Meeting on jobs and energy next week in Staunton
WHAT: “Beyond Pain at the Pump: What is Peak Oil and What Does It Mean to You?” a community conversation on jobs, energy and our local economy.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 13, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.
WHERE: Staunton Public Library, 1 Churchville Ave.
WHO: Speakers will include Jeff Sties, sustainable architect and owner of Sunbiosis PC in Charlottesville, and Erik and Lindsay Curren, co-founders of Transition Staunton Augusta. Co-sponsored by the Sierra Club (Shenandoah Group), the Augusta Peace and Justice Coalition and the Community Network.
WHY: Could today’s high gas prices be the sign of a new, permanent energy crisis? Some experts think we’re in for an even wilder ride than in the seventies now that the world has passed the point of “peak oil.” If it’s true, from now on, gasoline and everything else connected with oil will get more expensive. There are alternatives — from “unconventional” fossil fuels like tar sands and shale gas to renewable energy like solar and wind — but will they be big enough and can they come soon enough? In this conversation, you’ll learn the basics about peak oil and get to join a discussion about what it means to America, the Shenandoah Valley and your family. Part of TSA’s series of three conversations, “How Peak Oil Will Change Everything in Your LIfe and Why That Could be Just What You’ll Need.”
Book by Staunton author to be burned in India protest
A book on a power struggle among competing Buddhist factions in Tibet by a Staunton author will be the subject of a symbolic burning on Saturday in India.
The book, Buddha’s Not Smiling: Uncovering Corruption at the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism Today, by author Erik Curren, tells the story of Ogyen Trinley, the second most famous exiled Tibetan lama after the Dalai Lama. The book burning is being organized by followers of Trinley, who is under investigation in India and has long been rumored to be a spy for the Chinese government.
“As a Tibetan Buddhist myself, I am disappointed by such discord among leaders who have vowed to spread compassion and relieve the suffering of all living beings. But this is a stark reminder that no religion has 100 percent perfect followers, even Buddhism,” Curren said.
A spokesman for the group organizing the protest in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim state in India’s northeastern Himalayan area, said the content of Curren’s book “is all cooked up, and facts have been twisted.”
“Joint Action Committee was never contacted for their comments, and everything mentioned in that book is all one-sided,” spokesman K. Sherab said.
Curren disputes that assertion. ”I did contact the Tibetan lama who provides their funding, Tai Situ Rinpoche, but he never responded to me. If he’d wanted me to talk to them, he would have arranged it,” Curren said.
Trinley, the focus of Buddha’s Not Smiling, has since the early 1990s been vying with another young lama for the title of Karmapa Lama, one of the top leaders in Tibetan Buddhism. Since fleeing China in 2000, Trinley has lived in northern India, where controversy around shady financial dealings and the young lama’s own secret relationship with the Chinese government has dogged him. Many in the Indian security services think he’s a spy for Beijing, Curren said.
Last week, the Indian government opened an investigation of Trinley, and in the course of their work, investigators found more than $1 million in cash stashed in the lama’s monastery. His officials have claimed that the money is small donations from devotees. But the cash is bricks of crisp bills in sequential order wrapped in plastic – clearly, according to Curren, a big payout from a wealthy source. And since many of the bills were Chinese currency, the Indians are worried that this lama may be a spy, paid off by China to foment unrest in border areas that are disputed between the two countries and in the past, caused two border wars.
Tomorrow’s protest will include denunciations of the Indian government and a burning of the Curren book, according to published reports.
“When we find corruption among religious leaders, we shouldn’t sweep it under the rug. We should root it out,” Curren said. “But we also shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The world’s great faiths, including Buddhism, are a precious inheritance from previous generations and enlightened teachers and we should continue to treasure them.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
New online publication covering green issues launches today
Transition Voice launched today as the first magazine devoted to the subject of oil and fossil fuel depletion and what it means to the economy.
The online publication will run news, analysis, and features to help families, communities, business leaders, and government officials better understand the challenge of finding affordable energy and the need for our whole society to start moving towards an economy beyond fossil fuels.
“Peak oil is so important that everybody needs to be talking about it. Whether you’re a Buddhist baker in Berkeley or a suburban soccer mom in Sarasota, we hope that Transition Voice will help you understand why energy matters more than almost anything else in the news today,” said Erik Curren, the publisher of Transition Voice.
Curren, who lives in Staunton, is a 20-year veteran of communications and advocacy on energy and environmental issues. Curren launched Transition Voice with his wife, Lindsay Curren, who serves as the magazine’s editor. She first became interested in energy during six years as online discussion moderator at washingtonpost.com covering business, politics, and world news.
Published monthly, the magazine is a project of Transition Staunton Augusta and can be found at http://transitionvoice.com.
“What we can predict is that the availability of fossil fuel is going to be diminishing; that it’s going to get more expensive to recover,” said President Barack Obama in June. And in April, the US Joint Forces Command put out a report saying that “by 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day.”
Every part of the world economy uses oil or other fossil fuels, from growing and shipping food; to making, moving, using and recycling cars and computers; to heating and cooling homes and offices. That’s why any big disruption in energy supply or increase in energy cost could raise prices for consumer products, bankrupt businesses, and destroy jobs badly enough to cause a global depression, civil unrest, and resource wars.
“Sure, peak oil is scary. But it won’t help to get overwhelmed by it. Instead, we should learn the facts, have a good laugh at just how big it all is, and then get to work. There’s a big upside to world that peak oil will bring – stronger communities, tastier food, better quality stuff, and healthier living. And if we do it right, graduating from the Oil Age will help us all live with more freedom,” said publisher Erik Curren.
While there are already several websites with information and discussion about peak oil, Transition Voice will be the first to offer a magazine format online intended to be accessible to a broad audience ranging from experts to people completely new to the issue of peak oil.
