thus, for those who beat up the grammar, my apologies, but there is a lot of cut and paste in there, as we built up all the things we want to start covering. This is to be a working document, not for publication or distribution in this form.
The grammar can be easily corrected, I put the rough here because I consider you guys "insiders", and online friends, given the volume of bad writing I have been forgiven for here! :-)
There is a companion Yahoo Group just set up, that has as it's first post the document in question
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Voluntary_Energy_Knowledge_Security/
usable, but still under construction/just began.
Your question is the one that is most pressing: "It's one thing to say people should prepare. But how do you want them to do that? What practical measures do you recommend?"
First, a sacrilegious premise: I have disavowed further interest about when Peak is going to occur, whether it has already occurred, or if it is even noticeable when it occurs (and it will, that is a geological/scientific fact if we are talking narrowly about what are by definition nonrenewable fuel sources) I disavow the usefulness of exactly how "Peak" per se is defined, as I have found no valid and consistent definition useful for planning in almost 4 years of contact with the issue named "Peak Oil".
I disavow the belief that anyone (with the possible exception of M. King Hubbert himself! :-) has been able to use the so called Hubbert Curve with enough reliability to act as a planning tool in any way, and if they have, it has not been accepted by enough people to make it influential in anyway. Thus, what it may or not have in predictive power is in enough debate so that it is destroyed by it's lack of credibility with experts and laymen alike, whether deserved or undeserved. This makes it useless as a tool of planning, or of communication.
The Hubbert Curve however is no less reliable than the methods used by all others in the oil and planning industry. The statistics from the EIA, IEA, USGS, CERA, the NPC and other advisory and informational groups are equally if not more muddled than other more controversial, less accepted methods of predicting.
Essential, all guessing about future oil supply, consumption, and possible depletion and so called peak regardless of source is to be regarded for planning purposes as exactly that: Guessing, and of no use in planning purposes.
-------------------
How to proceed, briefly, from the above assumptions, in a practical way:
The practical steps are based on models from other completely unpredictable scenarios, and one in particular: The markets. Given that despite decades of trying to guess the direction of financial markets no usable "system" has yet proved itself, but that the markets and how to respond to them must be considered minimally "rational", how does an investor act in market decisions:
He/she assumes that any scenario is "possible", but that some are "probable" and then plans in descending order the steps to take to plan for these scenarios. This is an effort that has not been made in any real systemic way in regards to energy, in which we are all, whether we like it or not, investors.
So, the practical steps:
- Rational Education. The energy consumer/investor must be informed. There is no system. There is loose flowing information that will only be correct by coincidence. You must also be made aware of the options available. There are many more energy options in the marketplace than most people know. It should be your goal to know what is available, and whether it works FOR YOU. Each situation is different. You energy plan should be as tailor made to you and or you organization as it's financial investment portfolio is. There are many options, and many mixes of options.
- There are ways to plan. Just as with your investments, you can diversify. (your business runs on essentially one fuel. Would you own just one stock?
You can conserve. (Are you so willing to waste fuel? Would you be so willing to waste money? You can bring in newer technology. Would you turn down new methods in business if they were shown to overcome most or all of the problems of your old methods? And you can plan strategically. Would you not keep some money in reserve, for opportunities, or in case of emergencies? Should you not have a strategic plan and a strategic source for spare energy?3. Action steps. When you take action, you should get credit for it. There are others who will be taking action on this issue. And you should have people and sources to communicate with. The actions taken to diversify, modernize and strategically strengthen America's energy situation is not only a valuable service to yourself and your organization, but puts you and your firm in the forefront of of strengthening your nation and enhancing your strategic responsibility to the nation and the world.
-------------------------------------
The above is pretty much the "pitch", and I don't mind calling it that. it is the case that needs to be made demonstrating that reduction of energy waste, and enhancing of diversity, decentralization, and modernization of American energy is not a "bad" thing that has to be done to dodge some "guess" that catastrophic things are going to happen. It is part of a program to assure continued operations, and be more competitive in the local region, the nation and the world. That's all. This plan should be undertaken even if any possibility of "peak oil" or depletion is 50 years away.
The step to be taken at this moment by the
Clear Morning Voluntary Energy Knowledge and Security Initiative
- Rationalize and prepare the above messages for distribution. Create a core philosophy around the effort to send a streamlined, easily understood version of this message.
- Structure of organization as a not for profit informational and civic group. Full staffing and contact with talent, advisors, and other concerned parties.
- Branding. The Easy Identification of documents, paperwork and web site through branding, images, logos, etc.
- Building support by exposing the message to individuals, groups, firms, organizations, and energy related firms and industries of priority importance. Exposing the firms able to provide or already attempting to provide needed advances and technology to possible customers as they are brought into contact with the group.
- Methods of succession, organization and structure to assure the ongoing and expanding mission of the group. Essentially, making the group permanent, refining and improving it's message, and outreach.
Lastly, resources. Like any group of this type, the idea and the structure will have to be done on the cheap, if not the free! I have left resources to one side, essentially because at this time there are virtually none! But, at some point, there could be, so it goes without saying that control, auditing, and correct distribution of resources must be planned by whatever way legally appropriate to the corporate form (nonprofit, foundation, etc.) that is taken.Exact technical details are not given as you may notice, because this to me has been one of the central holdups on energy education, security, diversity, and modernization. People get married to solar, or wind, or methane recapture from landfills, and advise everyone to adopt the new silver bullet.
The renewable fans often see fossil fuels as the evil enemy. Fossil fuel firms see renewable as an annoyance, and throw up roadblocks to distributed generation. NO ONE TECHNOLOGY will do the job.
Every alternative will be looked at, the ones that are already out there first (ground coupled heat pumps, solar water heating, LPG as CHP power in certain areas and seasons, natural gas where it can best be used as distributed power for CHP. The list is long and complex. Some work in one place, but market conditions prevent them in other places. The technical alternatives are much like the financial markets. A new instrument or mix of instruments is the only way forward. Diversity, strategic planning, seasonal flexibility, it all matters and will contribute.
(Sections extracted from other documents, forgive if grammar is not perfect, cut and paste warning!)
The most important point is to break out of this one size fits all either/or thinking.
"Peak will happen, or soon, or there's no point in being more efficient"?? That's the kind of logic you hear from grown ups.
"Nuclear has to work or we're screwed" ???
"If we drop 5, or 7 or 10 percent on crude oil in the summer, we're screwed, the economy will collapse." ??
THE FIRST GOAL: Education, rationalization, and distribution.
THE SECOND GOAL: Structure, improved and more complete message, hone the information
THE THIRD GOAL: LIKE A TREE, SET DOWN ROOTS AND GROW, PERMANENT, PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
(O.K., FOLKS, now you can laugh, or take it for what it's worth, you are getting to see the building stage before the pretty stuff goes on! We may run out of material and you never hear of it again, but on the other hand, who knows?
Somehow we have got to get this message back up on the tracks, though, and move forward, do something, and have some fun with this....
Everybody should tilt at a few windmills before they die! :-)
Roger Conner known to you as ThatsItImout
Hopefully, the electricity will come from conservation or wind, but still a net gain even if the electricity comes from coal.
Best of all, it is non-partisan and does not require any federal involvement to suceed, although federal backing would expidite its implementation.
I'm anxious to see how you roll this out...good luck!