Biosphere destruction due to human activities threatens life on the planet,
human and otherwise. The problem is systemic: business as usual presages catastrophic
climate change, extreme species extinction, fishery depletion, untenable body
burdens of toxics, not to mention largely unhealthy disconnected lives along
the way. Human civilization is egregiously far from a steady state and is
(literally) driving in the wrong direction. There are no easy solutions.
The imminent peaking of global oil production and the fact that natural gas
production has already peaked in North America could be the catalyst for positive
transformation of industrial society. It could also be a recipe for disaster.
Essential systems that form the foundation of industrial civilization depend
on unfettered access to cheap oil and natural gas. As supply begins to drop
and is no longer able to meet demand, less work will be done – which
means less materialist economic activity. Alternative energies, conservation,
and new energy carriers such as hydrogen will undoubtedly play a role in future
energy systems, yet collectively they will not be enough to preserve industrial
society as we know it. The possibility for largely positives outcomes demands
significant preparation, action, and enduring behavior change.
Without unprecedented preparation and cooperation, however, oil and natural
gas depletion will precipitate massive disruptions to essential systems such
as food, energy, transportation, security and health care, and almost certainly,
a major decrease in the earth's carrying capacity. If mainstream awareness
of energy peak occurs during a crisis, we will find ourselves well along the
amoral path of endless war for control of dwindling resources, black hydrogen
fueled by coal and a reemerging nuclear industry, further restrictions on
citizen and human rights, and increasing concentration of wealth through globalization
and the money system. During a period of draconian governance in the midst
of a permanent energy crisis, all of the gains garnered by environmental and
social justice groups in the past 50 years are subject to roll back at best.
At worst, recent history is full of examples of what happens when humans with
powerful weapons get desperate – they reach for demagogues, Fascism
and war.
Though no panacea exists for dealing with the peaking of energy supply, clearly
Global Relocalization is a building block; other important parts of the foundation
are peace, equitable distribution of a portion of Earth’s bounty, and
social justice. Relocalization is the process by which communities localize
their economies and essential systems, such as food and energy production,
water, money, culture, governance, media, and ownership. This process will
require that we rebuild our cities to severely reduce transport needs and
support localization of essential systems - ecological city design provides
as framework for this transformation. To effectively address energy scarcity
and curtail biosphere destruction, relocalization must occur globally and
with some degree of integration. Essentially human civilization needs to prepare
itself to do less materially with much less energy and fewer natural resources,
with the ultimate goal living within what is left of a reasonable carrying
capacity, however reduced that may be. Any other approach can be considered
a form of assisted suicide – with nature doing the assisting.
It is urgent that localization begin now. Yet how many times have we heard
and ignored such urgent calls? Everything still seems to be going alright
though. At least for those in control of the economy and the media. But energy
peak will change that, even before climate change, which is tending to affect
higher latitudes first. Energy peak will affect the heaviest energy users
the most. At first they will use their control of the money system to stave
off disaster, but as Britain will soon demonstrate, that will not last long.
If or when the US suffers a severe enough dollar crisis, it will find itself
catastrophically exposed as the world’s largest energy importer. It
will be completely vulnerable to the desires of the energy exporters, all
of whom will have good reason to bring the reign of the American Empire to
a swift end. The American military have presumably understood this. They may
not be willing to stand by as they are emasculated by energy and economic
constrictions. Both those living inside and outside should realise that if
global oil peak happens within two years as now scheduled by a growing number
of energy analysts, then they must start taking measures to rebuild their
own communities now. This is a quite different kind of urgency from the usual
calls to save the planet, or the koalas, or the Yangtze, all of whom are in
deep trouble, but none of whom directly affects most of us in the insulated,
industrial world.
Another reason for urgence is that the amongst the dominant forms of globalization,
the trend towards fewer family farms and the continuing loss of infrastructure,
knowledge and wisdom about locally sustainable living gathers pace almost
with each passing day. Thanks to this, there are ever fewer working examples
and models that can be applied to a given locale. To fill the void, communities
must begin localization experiments to discover out what works and what does
not in a given locale. This knowledge must be gained before the crisis –
if experiments don’t work now, that can be counted as useful information.
If they fail in conditions of crisis, people are likely to suffer grievously.
It has happened before, not just in the last one hundred years, but in the
last ten. To save precious time and resources, communities will need to share
experiments, outcomes, and lessons learned.
Communities will also need to integrate in appropriate ways the experience
and knowledge developed by existing organizations and individuals working
on localization on both the policy and community levels, including science
that supports localization efforts, and the practices of those indigenous
peoples that have not yet been wiped out by empire and its latest incarnation,
globalization.
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We are seeking like-minded organizations, volunteers, and activists to create
a coalition to support community relocalization projects and experiments,
as well as online database access and community tools that can help streamline
the relocalization process. We are also organizing conferences and creating
a speakers bureau with energy, biosphere, and localization experts to help
spread the word.
Join us in this call!
If the statement above resonates with you, you may be interested in our new book: Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil (Fall 2005, New Society Publishers)