Personal Information:

In recent years I have helped found various groups, including the Energy Transition Team, Beyond Oil Sonoma County and Puna Beyond Petro (on the Hawai'i Island). Hundreds of my articles on Peak Oil and related issues have been published by and are archived at energybulletin.net, hawaiiisslandjournal.com, www.dissidentvoice.org, and numerous other publications. I have given many public presentations on energy descent and related issues, especially war-making. I was raised in a military (father's side) and farming (mother's side) family around the US and in Latin America and served as a U.S. Army officer during the Vietnam era and then as a Methodist minister.

I did doctoral studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School on the "cultural action" ideas of Brazilian philosopher of education Paulo Freire. After working in Chile during the government of President Salvador Allende, I spent a decade at Harvard, in various capacities, including doing post-doctoral study in psychology. I was a Visiting Professor of Communication at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, 2003-2005, teaching courses on Public Speaking, Leadership, Group Dynamics, and the Oral Interpretation of Literature. I have also taught at other colleges and at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, Hollyhock Farm in Canada, the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Mexico, and in Barcelona, Spain. My specialty is blending spoken word, especially poetry, with music and sound, both for artistic merit and for social change. I have been interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue shows about cultural action and had a radio show for three years.

My current work focuses on connecting energy depletion to war and peace issues. One of the advantages that I see of energy descent is that after the oil wars--if we make it through them--global warfare will be more difficult. I have contributed to 18 books, most recently to "Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace," edited by Maxine Hong Kingston (www.vowvop.org.) I have been a member of the Veterans' Writing Group, with Maxine as our teacher, for over a decade now. Some of my writing on Peak Oil was done with the support of that group.

Since 1992 I have run the organic Kokopelli Farm, outside Sebastopol, which specializes in berries, apples, and eggs. I moved to the Big Island in 2003 partly to explore it as a good place to live during oil descent. After three years there, I returned to my farm, mainly because of Peak Oil. I am a local in Sonoma County, which has a vibrant community and adequate farmland and water to survive the tough times ahead. I have chosen this place to make my stand and work toward a post-carbon world with friends, though sometimes the Latin America of my childhood and young adulthood still beckons me away from war-making America. I am a native son of California and whenever I try to leave, my feet bring me back here.

As the Peak Oil movement grows, I would like to see it develop more cultural diversity, gender balance, and Peak Oil humor. For example, the Mexican firefighter and veteran Andrew Aguilar (now deceased) reported, "When I heard of Peak Oil, I decided to study yoga." When I asked why, he responded, "I want to be able to bend over and kiss my ass good-bye." I honor Andrew's gallows humor--Andrew Aguilar presente!

Or as another firefighter and veteran friend, Filipino Raimundo Gatchalian (also deceased) used to say, "Big fire, big water." There is indeed a Big Fire coming our way these days, which requires Big Water. As Deena Metzger writes in a poem, "There are those who are trying to set fire to the world./ We are in danger./ There is time only to work slowly./ There is no time not to love."