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Charting the Journey Home
Report from the Second U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions

By Megan Quinn

Yellow Springs, Ohio -- More than 350 people from 39 states and five
countries gathered here in late September with about 100 area
residents to learn how to prepare at the local level for the coming
steep decline in global oil production.

This permanent decline will follow an all-time high in production,
known as peak oil, which will require developing local and sustainable
economies, local food systems, and "eco-village" communities,
participants at the Second U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community
Solutions were told.

Presentations on peak oil, alternative fuels and the geopolitics of
oil were also given at this three-day conference held at Antioch
College and sponsored by Yellow Springs-based Community Service Inc.
which through its Community Solution program seeks the resurgence of
small local communities in an era of increasingly scarce and expensive
oil.

"Peak oil will undoubtedly be tough," said Pat Murphy, the nonprofit's
executive director, in his opening remarks. "We can make it tougher by
trying to hang on to an out-of-date lifestyle or fighting wars for the
last drops of oil."

"Our theme is the journey home," Murphy said. "Like the Bible story of
the prodigal son who left his community for the lure of the big city,
we find ourselves in big trouble. It's time to return to the
community, make amends, clean up the mess and get back on the right path."

The conference speakers included key leaders in the fast-growing peak
oil awareness movement. Among them were oil industry expert Jan
Lundberg, who headed up a Petrocollapse conference on Oct. 5 in New
York City, and energy consultant Steve Andrews, co-founder of the
Association for the Study of Peak Oil – USA, which will hold its first
conference this November in Denver.

John Darnell, the science adviser for U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett from
Maryland, attended the conference. Bartlett, who also held a peak oil
conference in late September, has spoken repeatedly on the House floor
about peak oil.

Richard Heinberg, author of the seminal work, The Party's Over, gave a
keynote address on the unprecedented challenge of peak oil at the
global and local level. Heinberg summarized the evidence for an
imminent global oil peak, reviewing the American oil experience of
declining production, dramatically declining global discovery rates,
production peaks and declines around the world, spurious reserves in
the Middle East, and reports and comments from oil companies and
governments.

In reference to the American government's ineffective response to
Hurricane Katrina, Heinberg said of the coming peak oil decline,
"Given the demonstrated inability of the federal government to
anticipate and prepare, most of the responsibility will be borne at
the local level." Heinberg then questioned the audience about how many
of them had given a presentation on peak oil or written an article.
About two-thirds of them raised their hands.

Andrews, the ASPO – USA co-founder, followed with an assessment of
alternative fuels. Though unconventional sources like tar sands, oil
shale, ethanol, gas-to-liquids and coal-to-liquids often are touted as
the solution to peak oil, Andrews stressed that alternative fuels
won't come on line fast enough, take more energy to produce, and are
much worse environmentally. Further, he calculated that at best all of
these sources combined could yield 4 million barrels per day (mbd) in
a world that consumes 85 mbd. Another 3 to 3.5 mbd could be added
through efficiency, which is the best short and mid-term strategy.
"Long term, we must focus on renewables," he said.

John Ikerd, an economist and author of a recent book, Sustainable
Capitalism, said that the solution lies in moving "toward an economy
based on sustainable energy." He contrasted the guiding principles of
the industrial economic paradigm, to maximize productivity and growth,
with that of sustainability, to create permanence. "The fundamental
flaw of the industrial economy," Ikerd said, "is that it uses energy
but it does nothing to renew, restore, or regenerate energy." Thus it
cannot last, he said.

He brought the audience to a wild applause when he ended by saying,
"We will choose an economy of sustainable energy when we realize that
our happiness depends on our relationships with people and with
nature, as well as our individual, material well-being. We will choose
a life of social responsibility when we realize that caring for others
is not a sacrifice, but instead enhances our quality of life. One by
one, we will create an economy of sustainable energy, as we realize
that working and living sustainably is simply a better way to work and
a better way to live."

Murphy, from The Community Solution, then discussed the fundamental
choice to be made – Armageddon or Eden. He gave an uncensored history
of global colonialism, which continues today through economic
globalization and resource wars. He explained this colonialism as the
exploitation of people and resources for the enrichment of a few,
stating that it is leading the planet towards World War III and global
nuclear annihilation.

