The End of Suburbia

[onthejourney]

Taken from Indy Media:

What? Screening of the documentary The end of Suburbia: Peak Oil and the End of the American Dream

When? Friday, February 25th

What time? 7:30 pm

Where? Sky Dragon Centre

24 King St. East, downtown Hamilton, across from the Gore Park Fountain, blue cloud-covered door

What the heck? "We're literally stuck up a cul-de-sac in a cement SUV without a fill-up" - James Howard Kunstler

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too the suburban way of life has become embedded in the American consciousness.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?

Hosted by Barrie Zwicker. Featuring James Howard Kunstler, Peter Calthorpe, Michael Klare, Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, Michael C. Ruppert, Julian Darley, Colin Campbell, Kenneth Deffeyes, Ali Samsam Bakhtiari and Steve Andrews. Directed by Gregory Greene. Produced by Barry Silverthorn. Duration: 78 minutes

Information: call (905)-777-8102 or email: kevin (at) skydragon.org

Another awesome even for the community to come check the Sky Dragon out. The evening is guarenteed to please, we've got it all, big comfy couchs, fair trade organic coffee AND tea, and vegan hot chocolate for all the lovely vegans out there, and we've got some of the best company in the world, so come on down and chill with us, it's definately worth the trip up the stairs!!!

[paisley]

yeah, noticed that last week

you gonna check out the film OTJ? I've been meaning to pop down to the Sky Dragon center and see whats going on for a little while now

[onthejourney]

ya i am thinkin of going...i have never been to the Sky Dragon center..sounds nice. We should get a couple people out for this.

[paisley]

well count me in, and I'll mention it around

Mark Wilson and the Way It Is w/ Vanderpark and Earthtones afterwards

sounds good!

[CyberHippie]

Check this out, it's mind blowing!

I'll warn you now though it's not the kinda docutainment that Moore has gotten us used to. So have a coffee before ya see it. Highly reccomend though!

[paisley]

actually a fan of the more traditional documentary style than Moore's in your face style, so thats fine by me (and I'm trying to save my liver with coffee )

and good to hear the film recommended, thanks... definately gonna check it out

[TheGoodRev]

Right on, I give this film a hearty endorsement as well...we own the DVD here. Yeah, it's not exactly action-packed, but if you've never heard of the peak-oil crisis, it might blow your mind a little. If you know about peak oil, you may not be hearing anything you don't already know, but the Kunstler guy is pretty good at taking all the complicated notions and dumbing them down into soundbytes. His portion isn't chiefly intellectual as it is quick and dirty explanation.

If you see the film and really dig it, you might want to read Jane Jacobs' "The Fall of the Great American City". I couldn't believe that she didn't even get a mention in the flick, Kunstler is apparently a big fan himself. Enjoy it, y'all.

[onthejourney]

alrighty then...well paisley...i guess i will see ya there or i will message you before then

[paisley]

maybe meet up at Infusions with anyone who's coming out beforehand around 6:45 or 7?

that way we can all walk in together like a posse

[purple foot]

pppfff. peak oil. just propaganda used by oil companies to drive up the price.

[purple foot]

found this interesting.

Kyoto protest beaten back by inflamed petrol traders

By Laura Peek and Liz Chong

WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail.

What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement.

“We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs,” one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”

Another said: “I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot.” Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: “Sod off, Swampy.”

Greenpeace had hoped to paralyse oil trading at the exchange in the City near Tower Bridge on the day that the Kyoto Protocol came into force. “The Kyoto Protocol has modest aims to improve the climate and we need huge aims,” a spokesman said.

Protesters conceded that mounting the operation after lunch may not have been the best plan. “The violence was instant,” Jon Beresford, 39, an electrical engineer from Nottingham, said.

“They grabbed us and started kicking and punching. Then when we were on the floor they tried to push huge filing cabinets on top of us to crush us.” When a trader left the building shortly before 2pm, using a security swipe card, a protester dropped some coins on the floor and, as he bent down to pick them up, put his boot in the door to keep it open.

Two minutes later, three Greenpeace vans pulled up and another 30 protesters leapt out and were let in by the others.

They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts “open outcry” trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading.

But they were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. “They were kicking and punching men and women indiscriminately,” a photographer said. “It was really ugly, but Greenpeace did not fight back.”

Mr Beresford said: “They followed the guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement.”

Last night Greenpeace said two protesters were in hospital, one with a suspected broken jaw, the other with concussion.

A spokeswoman from IPE said the trading floor reopened at 3.10pm. “The floor was invaded by a small group of protesters,” she said. “Open outcry trading was suspended but electronic trading carried on.”

Eighteen police vans and six police cars surrounded the exchange and at least 27 protesters were arrested. A small band blocked the entrance to the building for the rest of the evening.

Richard Ward, IPE’s chief executive, said that the exchange would review security but denied that protesters had reached the trading floor. However, traders, protesters and press photographers confirmed to The Times that the trading floor had been breached.

Mr Ward would not discuss whether he would press charges, and said he would not know until this morning if there had been any financial loss.

Greenpeace later started a second protest at the annual dinner of the Institute of Petroleum at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, in Central London. Greenpeace claimed that five campaigners had got into the Great Hall. About 30 protesters were outside the hotel, some blocking the front entrance by sitting down and locking themselves together, while others sounded klaxons and alarms. Climbers scaled scaffolding to unfurl a banner reading, “Climate change kills, oil industry parties”.

[onthejourney]

6:45 at Infusions sounds good. See ya then!