Support Dale Allen Pfeiffer's peak oil writing

This message came to us from Dale Allen Pfeiffer, who used to write for Ruppert's From the Wilderness and now runs SurvivingPeakOil.com. I figured there'd be folks here who would want to support Dale and his writings:

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Personal Appeal

Please excuse me from making this personal appeal to you, but you havebeen a valued friend, peer and/or reader, and I am afraid I must ask for your help. I am not soliciting donations, but am simply seeking to promote the sales of my new periodical, The Mountain Sentinel.

Currently all of my income is derived from The Mountain Sentinel. To date, the first issue has sold 38 copies, and the second issue has sold 11 copies. I receive $2 for every copy sold, so this means that my income since February of this year is $98. Were it not for food stamps, heating assistance, and Elizabeth's $350/month alimony, I would not be able to write to you now.

At this rate, there may not be another issue of The Mountain Sentinel. I have plenty of important material to write about, but the lack of sales is making it very difficult to continue. Not only would I be forced to discontinue The Mountain Sentinel, but I would likely have to give up the survivingpeakoil.com website and retire from writing about energy issues and sustainability altogether.

Survivingpeakoil.com received nearly 10,000 hits per month over the past year. I have tried to keep this a free source of information. Unfortunately, I can no longer support it myself. The GRITS book has helped to cover the costs of the site. And, as part of the ongoing transformation of the website, we are hooking the store up to an amazon.com associates program so we will receive a little remuneration
for any books sold through the store. Beyond this, I have resisted placing the site on a commercial, paying basis and have instead set up a sister site for The Mountain Sentinel in the hopes of drawing a portion of the readership from survivingpeakoil to purchase the periodical.

Despite all of our efforts, sales of The Mountain Sentinel remain very slow. I believe the periodical performs a vital service and is more than fairly priced. At this point, I am not selling subscriptions because I do not want to make promises which I may not be able to keep. So for now The Mountain Sentinel is only being sold on a per issue basis. Just to cover our bills, we need to sell 500 copies per month.

At present, I am the sole writer and editor for The Mountain Sentinel. It takes a lot of time to research and write the articles. Then I must do all of the formatting and proofreading as well. If the periodical does not generate sufficient income, I will not have the time to continue it.

Upcoming issues will feature articles on tar sands, coal & uranium mining deregulation, more criticism of hydrogen fuel cells, global dimming, linking energy depletion efforts with the global warming movement, and in depth looks at permaculture, ecovillages, personal efforts to achieve self-sufficiency, and various sustainability and
relocalization organizations.

We are also working out the details for a new project to host town hall meetings with small groups and communities throughout the US and elsewhere via the internet. These meetings would include a presentation and a question & answer period. Such a venue would allow us to bring our message personally to many communities and groups that could not afford to bring speakers in person. It would also save on the fuel costs of traveling around the country to speak in various places. Right now we are still working out the details and debating on what would be a fair fee for this service.

None of this will be possible, however, unless The Mountain Sentinel starts selling far beyond its current rate. Right now, we cannot even afford to promote the periodical with advertising. Currently, the few sales we have had were generated through word of mouth.

All I am asking is that you please buy The Mountain Sentinel, and if you think that it is worthwhile, please recommend it to your friends and acquaintances, mention it on your website, and link to www.mountainsentinel.com.

Finally, I would like to thank you for all the support and attention that you have given me over the past several years. Your high regard has been very much appreciated.

Dale Allen Pfeiffer