Peak Oil and Community Solutions
Two years ago, I had just learned about peak oil. It worried me. It frightened me. It was constantly on my mind. At a wedding reception, the only thing that was running through my mind was... "all of these people think that things are going to go great, but they are all living a lie"... or something to that effect.
I was extremely excited to learn about the "U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions", which was being held within driving distance of my home. Attending the conference was an incredible relief. It was a chance to me to talk with people who didn't think that I was nuts. People who actually understood the ramifications of peak oil, and were willing and interested to have serious conversations about this surprising new future that awaits us.
One year ago, I was pumped up about a very active year, trying to educate folks and get the word out about peak oil. I had attended conferences and events, read books, created and delivered a peak oil presentation, screened films, and talked about it with anyone who I thought would listen. The feather in my cap from the previous year was successfully publishing to the internet a 10-minute video summary of my peak oil talk. I attended the conference, and again, I learn, met new people, was energized, and interested in getting a new organization, "The Local Future Network" off the ground.
"The Local Future Netork" is not a TV network, although videos are a feature of the web site and the concept as a whole. Local Future, rather, is an attempt to organize "the movement" around a new value system. "The movement" is not simply the peak oil education movement, but also the animal rights movement, the environmental movement, the civil rights movement, and etc. I think this concept of "the movement" or "the progress movement" occured to me a couple years ago after I started to recognize that movements that I was interested in, and identified with, attracted people with similar values.
Now, I am again attending the "Peak Oil and Community Solutions" conference. The speakers are here as well as a few familiar faces and many familiar themes. Some new thoughts have occured to me this time, although not as many perhaps as times before. I again recognize some clear deficiencies in the understanding of the world that most of us share. I again feel energized, particularly after a very challenging year where all of my committments seems to get in the way of my peak oil and local future goals. In fact, other than this journal or blog, I have not contributed much to the advancement of "the movement" this year.
So, what are a couple of the themes that people generally fail to understand.
The Fable of the Apple
You have a dollar. You are hungry. Your neighbor happens to have a wild apple tree. Your neighbor's child will pick and sell you an apple... for a dollar.
"What a great deal," you think to yourself. "I can buy some nutritious food from my next door neighbor... Wow, this apple represents all of my goals... It is locally grown AND it is organic... I'm helping the world, and doing a GOOD thing in buying it."
You buy the apple from the neighbor child, what a great thing. The child begs the parents to drive to the store. Once at the store, the child buys a chocolate bar made in a foreign land. The production and delivery to the store of the chocolate bar was not local, organic, sustainable or compassionate.
The dollar goes into the cash register. At the end of the day, it goes into the pocket of the store owner, who then spends it when buying a t-shirt at the local big box store. The t-shirt was not produced locally, is not organic cloth, was not produced or delivered in a sustainable way, and was not grown using compassionate farming techniques.
The dollar goes into the cash register. At the end of the day, it goes into... (use your imagination).
...
The Fable of the Tree
Once upon a time, there was a tree. It was the very last tree standing of a huge forest of trees, all the rest having been cut down and hauled away by the local community. This tree was valued and appreciated by everyone in the community.
One day, a woodsman was passing through town. He was the lone tree, and thought about the wonderful quality of the wood. He decided that if he found a buyer, he would cut down the tree.
He went to local lumber yard and asked if they needed any wood. They replied that then had many customers from the town, and would be willing to pay the market price for wood.
The woodsman cut down the tree, had the tree divided into boards, and sold the boards to the lumber yard. The lumber yard sold the wood to the mayor of the town.
...
At least those are very close to the fables (as I originally concieved them).
Hoping money will have a certain effect doesn't actually impact the effect of the money. In fact, the end result of spending money is (most likely) always destructive.
If there is even one person in an economic system that is willing to do something for moeny that is considered by the community to be unethical, and if a buyer exists, then the unethical behavior will occur.
The conference reminded me that these concepts of money are lost on most of us. Even as I attempt to recall them, and reconstruct them in my mind, I have difficulty completely articulating the completeness with which money is truely the root of evil.
One way to put it would be similar to something I heard....
The global economy is a machine which converts nature into garbage at the fastest rate possible, that rate being regulated by the speed at which we can spend our money. The faster we spend... the more we spend... the faster we convert the earth to garbage.
Money... Energy... Humanity... The Future...