"We must become conservers rather than consumers," Murphy said.
"Consumers are industrial, individualistic and competitive, whereas
conservers are agrarian, social and cooperative." Murphy outlined his
peak oil-driven lifestyle changes, including moving from a 1700- to a
600-square-foot home, buying a hybrid car and raising chickens. He
ended with a challenge –  "The world needs change leaders now – become
one!"

Next up was Lundberg, whose vision of "petrocollapse," as Congressman
Bartlett recently put it, is that "the trucks will no longer pull into
Wal-Mart. Or Safeway or other food stores. The freighters bringing
packaged techno-toys and whatnot from China will have no fuel. There
will be fuel in many places, but hoarding and uncertainty will trigger
outages, violence and chaos. For only a short time will the police and
military be able to maintain order, if at all."

Lundberg, founder of the Auto Free Times magazine, Alliance for a
Paving Moratorium, and CultureChange.org, talked of this upcoming
petrocollapse as a chaotic disruption of society that may occur from
even a small decline in oil supplies. He screened a short documentary,
"Our Synthetic Sea," on the accumulation of plastics in the ocean (and
in marine life) in the central Pacific, which has increased 300
percent since 1990. Every piece of plastic ever created still exists
somewhere, and as it breaks down into smaller particles and plastic
"dust" it can cause potentially devastating effects to ecosystems. The
solution, Lundberg said, is to stop using plastic.

Faith Morgan, a Community Service trustee, showed The Community
Solution's still-to-be-released video documentary, "The Power of
Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil." The documentary shows Cuba's
response to the collapse of the USSR in 1990 and the subsequent loss
of 50 percent of oil imports. Morgan gave a tearful introduction,
"When I first went to Cuba, in 2003," she said, "I became so deeply
moved by what I was hearing and seeing that by the end I wanted to
document it, so it could be shared with everyone concerned about Peak
Oil." The Community Solution staff, in three trips to Cuba, saw
firsthand the hope that the Cuban experience can bring to a discussion
of surviving peak oil.

In Cuba, the Soviet collapse was followed by what they called the
"special period." Times were tough – the average Cuban lost 30 pounds,
and there were frequent electric power blackouts. Yet, as the
documentary reveals, local and national initiatives along with the
values of mutual aid and cooperation allowed Cuba to successfully
overcome the crisis. The documentary also highlights the development
of urban agriculture and rooftop permaculture in Havana, the
transition to organic farming and animal traction throughout the
country, and the increasing use of renewable energy. The video will be
released in January 2006.

After a lively panel discussion about Cuba at the conference, an open
forum led by Fred Bartenstein of Yellow Springs Mediation brought
questions and comments on such topics as draft horses, corporate
power, eco-feminism, cob housing, urban survival, spirituality, home
self-sufficiency and military use of fuels.

The conference's second day featured a second keynoter, community
development specialist and Going Local author Michael Shuman. He
presented the two options for local economic development – TINA (There
is No Alternative), which emphasizes export-led development and LOIS,
(Local Ownership Import Substituting), which promotes developing
community self-reliance in place of reliance on imports. According to
Shuman, in a post-petroleum economy, the LOIS model "maximizes
self-reliance, minimizes global shipping, revitalizes communities, and
inoculates localities against oil shocks."

Shuman offered practical advise for the transition to a LOIS economy,
including developing new and expanded local businesses, educating and
supporting new local entrepreneurs, mobilizing local finance,
spearheading "local first" campaigns, and removing subsidies for
export-focused economic development. He ended with a revised version
of Patrick Henry's famous speech: "I know not what course others may
take, but as for me, give me community or give me death!"

A module on "Creating Alternative Communities" came next, featuring
three women, two leaders in the cohousing and ecovillages movement and
one from The Community Solution with its proposal for a model
post-peak oil neighborhood-community.

