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Peak Oil Imperative
A friend and I drove non-stop cross country, from Colorado to Yellow Springs, Ohio, for a three-day conference on Peak Oil. Inspired by a recent documentary regarding global oil supply, the rapid depletion of supply and the dependency of the United States upon non-renewable energy sources, we went to learn from researchers, listen to hard, unhappy facts, and find encouragement from folks who are forging a new direction for people on the planet. We Americans are obsessed with the idea of linear progress and a growth focused economy. Growth, growth growth! I am reminded of what Edward Abbey once said. "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." What will happen when the cheap oil stops? Markets will no longer be able to import cheap products from 12,000 miles around the globe. Gasoline and heating oil prices will skyrocket, and remember, we will be paying the fair market price for products that are in ever-shorter supply. Consumer restraint and cutting back will be engaged on all levels of consumption. The new standard for living will be low energy, low consumption. We can address our individual consumption of energy and begin to conserve everywhere possible, beginning with our cars-a very intimate energy demon. Think trains, bus systems, bicycles, and pedestrian friendly avenues. We can consider getting an energy efficiency audit for our homes. They are free, along with energy saving ideas, from our local energy company. Start now and don't wait. Educate yourself on the current technology and open your mind to what could be. We need community supported agriculture, not industrialized agriculture. Industrial, large-scale agriculture is in deep trouble-thriving on heavy use of oil-based fertilizers and pesticides, tapping into aquifers for irrigation of arid lands, depleting land artificially boosted by oil, and producing food that has meager nutritional value and little or no taste. Much of it is processed which masks this unhappy fact. Transportation costs alone will soar with the drop in oil supply and food will become more and more expensive. Seeking locally produced, and hopefully, organic food is imperative. Sustainable food production is the issue. Sustainable agricultural requires protecting the soil and with organic practices preserves and rebuilds soil fertility. Sustainable agriculture uses limited water, protecting the water banks underground, and embraces the protection of biodiversity, both plants and animals. Alternatives in food production produce healthier, better tasting food while protecting the fragile environment. Brave new farmers tap into appropriate technology that respects the land and apply their agro-eco knowledge to local farm resources. Bioneers! They need our support now so they can prepare for future demand. They deserve our patronage and our respect. This is what sustainability is all about: the long haul. People will downgrade to local living and local community survival. We have much work to do now and a long way to go to this new life_but we must go. Oil will never, ever be cheap again nor will it last forever. Consider that solar has an unlimited energy source: the sun. Consider that wind power harnesses those wicked winds and could allow us to generate energy for our homes. We must call for our governing leaders to shift funding into alternatives and sustainable practices. Zoning laws should help us get there, not hinder our way. New ideas should be cautiously allowed, not denied by laws that uphold an energy dependent status quo. New urbanism, clustered housing, eco-cities, alternative energies, and unrelated people sharing expenses and helping each other. In the near future we will be called upon to think differently, so begin experiencing the local world now. We can inventory the existing assets and resources of our community. What skills and trades are apparent? What is missing? Do we have the necessities to survive an oil crisis? Do we have among our numbers the skills to survive as a community? Are we self-reliant? Can we grow food? Can we process and preserve that food? Do we need community gardens, to join or form cooperatives for food, child care, laundry, tool sharing and maintaining health. Can we begin to share vehicles, organize shopping days, and create small garden surplus exchanges and barter? Change. We will begin to experience personal transformation, if we aren't transforming already. If we transform ourselves, we transform the world. Lost skills we once knew and understood will be rediscovered. Skills in mediation and negotiation will be most useful. Consensus will become the norm and create happier solutions with all in agreement or in agreement to disagree. Permaculture is and will be a tool kit for this coming cultural change. Let's not strive to sustain the current culture, with all it's inequality, pollution and social darkness. If we redesign ourselves, we redesign our world. Taking time to meditate on what is actually happening in this world of today and focusing on what is truly important is putting our inner knowledge to work. It is up to us to change. These complex issues are calling for complex thinking and positive action. There are no solutions to our coming energy crisis, just responses. Our challenge is to respond with bravery and courage. In Ohio, Patrick Murphy of The Community Solution, spoke plainly. "We need a new paradigm, NOT a new fix." Industrialized, oil-dependent nations are not sustainable. We are using up, eating up, drinking up and burning up the planet at a rate the Earth cannot restore. We must change. Change is inevitable. Oil will run out. And, if we don't change, our time will run out, too. Becky Elder is a permaculture activist and master gardener in Manitou Springs, CO.
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