An Update About Al Franken

Woo Hoo! I was right! Way to go Al!

Late Night Brainstorming Sessions

For any of you following the Bright Neighbor project…

How To Profit From America’s New Shopping List

Hey America, if you are paying attention, you can make a lot of money right now!

President Obama just told us his shopping list for his three year plan (funny, it takes three years for fruit trees to produce). Obama is about to get a check for $825,000,000,000 dollars and he wants to buy all sorts of cool new things for America, such as:

10,000 school renovations – Great for all the folks who can help kids learn about chickens and growing vegetables and neat stuff like that

Improved local community communications networks – Hey, I sell those things!

75% of Federal building to be more energy efficient – You mean like ride sharing? Light bulbs? Turning computers off?

2.5 Million weatherized homes – Wow, whoever makes bricks and insulation from waste plastic bags & stuff will make a killing!

Double America’s renewable energy – Woo hoo! I sell hooch making machines! I’m gonna be rich!

Anyway, I am writing about this because the secret is, and always will be, to be a master of markets for things people really need. That means neighborhood collectives can team up and go legally harvest firewood and split it up among the community, where people volunteer their labor in exchange for good and services they need.

Money, as we know it, is just a means of representing value. What has real value to you? Probably the same things that have value to everyone else: Food, shelter, transportation, water, electricity, friends, resilient neighborhoods and communities, skills and stuff the community can use.

That’s the power behind Bright Neighbor. We offer a machine that helps fix community economies and ecology. Think about it this way…

Chickens are egg machines.
Gardens are fruit and vegetable machines.
Trees are fruit and nut machines.
Worms and mushrooms are soil fixing machines.

Bright Neighbor is a communications system, a carbon reduction machine, a money saving machine, and a community repair machine all-in-one. We have implemented it in governments, businesses, faith communities, private corporations, and with individual community organizers who want to fix their community. Our customer base now ranges in all of these markets, and if President Obama wants to buy any of these things, Bright Neighbor is one of America’s post-petroleum startups now open for business.

Three cheers for the Three Year Plan! I hope you make oodles of money.

- Randy White

PS: If you are interested in setting up a Bright Neighbor community communications system, please fill out this form.

On the Behavior of Staying and Keeping Warm

What is more evil:

A) Running your heating source (gas, electric, oil, etc.) at full blast at the future expense of other humans
B) Asking for assistance once you have exhausted all of your own resources?

Are either evil at all?

Are you here, do you really exist?
Why does blood flow from open flesh?
Will we actually be able to stop the planet from toasting us right off the surface?
Will we destroy ourselves with nuclear devastation and religious wars?
Is nuclear war carbon negative or carbon positive?
Will children starve to death because their parents are out of work?
Will hard working people lose their homes because of government and financial services greed?
Will people start to take part in the creation of food, not just the eating of it?
Will people voluntarily wear a warm bathrobe instead of turning on their heat?

These are some samples of the thoughts I have wondered about this morning. And these thoughts of course become explorations themselves, as we question our existence and how we will possibly feed so many people as the economies of the world collapse.

After all, people would rather play video games and sell “thin air” than get out and work the soil. But what choice do we have? The government can’t hand out welfare checks and food stamps forever, there are too many people taking and not enough people putting back in. That means there is an imbalance in the force, young Luke.

So how do we counter that imbalance?

It seems people are waking up to our desperate situation.This is when strong leaders are needed, and people need to support their leaders. George Washington would have lost the Revolutionary War against the British if France hadn’t come to his aid to help him pay his troops. Of course, he hung his troops for not showing up to work… at least these days you just get fired.

Yes, we have become a nation of pansies, crying like babies for handouts from Mom and Dad government and the generosity of people who love us. Or some kind, random stranger who helps you out because it is the right thing to do. However you survive, the question still remains:

Do you wear a bathrobe, or blast the heat?

I am in a bathrobe in my freezing ass house, and I wish I could blast the heat. But it’s not the right thing to do. Brrrrrrr.

The Recession and Depression of Plenty

Have you noticed how even homeless people have cell phones?

