The Issues
Sharing what we've learned.
Peak Oil
So much depends on cheap, abundant oil: affordable gasoline, of course, but also food grown with chemicals derived from fossil fuels, materials like plastics, energy-dependent industries, how we heat our homes, how we ship products around the world, and more. Oil is a finite resource and — someday — we will have to do without it. In the past few years, evidence is mounting that global production of oil and other fossil fuels is approaching a historic peak. What happens when we begin to have less?
Climate Change
Meanwhile, the average global air temperature near the Earth’s surface is warming. It is clear that the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by industrial society is not helping, and according to international scientific consensus it is quite likely the major cause. Why should we concern ourselves with such a global problem here in our little corner? Two reasons:
- If every local community in the world washed their hands of responsibility, there would be no one left to act. We choose instead to be proactive.
- If global warming trends continue, we will feel local consequences.
Sustainability
Both climate change and peak oil threaten our community’s ability to thrive and grow in the long term. The thinking that brought us here was missing a consideration of how our actions today will affect us years from now. With two great big problems on our hands, here’s a positive way to look at what we can do differently.
