Faith Morgan and Pat Murphy, wife-husband team.
Pat Murphy
Pat Murphy served as both Director of Research and Executive Director of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is the author of the books Plan C – Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Chang (New Society 2008), The Green Tragedy (2009), and Spinning Our Wheels (2010). He was the co-writer and co-producer of the organization’s award-winning documentary film, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006). Pat writes on energy, peak oil, geopolitics, and lifestyle solutions to climate change. Prior to working for Community Solutions, Pat was the founder of a software company that developed a “design for manufacturing” program for residential building, which greatly reduced waste in the construction process. He also designed and built active solar homes. In addition Pat had a long career in computer applications in transportation, construction and energy industries. His main interest is on the techniques and strategies for a steady reduction in the per capita use of fossil fuels in years to come. He has been involved in small communities much of his life and sees this as the context within which needed lifestyle changes can be reached.
Faith Morgan
Faith Morgan formerly worked for the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions in a number of capacities, including most recently as Executive Director. Concerned about U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, she led a film crew to Cuba to document what happened after the USSR collapsed in 1990, when Cuba’s oil imports were cut in half. The story of this social disaster and Cuba’s response to living without cheap, abundant oil is chronicled in her film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006). She helped plan and implement Community Solution’s six conferences on solutions to peak oil and climate change (2004-2008 and 2014). She is the director and co-writer of a second film, Passive House Revolution (2013), which explains this innovative method of building to very high energy-efficiency standards. Faith is also a painter, sculptor, and avid gardener.
Pat’s Story: Thirteen Years Studying Energy and C02 Emmissions
On June 1, 2015 I left my position as Research Director at the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions (CS), where I had served as Executive Director and Research Director for 13 years. CS was a small organization with minimal funding; so much had to be done by spirit, ingenuity and intelligence. Friends suggested I write about what led me to do my energy work and to summarize the high points of that time period. This document is in response to that request. It also describes my next efforts.
I first became involved with energy concerns when I met author Richard Heinberg in 2001 and subscribed to his MuseLetter in 2002. This was before his book The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003), was published.
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Faith’s Story: Where I Began
I grew up in an intentional community of 12 homes called The Vale, founded by my parents, Griscom and Jane and other Friends (Quakers), two miles south of Yellow Springs Ohio. The Vale is a 45-acre parcel of mostly wooded land tucked in between a farmer’s fields and Glen Helen, a 1000-acre nature preserve. My family lived frugally, growing a large garden each summer and putting up food for the winter. Homes were small and many are energy efficient. My mother’s home, where I now live, was designed with this in mind. A few years ago 80 homes were audited in YS and ours was one of the top three in low energy use.
When I was three and a half my mother contracted polio. She could no longer trek down to the “bottom” land where our garden was. My brother John and I took up the tasks of planting, maintaining, and harvesting.
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