The launch issue of Transition Voice features interviews with the late Matt Simmons, oil-industry investment banker, as well as Rob Hopkins, the founder of the Transition movement. Dr. James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climatologists, agreed to let the magazine reprint the speech he gave at the Appalachia Rising rally in Washington, DC in September. The issue also offers pieces from more than a dozen contributors across the United States and beyond, with articles on the rise of Permaculture, how to talk about global climate disruption and the psychology of peak oil, and other features including book reviews, recipes, and an interactive reader poll.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Happy Birthday, Earth Day!
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Earth Day hits the big four-oh this year, and like a person turning 40, it’s going through a sort of midlife crisis.
“I see a growing awareness to how our own consumption has completely hurt and damaged the earth. What I don’t see happening is the desire for wholesale change,” said Steve Grande, a Mary Baldwin College professor and one of the founders of Staunton Green 2020, a local group dedicated toward building a sustainable green economy in Staunton and Augusta County. Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Earth Day!” »
Group puts economic transition at forefront
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
It’s not a Democratic solution that’s going to save us, or a Republican solution. Lindsay Curren learned that on the campaign trail last fall when people who wouldn’t even shake her hand when she told them she was campaigning for her husband, Erik, the Democratic nominee in the 20th House District, ended up engaging in productive discussions of what we all need to do to get the country moving back in the right direction after getting past their partisan hangups. Continue reading “Group puts economic transition at forefront” »
Follow the Red Brick Road
Story by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
It’s not the yellow brick road, but Staunton’s new Red Brick District could put the Queen City on a path toward a kind of economic Oz.
“Tourism is a lifesaver in this economy in a city like Staunton right now. A lot of other industries are hurting, but tourism is the one industry here that’s been on the upswing,” said Erik Curren, the director of marketing at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, and the driving force behind the new Red Brick District, a partnership of arts and culture organizations and City Hall that will promote the arts and promote economic development at the same time. Continue reading “Follow the Red Brick Road” »
Republicans sweep local House races
Not much to say about the four contested House of Delegates races in the AFP reader area. The Democrats got pantsed.
Jeff Price’s 28.8 percent showing in his 24th District challenge to Republican Ben Cline was actually the best showing of the four, if you can believe that. And Price wasn’t even able to get what a Green Party candidate, Eric Sheffield, was able to do in 2005 in the 24th against Cline.
Erik Curren got 28.3 percent of the vote against Staunton City Councilman Dickie Bell in the 20th District, even falling short in Staunton by 59.8 percent-to-40.8 percent margin. To put the defeat in Staunton in perspective, Barack Obama won the Queen City last fall. Continue reading “Republicans sweep local House races” »
Chris Graham | Where I am on local elections
I explained in a column today on our new sister website, VirginiaPoliticsToday.com, how much I loathe making endorsements.
That said, I get it that some of our readers are at the least interested in knowing where I am on local elections, assuming that since I do news and analysis for a living I might have some insights into what’s going on.
So … here goes. Continue reading “Chris Graham | Where I am on local elections” »
AFP Focus | Breaking down some campaign money numbers
Dickie Bell had a busy Oct. 1-21 campaign period, raising $13,375 for his 20th District campaign, but Bell also ended the period with $13,635.03 in debts remaining unpaid, according to a report on campaign activity filed with the State Board of Elections this week.
The Bell campaign reported having a balance of $31,200.50 in cash on hand as of Oct. 21. Accounting for the debts remaining unpaid, the campaign would actually have available funds of $17,824.50. Continue reading “AFP Focus | Breaking down some campaign money numbers” »
Democrats aim high
Marrow, Curren face steep hills to climb
Story by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
A candidate for public office needs to shake as many hands and slap as many backs as possible. A Democratic Party candidate in the bright-red Shenandoah Valley has to work twice as hard to have a shot on Election Day.
“You’ve got to beat the streets, pound the pavement,” 25th District Democratic Party candidate Greg Marrow said before a meet-and-greet with voters in Waynesboro earlier this month. “I’ve gone through two pairs of shoes already. You’re hot, sweaty, tired. You want to go home and play with your children. But you just know that it’s worth it. You have to believe that it’s going to happen.” Continue reading “Democrats aim high” »
AFP Focus | Checking homework in 20th
Two issues to delve into the 20th District race today, both involving homework.
First, regarding Adrian Rogers and Dickie Bell being a “Republican for a Reason.” The website for Bell, the Republican nominee, featured a quote from the late Rogers, the former head of the American Southern Baptist Convention, on socialism on a webpage titled “Republican for a Reason.” The Bell campaign team failed to do its homework, though. Rogers, an advocate of the inerrancy of the Bible, when asked once his thoughts on what the Bible held on the issue of slavery, answered that slavery was a “much-maligned institution” and offered further that if it had not been abolished “we would not have such a welfare problem.” Continue reading “AFP Focus | Checking homework in 20th” »
GOP, for the most part, dominating local House money races
26th District Democrat Gene Hart is giving Republican incumbent Matt Lohr a run for his re-election money, literally. Aside from Hart, though, Democratic candidates contending for seats representing the Central Shenandoah Valley in Richmond are struggling to keep pace with their Republican counterparts.
Hart actually outraised Lohr in the Sept. 1-30 reporting period, according to reports both filed with the State Board of Elections this week. Hart took in $9,974.04 in the month of September, while Lohr raised $4,040 in the period.
Of Lohr’s total, $1,500 came from political action committees – the Altria Corporate Services PAC, the Virginia Coal Association PAC and the Virginia Hospital Association PAC. Hart did not receive any PAC monies in the period. Continue reading “GOP, for the most part, dominating local House money races” »
