January 2 & 3: #170: Preparing for Disasters & Hard Times

In this animated dialogue, natural resource analyst Sean Brodrick provides a sharp-eyed perspective on what may be coming in this precarious economy and how to prepare for it. The author of The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide, Sean is hip to peak oil and other resource declines as well as the Katrina hurricane lesson - don’t rely on government to save you during disasters. Urging us to prepare for hard times while we’re in good times, he covers smart money moves, food and water storage, basic preparations in case you have to evacuate, and creating bonds with your neighbors to increase home security. More at: UltimateSuburbanSurvivalist.com and UncommonWisdomDaily.com

January 9 & 10: #181: Partners in Preparedness - Neighborhoods and Emergency Responders

The last thing “Dr. Doom” Bob Hamlin expected was citizens offering to help his county Emergency Management Department. But when Deborah Stinson from Port Townsend’s Local 20/20 came to Bob’s office after Hurricane Katrina, they formed a partnership. Citizens are organizing and educating neighborhoods to be more self-reliant in emergencies. And they’re at the table with emergency responders in planning for disasters. www.L2020.org/ep.

January 16 & 17: #166 The Crash Course — Exponential Growth Meets Reality

"The next twenty years will be totally unlike the last twenty... We’ll face the greatest economic and physical challenges ever seen by our country, if not humanity.” So opens Chris Martenson's much-viewed online Crash Course illuminating the relationship between economy, energy and the environment. Starting with the power of exponential growth, he tidily sums up our economic problems: Too Much Debt. Chris discusses the implications if we continue the status quo, and ways to prepare. He believes that “if we manage the transition elegantly we can actually improve things.” http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse

January 23 & 24: #194: Portland’s Neighborhood Tool Sharing Libraries

Need a tool for a few days? Don’t have it? Neighbor doesn’t have it? Borrow it from your neighborhood tool library! No tool library? Check out Portland, where several neighborhoods have started successful tool libraries just in the last few years. Organizers Tom Thompson, Karen Tarnow and Stephen Couche discuss how they got started, stories of community generosity, and the enthusiastic response of all who stop by. In these neighborhoods, there’s no reason not to grab the tools you need and do that project! More at www.neptl.org and www.septl.org.

January 30 & 31: #200 How the West Has Won

“Is the world a better place because you were born?” asks author Derrick Jensen. He contrasts sustainable indigenous cultures who enrich their habitat with the current “dominant culture destroying everything.” He explores how industrial civilization is inherently violent, turning people into objects and the earth into stuff. His books include A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, What We Leave Behind and Endgame. www.derrickjensen.org

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

Peak Moment explores locally reliant living for challenging times. The Peak Moment Shows are available at the Potsdam Public Library for borrowing and/or interlibrary loan.