Truely understanding peak oil, and what will happen due to it, is about understanding how money, energy, humanity and the future are all related to each other. Through this understanding, one can begin to do things now to prepare... for the end of society as we know it.
I was extremely excited to learn about the "U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions", which was being held within driving distance of my home. Attending the conference was an incredible relief. It was a chance to me to talk with people who didn't think that I was nuts. People who actually understood the ramifications of peak oil, and were willing and interested to have serious conversations about this surprising new future that awaits us.
One year ago, I was pumped up about a very active year, trying to educate folks and get the word out about peak oil. I had attended conferences and events, read books, created and delivered a peak oil presentation, screened films, and talked about it with anyone who I thought would listen. The feather in my cap from the previous year was successfully publishing to the internet a 10-minute video summary of my peak oil talk. I attended the conference, and again, I learn, met new people, was energized, and interested in getting a new organization, "The Local Future Network" off the ground.
"The Local Future Netork" is not a TV network, although videos are a feature of the web site and the concept as a whole. Local Future, rather, is an attempt to organize "the movement" around a new value system. "The movement" is not simply the peak oil education movement, but also the animal rights movement, the environmental movement, the civil rights movement, and etc. I think this concept of "the movement" or "the progress movement" occured to me a couple years ago after I started to recognize that movements that I was interested in, and identified with, attracted people with similar values.
Now, I am again attending the "Peak Oil and Community Solutions" conference. The speakers are here as well as a few familiar faces and many familiar themes. Some new thoughts have occured to me this time, although not as many perhaps as times before. I again recognize some clear deficiencies in the understanding of the world that most of us share. I again feel energized, particularly after a very challenging year where all of my committments seems to get in the way of my peak oil and local future goals. In fact, other than this journal or blog, I have not contributed much to the advancement of "the movement" this year.
So, what are a couple of the themes that people generally fail to understand.
The Fable of the Apple
You have a dollar. You are hungry. Your neighbor happens to have a wild apple tree. Your neighbor's child will pick and sell you an apple... for a dollar.
"What a great deal," you think to yourself. "I can buy some nutritious food from my next door neighbor... Wow, this apple represents all of my goals... It is locally grown AND it is organic... I'm helping the world, and doing a GOOD thing in buying it."
You buy the apple from the neighbor child, what a great thing. The child begs the parents to drive to the store. Once at the store, the child buys a chocolate bar made in a foreign land. The production and delivery to the store of the chocolate bar was not local, organic, sustainable or compassionate.
The dollar goes into the cash register. At the end of the day, it goes into the pocket of the store owner, who then spends it when buying a t-shirt at the local big box store. The t-shirt was not produced locally, is not organic cloth, was not produced or delivered in a sustainable way, and was not grown using compassionate farming techniques.
The dollar goes into the cash register. At the end of the day, it goes into... (use your imagination).
...
The Fable of the Tree
Once upon a time, there was a tree. It was the very last tree standing of a huge forest of trees, all the rest having been cut down and hauled away by the local community. This tree was valued and appreciated by everyone in the community.
One day, a woodsman was passing through town. He was the lone tree, and thought about the wonderful quality of the wood. He decided that if he found a buyer, he would cut down the tree.
He went to local lumber yard and asked if they needed any wood. They replied that then had many customers from the town, and would be willing to pay the market price for wood.
The woodsman cut down the tree, had the tree divided into boards, and sold the boards to the lumber yard. The lumber yard sold the wood to the mayor of the town.
...
At least those are very close to the fables (as I originally concieved them).
Hoping money will have a certain effect doesn't actually impact the effect of the money. In fact, the end result of spending money is (most likely) always destructive.
If there is even one person in an economic system that is willing to do something for moeny that is considered by the community to be unethical, and if a buyer exists, then the unethical behavior will occur.
The conference reminded me that these concepts of money are lost on most of us. Even as I attempt to recall them, and reconstruct them in my mind, I have difficulty completely articulating the completeness with which money is truely the root of evil.
One way to put it would be similar to something I heard....
The global economy is a machine which converts nature into garbage at the fastest rate possible, that rate being regulated by the speed at which we can spend our money. The faster we spend... the more we spend... the faster we convert the earth to garbage.
Money... Energy... Humanity... The Future...
Truely understanding peak oil, and what will happen due to it, is about understanding how money, energy, humanity and the future are all related to each other. Through this understanding, one can begin to do things now to prepare... for the end of society as we know it.