Diana Leafe Christian, editor of Communities magazine and author of
Creating a Life Together, showed more than 200 slides of intentional
communities, which she defined as "a group of people who live with,
adjacent to and near enough to one another to carry out their common
purpose together." Many of these communities grow much of their own
food, employ energy efficient and natural building techniques, share
amenities, and some generate their own electricity.

Christian explained that ecovillages, a type of intentional community,
are particularly focused on sustainability. Earthaven Ecovillage in
western North Carolina, the community Christian calls home, is off the
grid and utilizes solar photovoltaic panels and a micro-hydroelectric
system, composting toilets, sustainable forestry, natural building,
rainwater catchment, grey water recycling, organic gardens, consensus
decision-making and local business.

Ecovillage pioneer Liz Walker, founder of EcoVillage at Ithaca (in New
York state) and author a book by that name, described the features of
her community as well as its broader outreach. The community is made
up of several cohousing neighborhoods of energy efficient, passive
solar homes, on-site businesses, and a large community-supported farm.

Walker explained a unique aspect of EcoVillage at Ithaca – its focus
on outreach, education and collaboration. The community has received
intense media attention, with reports by CNN, PBS, NPR, New York
Times, Wall Street Journal and more. It is working with Cornell
University and Ithaca College on sustainable energy and community
courses, and with Tompkins Country officials and residents on a
sustainability initiative, among other local projects.

Megan Quinn, outreach director of The Community Solution, presented
its Agraria project, a model post-peak oil community to be developed
in Yellow Springs. Quinn described peak oil as an opportunity for the
resurgence of small, local community living. "We have spent over 99.5
percent of human history in small communities," Quinn said, "The era
of cheap and abundant oil is an aberration, and soon we will begin the
journey home."

While the first Agraria neighborhood-community will be developed in
Yellow Springs, the goal is to create a model that can be replicated
across the country. "The role of these communities, Quinn said, "is to
accommodate the inevitable urban to rural transition that will occur
as the peak oil crisis deepens." They will also serve as vital
educational centers to disseminate the new skills of a low energy
world and as models of cooperative, sustainable living.

Agraria will incorporate energy efficient home and community design,
organic agriculture, shared facilities, offices and workspaces, waste
and water recycling, renewable energy systems, and car sharing for a
goal of reducing the residents' energy usage to 1/5th of the U.S.
average per capita.

Robert Waldrop, moderator of the "Running on Empty" peak oil web
discussion group and founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, knows
much about reducing personal energy use. Murphy, from The Community
Solution, introduced him as a personal hero because when Waldrop
learned about peak oil he "began living the way we will all live in a
post peak oil world." Waldrop grows 100 varieties of edible plants on
1/7 of an acre and uses a hand-crank washing machine, among other
energy saving techniques.

Waldrop talked about the development of local food systems, which will
be critical when the petroleum-dependent global industrial food system
collapses. Waldrop offered a variety of practical suggestions for
participants, including eating with the season, preparing meals from
basic ingredients, buying locally produced foods, growing one's own
food, preserving and processing foods at home or in community
kitchens, practicing food storage, and avoiding meats from confined
animal feeding operations. At the community level, Waldrop described a
variety of structures for local food systems, such  as food buying
cooperatives, Community Supported Agriculture/subscription programs,
vegetable stands, websites, and other forms of direct sales from
farmers to customers.

The conference ended with a final address by Heinberg, who pointed to
an anthropological view of humanity's problem – a 10,000 year
departure from hunter-gatherer life to living in large agricultural
settlements, then to an industrial society dependent on unsustainable,
depleting nonrenewable energy. He called on conference participants to
lead humanity down a new path.

Murphy, from The Community Solution, ended the conference, by saying,
"The most important thing is for all of us to `become the change you
wish to see in the world.' If you want a low-energy, caring community
way of living, then become a member of that community – even if you
are initially the only member."

"Remember that community is the solution and the solutions are in
community. Have a safe journey home."

Quinn is the outreach director for The Community Solution, a program
of Community Service Inc.(www.communitysolution.org)  She can be
reached at megan@communitysolution.org . To get DVDs of the conference
contact her by email or call 937-761-2161.