Shocks, Shortages, Scenarios - Planning a Post-Oil Future

Peak Moment 134: Responding to peak oil will require reshaping our communities. These two interviews, taped at the September 2008 ASPO-USA conference, are with Megan Quinn Bachman of Community Solutions, and Bryn Davidson of Dynamic Cities Project.

Megan observes that while the ASPO-USA conference focuses on the energy depletion problem, what's needed are solutions and strategies for communities and people. Her town's anxious response to a recent power outage provided a lesson, as many people didn't know what to do, nor had they built a network of mutual support. We need community contingency plans for sharing and surviving with less energy. http://www.communitysolution.org

Focusing on urban planning, Bryn Davidson uses scenarios to test strategies for an energy-constrained future, particularly for infrastructure like roads. He asks, how do we invest today that'll pay us back in multiple plausible futures -- from "business as usual" to long-term energy decline and shortages. He notes wryly that we may have reached "Peak Roads" because of peak oil. http://www.dynamiccities.org
(http://www.aspo-usa.com).
DVDs of the entire conference can be ordered through ASPO-USA at http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=662327

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• peak
• oil
• energy
• aspo
• cities
• urban
• government
• planning

[bobbygnosis]

In order for us to get through the very bad time ahead of us we need to understand a few things - we shouldn't let things continue or stop based on sentimentality. Doing good is good. Not trashing the planet is good. Not trashing the planet because of sentimentality is ridiculous. You don't need Al-Gore-style propaganda to do good. All you need to do is think, "Hey, I think destroying the environment is bad and I don't want my kids to starve."

Don't mean to sound harsh. I feel strongly is all

[peakmoment]

Oh, I agree with you fully: we must choose from the ethical standpoint, not sentiment. Life will continue, but we will have been responsible for the extinctions of many species: I find that abhorrent. Others have an intrinsic right to live, and we're snuffing that out. For me, the way to think is more like "destroying the environment is burning the platform we're standing on." We die, and a lot of others are dying while we stand on this platform.

[bobbygnosis]

I hope not to sound too silly in what I'm about to say, but it seems as though we're both on the same page and I, for whatever reason, latched onto some esoteric philosophical point that is only applicable in how it can be used to manipulate people. This video does not seem to be doing that and so my - in restrospect - odd thought seems ridiculous.

We both agree. We both seem to be pursueing, roughly, the same lines of reasoning. My apologies for any misunderstanding.

Peace.

[peakmoment]

No apologies needed. I have appreciated your thoughtful, and obviously deeply caring response. The world is a better place because of the knowledge (gnosis) you seek. Thank you so much for watching Peak Moment TV.

We will know Peace when we no longer exploit earth and others.

[microscaleideas]

Think Small scale. For example if you live in a cold climate and the power goes down for a day or two. A good thermal sleeping bag (good to -25) and a winter hat will provide you with plenty of warmth and a good night sleep. Many people panic over the thought of keeping a 3000 sq. foot home toasty warm. You can survive a black out in the middle of winter with an investment $70 will keep your body warm, which is all that really matters.

[symmetry08]

natural earth sustainable human capacity had diminished bellow a billion already and going down.

[peakmoment]

I've tended to think as you do, and hope that we humans don't overbalance the systems/irradiate so thoroughly that earth becomes inhospitable to life. I expect it'll be no problem for the bacteria and viruses and maybe the insects, who have longevity and mutate quickly. But oh, so many beautiful life forms whose loss we have already hastened.

[polypus74]

@peakmoment "how much life will survive"? probably not a great deal in the increasingly likely event that we manage to damage the earth to the point that we kill ourselves off. but no matter, in at most 500 million years, the earth will have rebounded with an abundance of new life forms, as it always does after a die-off.

[boundtogetdown]

many humans live differently from other animals lets see if we can figure this one out

[MrThefutureisnotset]

no fate, the future is not set

[denizaks14]

weve made almost everything we use dependant on oil. It's gonna get very ugly.