Post Carbon's The Real New Deal & my Renewable Deal

[Lance Christie]

The Post Carbon Institute recently published on their home page "The Real New Deal: Energy Scarcity and the Path to Energy, Economic, and Environmental Recovery.  Post Carbon's proposal for the Obama Administration's response to economic, environmental, and energy challenges."  Michael Mielke asked me to review this publication to see how it relates to the Renewable Deal on the Earth Restoration Portal < www.ManyOne.net/EarthRestorationPortal>.

The Real New Deal is allegedly written primarily by Richard Heinberg.  It contains a re-tread of his traditional material on peak oil, related to the financial and other threats of global warming due to emission of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, with a few slight new additions regarding evidence for peak coal, and announcement of collaborations between the Post Carbon Institute and (1) the International Forum on Globalization to conduct a comparative review of alternative energy sources in terms of energy profit ratio, environmental impacts, scalability, and materials requirements; (2) with the Soil Association of the United Kingdom, which is the IFOAM-accredited organic certification body for the U.K., to describe agricultural practices that sequester rather than emit greenhouse gases.  Otherwise the entire "Real New Deal" Part 1 - Overview: Need & Scope, Part 2 - The Problem; Part 3 - What Governments Are Saying, Part 4 - The Solution, Part 5 - Requirements for Energy Transition and Part 6 - Conclusion, makes the case for the "prescription" which the Renewable Deal "fills."  The two documents are highly complimentary.

I think the material already in Planks One and Two of the Renewable Deal contain most of the information the Post Carbon Institute is looking for through their collaborations with the International Forum on Globalization and the Soil Association.  Energy Plank One already contains extensive material on energy profit ratios, environmental impacts, scalability, and carbon offsets realized by alternative energy sources, including equivalent information on renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel power plant energy sources.  Agricultural Plank Two already describes the agricultural and silvicultural practices which would produce massive net sequestration of atmospheric carbon.  These agricultural and silvicultural practices represent proven contemporary Best Available Technology; there is no dependence on speculative techniques which might be realized through research.

Because the Post Carbon Institute's The Real New Deal makes a fine case for implementing the Renewable Deal blueprint for creation of what Thomas Berry calls "The Ecozoic Society," I strongly recommend signing on Canyonlands Sustainable Solutions as endorsing the proposal which is addressed to the Obama administration.  -Lance Christie, Relocalization Network Coordinator for Canyonlands Sustainable Solutions, the SE Utah Relocalization Network member group.