The peak oil community, for the longest time, has been freaked out about running out of resources. There have been all sorts of efforts to help people prepare for a society fighting over the remaining resources. The problem with our society and economic system, however, is the opposite of the normal peak oil argument – we actually have too much stuff, not the other way around. Granted – there are people that go without things like ipods – but they make due.

In general, we have created an over abundance of cars, toasters, programmers, and advertising sales people. The problem isn’t ’stuff’ depletion as much as money depletion. We have plenty of stuff. Which is why with food available, people aren’t trying to learn how to garden – they are just trying to land another job to pay their bills.

The fight is really between human laws and mother nature’s laws. We are at the peak of everything, but the cash is scarce – having been sucked into corporate officers’ pockets. Right now, CEOs and lawyers are still fat and happy, while your average worker is getting laid off due to their redundancy. The system hasn’t collapsed – it has retracted. Without any money in savings, the ability for people to live at the same level of comfort is what is threatened, not the monetary construct. We haven’t created a new economic system to replace the old one, so suffering is occurring as the old system ceases like an engine without oil.

If we all defaulted on our debts to banks – could the banks kick everyone out of their homes at once? We aren’t there yet, we are still in the peak oil ‘collections period’.

This means while jobs and money become more scarce, we are back to people trying to sell off their goods and services to make ends meet – creating a surplus of Nintendo Wii consoles on Craigslist. All the people with money have to do is wait longer, and the prices will come down even further. Yes, the general population has been fattened for the slaughter, and the feasting has begun.

So, what to do?

Well, I created a sharing system for friends and neighbors (or anyone in a geographic region or community for that matter) to share resources. If groups of people would inventory their stuff, they could share things. But sharing stuff only helps save money – it doesn’t generate it, unless you rent out your stuff when you let someone borrow it.

For instance – many people have tools. The stores have plenty of tools, too. So when someone needs a drill, they can either borrow one or they can buy one. But lots of people already have drills – and the folks at the drill factory are being laid off as the realization that we have materialized enough stuff for everyone kicks into our consciousness.

And when there is no more market demand for cars, toasters, or whatever has been produced enough – people get laid off. Those workers still need to make payments for bills and debts, however. So they ask for assistance from the government – racking up more claims and causing a drain on government resources.

How long can the government hand out food stamps and heating assistance before it is overwhelmed and more people are taking than adding to it? We are seeing it happen in front of our eyes.

So as this recession continues, it is the quest for continued sources of money – not the quest for ’stuff’ that is the way the average person is experiencing peak oil. I think we will continue to see more people living together rather than having their own private nests.

At least we have lots of Nintendos to play.

America Has Lost The War For Oil

Well folks, George Bush just signed our “Game Over” papers for us.

Most Americans still don’t know what the SOFA agreement is, or what it means. I would say it means you won’t be able to as easily lay your ass around the couch anymore, but there is a more adult explanation going around the media.

The key elements of the President Bush signed SOFA agreement are the requirement that U.S. forces leave all Iraqi cities and towns by June 2009, and leave Iraq entirely by December 2011. In addition, all U.S. military action must now be coordinated in advance with the Iraqis, and the United States may not use Iraq as a base to attack neighbors (that is, Syria and Iran).

The terms of the SOFA pact contain some vague language and the U.S. military says it’s counting on its ability to interpret the language in ways that it prefers. It is said that Bush has thereby gotten a better deal than Obama’s 16-month withdrawal plan. This is a big, fat lie. Obama definitely had the better withdrawal plan. Obama’s proposal had been that U.S. combat forces leave in 16 months, but had set no date for “training” forces, leaving open the possibility of indefinite stationing of some U.S. forces. The SOFA agreement gets all forces out by December 2011. And Bush, not Obama, signed off on this.

