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Follow Up:October 30, 2009Post Peak Film and Lecture Series Showing of Kiss Your Gas Goodbye
 Sustainable Berea and the SENS program from Berea College teamed up to present the “Building  Post Peak Berea Film and Lecture Series”. The Goals of the series was to educate members of thecommunity on practical Power-down strategies to reduce the community’s dependence on oil  production and distribution. The series will also help community members recognize where theywould be vulnerable as the oil supply continues to decrease and the price of gas and oil increases, so that they can develop practical strategies to increase the Resilience of the Community of Bereathrough relocalisation and better efficiency of the City’s businesses and homes.
Kiss Your GasGoodbye
Friday, October 30, 2009@ Berea Public Library, 6:30 PM
 Background Info on the Film:
 During the film, Kiss Your Gas Goodbye
 
 , Richard Heinberg discusses the end of the fossil fuels. His graphs reveal not only declining global oil and other energy sources, but also many other critical resources like minerals, fresh water and topsoil. Noting that all previous civilizationshave collapsed, he lays out three possible scenarios for the future. He concludes with resilience strategies including energy substitution and economic relocalisation, as we embark on the most challenging energy transition humanity have ever faced.
 
Overview
22 students and community members filled the auditorium of the Madison CountyPublic Library to view the film. Afterward, Finnley Hayes of Berea’s SustainableAppalachian Communities course (taught by Richard Olson) led the discussion of strategies individuals could make to reduce their energy consumption. Strategiesincluded;
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buying local food or creating edible gardens to reduce CO2 production fromdistribution, industrial agriculture, and relocalisation
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reducing meat consumption by eliminating one meal with meat to reduce theproduction of methane emissions of cattle and using natural fertilizers
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insulating homes, reducing windows and retrofitting homes to makehousehold more energy efficient in order to cut down on energy waste andsave money
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changing to cfl or led light bulbs to reduce the 90+% of energy wasted fromincandescent light bulbs
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turning off appliances, such as computers, curling irons, disc players, etcbefore you leave home
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putting appliances on a strip outlet to turn them all off simultaneously whenyou’re not home or sleeping
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making use of new tax deductions given for purchasing all electric cars
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shutting off water when lathering hands and brushing teeth
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pushing local governments to begin building infrastructure for reducedenergy consumption and oil dependency through public policy
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performing oil audits on homes to discover where individuals were wastingthe most non renewable energy –so that they could be aware of where theywould be financially hit the hardest as the price of oil continues to increase
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changing out inefficient water heaters with more efficient models orconverting to solar heating
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reskilling, or learning to grow edible gardens, canning, or learning crafts toproduce household needs in the home
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participating in the local farmer’s market
 
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using low flow shower heads or low flow aerators on household sinks
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increasing discussions with local community members at future film showingsor getting in touch with groups that are already active –like Sustainable Bereato learn more about what you could be doing to reduce energy consumption,save money and collaborate with community experts
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putting up rain barrels around your drainage pipes to capture rain water
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and the list goes on….Viewers were encouraged to participate in discussions about many other ideas andseemed actively engaged in coming to future Post Peak Berea discussions to furtherwork on collaborating upon ideas. Many of the ideas listed were included, amongothers, for reducing household dependence upon oil and natural gas poweredenergy and contributing less to mountain top removal. Community membersseemed to be very receptive toward more future participation and were veryengaged in the discussions. The participants were also encouraged given brochuresand encouraged to check out the Sustainable Berea website and Post Peak Bereablog site for more information on community initiatives and information about peakoil. The participants were also very pleased with the door prizes of cfls, SustainableBerea calendars (the newest edition), and gift baskets of local honey, greencleaners and cosmetics.
Challenges:
Although the turnout was better than expected for the grassroots and viralmarketing techniques on Facebook, one community member, who only heard aboutthe series within 2 hours of the event wished that the event had have beenmarketed better to give her more time for planning. Her information was recordedto ensure that she would be notified in a prompt manner of upcoming events andshe was also given a brochure with the blog site information, where the showingdates are listed. Of the Facebook invitees, 7 of the 9 confirmed guests attended,but there is some speculation that this might be due to programming conflicts withHalloween festivities and the campus production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.For the next showing: Transforming Local Businesses we will work to devise a bettermarketing strategy for community members who don’t have readily availableaccess to internet or local businesses in the City of Berea. This may mean talkingwith local business owners about how they promote their local events andcollaborating with the Berea tourism and the Berea Chamber of Commerce. It wasrecommended that it would also be beneficial to invite College Faculty, LocalChurches and Campus Center Directors and environmental groups such as MASED,KEF, KFTC, and KySES to find out what other groups within the region work oninitiatives such as this and send them invitations in a timely fashion. Oneparticipant recommended doing repeat showings of tonight’s film and discussion
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