the end of suburbia

barry silverthorn, the producer of the end of suburbia: oil depletion and the collapse of the american dream, uploaded a 52-minute version of the film to youtube. the end of suburbia documents how peak oil may affect our industrial society in the u.s. (and in the rest of the industrial world) as the globe faces the downslope of petroleum extraction. included in the cast are new urbanist and author of "the geography of nowhere", james howard kunstler, and urban designer peter calthorpe. if you feel the importance of this video, please forward the link on to friends & family. you can also help promote it by going to youtube and rating it and commenting on it. this will help it reach the top rated, and most commented lists.

i found the discussion of how these designers see the adaptive reuse of massive suburban homes into multi-family co-ops using their yards for food production very interesting...hmmm...sounds alot like the permablitzing of suburbs recently highlighted in australia.

a permablitz is basically a permaculture-inspired backyard makeover partay where the neighborhood comes together to share knowledge and skills about organic food gardening in urban settings while building community and having fun.

in her interview with breakdown press, asha bee says this about the permablitz movement:

"I've become excited about what permaculture and food localisation (producing and consuming food in the same area) have to offer. But then when adding peak oil and climate change to the mix, and the likely consequences of these on today's food and agriculture systems, it looks like food localisation using permaculture principles and design is going to offer more than an 'alternative' — it will become a necessity."