Even Michael Moore has issued his “Oh Shit” proclamation. Regarding the collapse of the Big Three US automakers, Moore proclaims:

“You might assume that I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about these miserably inept crapmobile makers down the road in Detroit city. But I do care. I care about the millions whose lives and livelihoods depend on these car companies. I care about the security and defense of this country because the world is running out of oil — and when it runs out, the calamity and collapse that will take place will make the current recession/depression look like a Tommy Tune musical. “

The good news is that we don’t need oil to survive – there are lots of ways to live a tip-top life without oil. The people who run the world know this – they just want to keep everyone convinced to keep using their products to run cars that are cheaply built.

We can fuel America’s vehicles on the 70 million acres if mesquite that grows in the southwestern united states without using a single ear of corn. We can grow kelp farms that cool the ocean temperature while rebuilding living ocean ecosystems that help fix the planet. You can make ethanol from the kelp, which grows and regrows every time you harvest it (it grows about a foot a day).

So the real question for Americans is what they will do about losing the war for oil. We are getting our military out of the place with lots of oil. We have no choice but to move to alternatives, which I have listed time and time again on this blog.

Luckily, Bright Neighbor has already been deployed and is ready to help any city or community inside or outside the US. As times get really tough, we will be helping people gorw their own food and fuel, move things around better, share resources, share rides and transportation, as well as help community organizers as communities relocalize.

If we get hit with oil shortages in the US, we stand ready to work together – we just need real leadership and for each of us to focus on work that matters – including rebuilding our infrasructure so we are no longer dependent on oil. The work has already begun, and there is certainly lots of opportunities to start a profitable new business right now.

David Blume Presentation in Portland, Oregon

This video is from when I brought David Blume to Portland before his book was published a couple years ago. Man, this dude has the total plan that can get us out of this Peak Oil and ecological destruction mess we are in.

Remember, we have to not only help secure food supplies, but also stop mankind’s madness. Three cheers for missions with purpose!

There is New Money in Growing Food in Yards, Lawns, and Backyards

Peak oil has arrived, and so now we kick in peak oil / post-petroleum market solutions.

Congratulations to you, entrepreneurial city farmers. You are leading the way in the new green economy. Forget carbon credits – look out for new LLCs forming farming partnerships.

We are even seeing the beginnings of people doing yard sharing, lawn sharing, and sharecropping in Portland. Bright Neighbor helps facilitate such partnerships between farmers, gardeners, land owners, volunteers, and customers.

If you live in Portland, join today! If you live elsewhere, let’s talk about getting Bright Neighbor set up where you live.

Yee haw everyone, here we go!

Living On Earth In 2008

It is 2008, and things are just fine on planet earth. Right.

Here we are, a supposedly highly evolved animal, busy producing both electrons and atoms. And we are at an important stage of life’s evolution. It is a beautiful awakening, and I can now imagine what it feels like to be a butterfly cracking open the chrysalis to begin a new life.

We did it folks! We won! We beat ourselves…. we created an amazing round of cities, cultures, and connections. We found methods to light our own way like fireflies providing their own electricity. We have broken free from energy constraints, and have freed our minds from the clutches of fantasy.

A great understanding is sweeping the land, a new recognition of human problems as a whole, realizing that we can stop killing each other if we give everyone positive activities that help to feed and power ourselves. Imagine all the new lives we will each explore as we learn about the wonders of the planet’s truths and laws.

Yes, in 2008 – we can thank the gods of creativity for the i-Phone. We can thank Google for providing us logistical support. We can thank our organic farmers who stand at the ready to teach us how to live beautiful, healthy, nutritious lives. We can thank all the hippies who are more than happy to show everyone the way.

Evolution can be a violent process, and human violence can be behind us. We have gone through enough pain, shed enough blood, and destroyed enough families. War is obviously not the answer we seek.

Corporations are realizing they must now allow us to work with one another, rather than only for them. They realize that we are thinking more than ever, and we must be allowed more free time to volunteer for community projects, skills training classes, talk about our feelings, and for converting our homes to deal with the crash of excess.

Imagine if our homes became producers instead of consumers. If where we live helped produce oxygen, sequester carbon, produce more electricity than it used, contributed to fixing soil, and featured its own water harvest and cleansing system.

