I've become a little disillusioned with the peak oil movement of late. I don't doubt that peak oil is upon us, and I definitely do not doubt its severity. In fact I think it is the enormity of its consequences for man kind that is at the source of my disillusionment. I find myself sitting around wondering what to do first, instead of leaping into action. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people putting a lot of amazing effort and self sacrifice into getting the message across to the public at large. Their work is of huge value to those few souls they get through to. One mind at a time as they say... I have been wondering lately though, where to apply my efforts.
Sure I've got my garden, my bike, and I'm doing a heck of a lot of study on everything from willow basket making, to nuclear fusion. All well and good as far as preparing myself goes (although there is also much more I could be doing there too), but I want to start preparing my community. I'm gonna need them, and they are gonna need me. I think the difference between a slightly uncomfortable post peak oil world and a disastrous one, will be decided by the way we react to the crisis, and the way we treat each other. When the pain of an economic recession caused by the coming energy crisis hits will we look at our neighbours as friends or foe? Are they people you want to band together with, share a meal with, and seek comfort from? Or are they more like competition, rivals for jobs, money, food, and the scraps of the industrial age?
Humans are not 'designed' to live as individuals. We need community for survival. The individualism of recent decades is something relatively new to humans, only made possible by the wealth and prosperity afforded us by cheap fossil fuels. To quote Ran Prieur "you will have to trade your sterile, insulated links of money and law for raw, messy links of friendship and conflict.". In other words, we are going to have to learn to work together and survive with the people in our immediate community, wether we like them or not.
What I'm seeing a lot of among the peak oil aware people I know is canvasing of local and national government, writing letters to the editor, setting up websites, forming groups, and organisations with the aim of getting the warning out there into the public consciousness. This is all good stuff BUT I feel that for me there is something more pressing to be done, and that is getting to know all my neighbours. I don't just mean getting to know them well enough to wave to when we pass on the road when driving, but well enough to know what I can do for them, and what they can do for me. Well enough to be able to trust them, and for them to trust me. Well enough to rely on each other like family. Sounds corny and idealistic doesn't it? If anyone who was alive through the great depression was reading this I imagine they wouldn't find it corny at all.
How does one go about enhancing their community relationships? Where could I start? One thing I'm going to try is car-pooling. Don't worry, someone's already informed me that "car-pooling does not work". I thank them for their input, but I'm going to try anyway. The number of cars I see everyday travelling the same route to town as I do with only one person in them tells me there are no shortage of candidates. Its just a matter of time before the price of fuel will prompt each and every one of them to reconsider their travel arrangements. The weathers starting to get to cold for me to be biking to work (I know, I'm soft), so I'd far rather be sharing my warm van with several other commuters. I've started by advertising a ride on www.carshare.co.nz; I'm on of two ride share offers for the whole Nelson region. I'll put up an advertisement on notice board at the local store and drop a note to the editor of the local community newspaper. I'm even considering a letterbox drop. At the very least I'll be planting a seed in the minds of locals for when they are ready to stop debating the reality of peak oil, and start making some changes... whenever that may be.
5:19:47 PM 
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