Falling gasoline prices are a reflection of the broader economic collapse, says a local oil industry analyst, and it probably won't be good news if they stay low.

Richard Heinberg is the author of Peak Everything and The Party's Over, among other books on oil and energy policy issues.

Heinberg says that pump prices and the per-barrel cost of crude were not the only things that peaked last summer.

 

 

Reining in oil speculators would be a constructive response to the events of the past year, Heinberg says, but that's only a first step.

 

 

Where there's fire there's smoke, and on Spare The Air days that's not a good thing.

 

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has adopted new rules that prohibit district residents from using wood burning stoves or fireplaces on specified Spare the Air Days during the winter months.

 

You can subscribe to an automated email notification system for "no burn: days here. There is also an automated telephone notification system. The Spare the Air Winter alerts are also available by calling 1-877-4-NOBURN (1-877-466-2876).

Most of Sonoma County is part of the Bay Area Air Quality District, and subject to the new rules.The coastal and northern parts of the county which lie outside the  District are not covered by its regulations, and compliance in these areas is voluntary..To see a list of cities and counties covered by the Spare The Air no-burn rules, click here .

 

 

The holidays are a peak travel time for the airlines, so knowing your rights as a passenger can help ensure a more satisfactory travel experience.

Former realtor Kate Hanni is the founder and president of the Napa-based Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. Her Organization maintains a tool-free telephone number for travelers to report standings and other problems, which she says are promptly verified and compiled into a national database.

Flyersrights Hotline: 877-FLYERS6 (877-359-3776)

The Coalition has also prepared a  Stranded Flyer's Survival Guide with a combination of practical and somewhat tongue-in-cheek items to use if you should happen to wind up on a grounded plane.

The New York state legislature was the first in the country to adopt a flyers bill of rights in August, 2007. But the measure was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals which ruled it interferred with federal regulatory authority over the airlines.

 

 

 

 

Northern California representative Mike Thompson has been a leader in the effort to win Congressional passage of a nationwide airline Passengers Bill of Rights. You can read the draft bill here.

Virtually every business in California will be affected when the state's climate change bill, AB 32, kicks in next year. But one of the bill's co-authors says it's not likely to be as painful as many people fear.

 

Compliance with the new rules for reducing greenhouse gas emissions will come in three forms:  incentives, regulations, and some form of trading of emission costs and credits. Joe Nation explains that such a mechanism will reward those businesses that have already taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

 

 

Joe Nation

 

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was  joined by international leaders with a consistent record of addressing the global threat of climate change, New York Governor George Pataki and other environmental and industry leaders at the bill signing for AB 32 on Treasure Island in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 27, 2006.  

Now, as the state's businesses prepare to work under the law's provisions, Joe Nation offers the following 11-point to do list to help them cope:

 

AB 32 "To DO" List

Action Item	Specific Steps to Take
1. Don't panic.	Think long term.  AB 32 implementation will result in some modest economics challenges, but over several years, it will help more than it hurts.
2. Know your energy and carbon footprint.	Knowing what you use and emit will help you create a reduction plan.  Even if you don't have to reduce, you may have to report emissions.
3. Make energy management and carbon management a priority.	Create your own company's version of the "Prius" effect.  Energy users typically reduce consumption 10 percent just by monitoring their use.
4. Become even more energy efficient.

From the Basque region of Spain comes a flourishing new business model that emphasizes cooperation as a key to innovation.

Georgia Kelly(left) is the founder of the Sonoma-based Praxis Peace Institute. The Praxis website has details about the seminar they hosted at Mondragon in September, as well as a schedule of upcoming events, including their annual lunch, Dec. 6 with featured guests Swami Beyondanada and actress/activist Mimi Kennedy.

Cooperative governance also leads to unorthodox responses to typical business problems. In the audio clip below, Kelly describes how the leadership and workforce at one of the Mondragon companies dealt with a unanticipated slowdown.

The workforce at the Mondragon Cooperative's technology center.