All of this is possible, if we aren’t too lazy and stupid. There are many lazy humans who given the opportunity, choose to suck off the life force of others instead of contributing to the effort of the whole. This is the great shake-down, and mother earth is in no mood for playing favorites.

And so, as the truth becomes evident that we must all contribute to our our own salvation through smarter food production, intelligent water usage, and weaning ourselves from relying on so many technologies. In the times head, we are bound to experience everything from immense spiritual awakening to the dark realities of nuclear explosions.

There is potential for unlimited love and unlimited hatred in this world. The way to begin to extinguish evil is to make sure people are fed. This must be the top policy of world and local government. And by feeding the world, we must abstain from meat as much as we can, to make room for more fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

There are enough cookbooks around the world and online recipe sites to help everyone make vegetarian dishes that send God into orgasm. There is enough land that everyone can take part in rebuilding our planet’s soils. There are enough vehicles for people to slow down and take the time to share rides. There is enough of everything, except trust and love.

So let 2008 be the year that humans begin to learn to share more than they ever have known before, and to be good people. Good means caring about more than just yourself and your family… it means caring about the whole.

I very much look forward to helping in the effort.

Hey America, We Never Really Needed Gasoline

Congrats America – you just bought yourselves a whole lot of bad debt! Yay for our collective wisdom, or lack of it. Wall Street and the big bankers of the world thank you very much.

Just a friendly reminder from your friend David Blume, the director of the International Institute for Ecological Agriculture who gave you the plan to avoid this mess in the first place:

We don’t need gasoline.
We never needed it.

Facts: Scientific and historical about gasoline and alcohol

1. The original automobiles ran on alcohol because when they were invented gasoline was not available.

2. John D. Rockefeller spent $4 million in early 1900 dollars (that we know of) to promote Prohibition, a ban on alcohol manufacturing in the US that started in 1919 just as the car industry was taking off.

3. When Prohibition was lifted in 1933, gasoline stations were ubiquitous and most engines ran on gasoline only.

4. Alcohol can be manufactured locally and on a community level from renewable plant material for $1 – $2 per gallon.

5. The growing of plant material for alcohol would have no effect on the price of food.

6. The growing of plants for fuel would more than neutralize the carbon created by burning alcohol for fuel.

7. In Brazil, over 50% of new cars sold can already run on 100% alcohol.

8. Producing alcohol from plant material is energy efficient and has a positive energy return (You get more energy out of alcohol than it takes to make it).

9. The oil companies aggressively promote garbage science to deceive the public into believing that alcohol fuels:
a) will cause starvation
b) are uneconomical
c) are net polluters.

10. Gasoline is a high toxic material.

11. It is entirely unneeded to fuel our cars.

12. Oil companies like Chevron have pressured PBS, commercial TV networks and other news media to keep this basic information from the public for decades – and the censorship continues to this day.

Remember this information when the gas shortages start, and pick up a copy of America’s playbook for digging out of this mess.

Our biggest challenge in the world right now is not our 401k’s… it is that there are nuclear armed countries whose people are starving, and they are descending into chaos. All the leaders of the world need to do is feed people and they can maintain order.

The highly armed nations of the world need to be fed, folks – because it sucks to die and countries that are armed with weapons of mass destruction will take others out with them as they go.

And to add to our own domestic national security problem here in the United States, Matt Simmons, one of the world’s foremost energy experts, says gasoline stocks are the lowest here since 1967 and refinery production is down following recent hurricanes. He warns that if there were a run on the “energy bank” by everyone topping off their gasoline tanks, the U.S. would be out of fuel in three days, and grocery shelves largely emptied in a week.

We do not have a very large alcohol fuel energy infrastructure in place yet, and there are bound to be emergency shortages of energy. You can live without electricity and gas, you would just have to get used to digging in the dirt. They survived collapse in Cuba, and we can do it here.

So let’s become less selfish REAL FAST. We can survive without money. But it will be easier as long as we have communities with local leadership, farming and people-organizing skills, electricity, the Internet, and barter systems. I think it would suck if the Internet went away.

Because if it did, I couldn’t watch this Stephen Colbert video.