November 2 & 3: #125 - An Engineer Examines a Town’s Energy Future

How much energy does a town consume? Brian Corzilius sleuthed that out for Willits, California, and got a big surprise: in this community of 13,000 people, nearly 25% of after-tax revenue leaves town to pay for energy—gas, diesel, electricity and natural gas. His inventory grew into an energy independence report which identified opportunities for local fuels to replace the external inputs. His local “energy mix” considers solar, wind, hydro, biomass, wood gasifiers, cogeneration, and sewage plant methane to create electricity. A model for any community, his energy report is online at www.greentransitions.org/Papers/Papers.htm

November 9 & 10: #127 - Middle Class Lifeboat: Careers and Life Choices for Staying Afloat

Paul and Sarah Edwards are authors of a timely book Middle-Class Lifeboat: Careers and Life Choices for Navigating a Changing Economy. In a world of decreasing resources, they ask, how do we financially support ourselves while moving towards sustainable lives? Emphasizing independent income sources, they consider dozens of possible careers from basic services to local-scale technologies. Life choices include lowering costs through simplifying, getting out of debt, and demonetizing (e.g., bartering). Or one can consider an "off-the-map" lifestyle like living abroad, off-grid, or an intentional community. This downturn is not just a cycle, they emphasize: it heralds a sea change.

November 16 & 17: #139 - The Transition Movement comes to America

One response to the global crisis that is gaining enthusiastic momentum is the Transition Towns movement. Jennifer Gray, a pioneer in the Transition Initiative in the UK and cofounder of Transition US, describes it as "a community-led response to the twin crises of peak oil and climate change. It's ... positive, pro-active [and] engages the whole community in building resilience into their world." Sharing highlights from The Transition Handbook by founder Rob Hopkins, she elaborates on a flexible twelve-step process to empower community organizers in unleashing the creative genius of their community and building an Energy Descent Action Plan. One innovative aspect is backcasting: envisioning one's community in 20 years, and then designing steps to get from here to there.

November 23 & 24: #147 - A Geodesic Greenhouse — Year-Round Gardening at 6000 Feet

In Colorado it’s cold for much of the year, but inside this cozy dome greenhouse, the plants are growing happily. Take a grand tour with Buckhorn Gardens manager and permaculturist Breigh Peterson: the greenhouse structure with its interplay of light and water, warmth and air; curving raised beds of vegetables and flowers; fish tanks moderating the temperature; vertical trellises and shelves to use vertical space. Outdoors a huge garden of row crops and a young orchard are complemented by free-roaming chickens and ducks. buckhorngardens.blogspot.com

November 30 & December 1: #142 Energy Co-op Brings Power to the People

What if a community owned its electric utility cooperatively, rather than paying a for-profit company? Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative could be a model. Energy Services manager Jessica Nelson describes how this locally owned, democratically governed non-profit serves the good of the community. Besides lower rates, customers benefit from incentives to conserve electricity, install geothermal heating/cooling systems, and solar panels (photovoltaics). The coop’s dream? To not only distribute power but to generate it — through a wind turbine project. www.psln.com

PEAK TV is sponsored locally by the Center for Excellence in Communication at Clarkson University and the Seymour Family of Potsdam.