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<DIV><SPAN class=049571401-29082005><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080
size=2>Keith, many thanks for this.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=049571401-29082005><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080 size=2>It
points out very clearly the (often hidden) ways that cheap fuel has
subsidised profit-making elsewhere (selling off the warehouses, staff costs) -
and, in a sense, distorted the infrastructure.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=049571401-29082005><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV align=left><SPAN class=594123104-17112004><FONT face=Verdana color=#000000
size=2>Sandy Pollard</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=594123104-17112004><FONT face=Verdana
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN class=594123104-17112004><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080
size=2></FONT></SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
peakoil-bounces+sandy.pollard=dewr.gov.au@act-peakoil.org
[mailto:peakoil-bounces+sandy.pollard=dewr.gov.au@act-peakoil.org] <B>On Behalf
Of </B>Keith Thomas<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, August 28, 2005 9:45
AM<BR><B>To:</B> ACT Peak Oil discussion Oil discussion<BR><B>Subject:</B>
[Peakoil] A couple of useful resources<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><!-- Converted from text/enriched format -->
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">While researching to compile the peak oil web
page at www.natsoc.org.au (which itself exists as a reference for the one-page
peak oil primer downloadable from the same site), I came across many items that
I found useful in imagining the early stages of an 'orderly transition' (to use
Paul Thompson's phrase). </DIV><BR>
<DIV>I'd like to bring two of these to your attention. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>One is the report compiled for a Canadian government of the September 2000
fuel blockade in the UK. The fuel blockade lasted for just a week, but rationing
was introduced (the report lists the organizations given priority for fuel).
Possibly the greatest disruption came from the reliance of manufacturing, retail
and service industries on 'just-in-time' inventory control. Just-in-time relies
on complex computer networks, barcoding and the assumption that transport costs
are trivial. It was introduced in the 1980s and 1990s and enabled the
elimination of warehouse staff and the sell-off of warehouses. Prior to
just-in-time, shops had a storeroom 'out the back' or a warehouse in a low-rent
suburb which backed up the inner city shop. Now smaller businesses rely on
overnight courier services and the supermarkets receive truckloads of goods from
suppliers overnight that are unloaded and stacked on the shelves in the very
early morning. Shops hold just a few days supply of goods 'out the back'; for
some lines, ALL the stock is on the shelves. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>The service sector depends on just-in-time as well. In the UK, one of the
earliest exposures in the National Health Service appeared in hospital laundry.
This is run on a just-in-time basis with a small supply of clean bedding in the
hospital, a laundry in a low rent outer suburb and vans carrying the soiled and
washed linen back and forth daily. A number of hospitals were running out of
clean bedding within three days of the blockade beginning. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>The report on the UK blockade brings out the interdependencies of oil,
electricity and information flows. Resolving blackouts, for instance, depends on
rapid communication and the prompt despatch of repair crews in their trucks.
Armoured vehicle services are needed to shift coins and banknotes throughout the
day. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>The second item is quite different: David Holmgren's 52-minute video
interview recorded last month. He ranges more widely than permaculture and peak
oil into nitrogen fertilizers; 'food security' being accepted by governments 50
years ago as one of their key responsibilities; sensitivity of crops to climate
shifts (c.f. gradual climate change) – Australian farmers being more accustomed
to this than farmers elsewhere; human population decline, the shape it may take
and how we should or should not plan for it; role of women. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>Links to both these and much else is at the Nature and Society Forum
website </DIV>
<DIV>http://www.natsoc.org.au</FONT> </DIV><BR>
<DIV>-------------------------------------------- </DIV>
<DIV>Keith Thomas </DIV>
<DIV>www.evfit.com </DIV>
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