Paul Mobbs
and
Mobbs' Environmental Investigations

What do I do?

My professional work has evolved over the years to encompass many skills that I can employ as an when required – which it makes it hard to define what it is "I do". Over the last few years much of my effort has been centred around:

• Writing and Lecturing
• Energy and Environment
• Planning, Waste and Pollution Control
• Information and Communications Technology
• Low-tech Engineering and Renewable Energy
• Free and Open Source Systems

« back to top »

Writing and Lecturing

Today most of my work involves writing. I have always written articles and reports, but in 2005 I published my first proper book detailing my researches on energy and peak oil, Energy Beyond Oil (to read the introduction of the book, click here).

Much of my writing work relates to documenting my own research and development work, and as 'scribe in chief' to the Free Range Network I oversee the production of the Network's information and educational materials. To access the publications of the Free Range Network goto their downloads section on the FRAW site.

I also write articles when invited, the most notable recent examples being short articles for both Chatham House and the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. As the editor of the materials provided via the Free Range Activism Website (FRAW) I can also provide short papers or articles based on material on the site, or provide a license for the commercial use of any publication on the site (since the publications are open licensed for non-commercial use only). If you would like to commission an article, or seek the rights to commercially publish any of the work published via the FRAW web site, please get in touch.

« back to top »

Energy and Environment

Much of my work at the moment is directly or indirectly related to the issue of energy and the environment. After many years working reactively as a consultant and campaigner I decided, in 2001, that I had to work ahead of the agenda in order to create a greater impact. The major environment and development issue which, at that time, was not being given any serious attention in the environment movement was peak oil (or, in its broadest sense, "peak everything") – the peak of the globe's conventional energy sources and the effect that the physical reduction in global energy, resource and food supply will have over the next two to five decades.

As noted above, in 2005 my book, Energy Beyond Oil, was published. But as well as writing and research I spend a large part of the year travelling Britain giving workshops and lectures on the themes that have been developed as part of my work with the Free Range Energy Beyond Oil Project:

• Energy Beyond Oil – a lecture and day workshop that encompasses the issues raised in the book;
• Less is a Four Letter Word – the research project that followed Energy Beyond Oil, and which, through various events, looks at the technical and practical restrictions on how we can reduce energy and resource use in the future (hopefully the much-delayed book will be out by 2009); and
• Liberation Gastronomy (this is still a working title!) – the forthcoming project with the Free Range Network that looks at the most critical human energy resource – food – and how we will have to change our lives in future to address the problems created by falling energy supplies, restricted resource production, climate change and the growing human population.

If you would like to host a lecture or a day workshop then you can find details of all the current events we run in the training and lectures page. As well as these 'off the peg' type events, we can also customise events to suit your particular needs.

« back to top »

Planning, Waste and Pollution Control

I have a love–hate relationship with planning, waste and pollution control issues. For over twenty years, both as a volunteer and a professional consultant, I've travelled the length and breadth of Britain seeing wonderful places and meeting interesting people – only to discover sometimes horrendous things which I have to help them put right! (see my publications archive for examples of my past work on these issues).

Thankfully, after ten years of working on toxic factories, contaminated land, landfills and incinerators these problems take up a lot less of my time. Occasionally I am available to assist communities with planning and pollution problems, although these days I tend to concentrate on helping communities fight public inquiries. However, with the new Planning Bill perhaps becoming law by the end of the year, even this activity may be curtailed as the government tries to exclude the public from the decision making process over these types of development.

« back to top »

Information and Communications Technology

My work with computers has also developed over the years. From being a tool I used myself to achieve tasks that were beyond the capabilities of many grassroots campaigners (computer modelling, databasing large quantities of information, etc.) today I also use information and communications technology as teaching tool, both by showing people how to use them but also how to recycle junk equipment into something useful (see below).

Over the last decade I have undertaken a number of international collaborations using computers and communications technology, and I have also worked on global projects – most notably working with APC to develop the Internet Rights Toolkit for use by journalists, campaigners and human rights workers around the globe. More recently I have begun to specialise in teaching the use of recycled technology as a means to develop community computing resources (see 'engineering' and 'free software' below).

I have also developed information and resources related to using the Internet as a campaigns tool – most publicly, my work with the international campaigns around the WTO's Seattle summit in 1999 and the FTAA conference in Quebec in 2001. I have worked with campaign groups in the UK and abroad to both devise strategies for using electronic media to develop their capacity to work, to distribute information and training, and also to develop information security and resilience strategies that cover the more unusual problems that community groups in many countries face today – threats from the state and security services (see the Internet Rights Toolkit publications for details). If invited, I still lecture on the use of electronic tools and electronic networks as a means of organising, and also the general issue of Internet rights (the extension of civil rights to protect our social uses of information and communications technology).

Commercially, what I teach tends to focus on the practical use of ICT for specific ends related to community organising and campaigning. If you'd like details of my ICT-related events see the training and lectures page.

« back to top »

Low-tech Engineering and Renewable Energy

I come from a family that nurtured practical skills, and I worked in the engineering industry – and although I don't get many opportunities to do it these days engineering is still my favourite occupation. As I specialise in working with community groups my work has had to develop ways to operate with minimal resources. As part of this, for more practical projects, I have developed a number of means to recycle redundant technology (or as it's more commonly called, trash tech.) to solve problems, and teach those involved these skills so that they can maintain the systems after I have left.

Today most of my work relates to solving problems related to mobile computing projects, protest camps and outdoor events, and developing small-scale renewable power systems. I undertake small design-build projects, and I also can run training events on themes related to trash tech. engineering and renewable energy. At the moment the FRAW web site does not have a lot of information on this strand of my work, but within a year or so the Free Range Network will be undertaking a project specifically related to trash tech. engineering and renewable power systems as part of the Salvage Server Project.

« back to top »

Free and Open Source Systems

From the time I installed my first Red Hat Linux 5 installation in 1999, the benefits of free and open source software were absolutely clear. Since 2001 I haven't used a Windows^® operating system as part of my work. For community groups and educational projects the benefits are tremendous; old equipment can be utilised to teach industry standard computer applications for the costs of a magazine with a DVD on its cover – and it's legal to give out copies to anyone who wants one too.

Today, as well as training people to use Gnu/Linux systems I specialise in teaching the recycling of old IT equipment to produce standalone and networks of computers for community uses (e.g., The Container Project in Jamaica). I also, working with the Free Range Community–Linux Training Centre (which I designed) and Salvage Server Projects develop tools and resources for people to develop their own information and communications technology skills using Gnu/Linux.

For details of my computer recycling and Gnu/Linux
training events see the
training and lectures page.

« back to top »