The Sustainability Imperative

There are many motivations for sustainability, including mitigating Climate Change, the effect of Peak Oil, reducing pollution, and improving local quality of life. Although there has been a lot of publicity about Global Warming we think the problem of Peak Oil is more severe: If communities do not locally produce the energy they need to survive, then when energy from oil becomes too expensive or unavailable, they will not survive.

Fossil-Dependence

Most of us have a cozy idea about what it means to "live off the land" - good earth, water, sunlight, and a human touch in the field are all we need to feed ourselves. Although we recognize that we may not actually be the farmer tilling the soil, we have lost sight of just how dangerously far we have come from that cozy idea. Most of the food we eat is cultivated in such a way that depends on petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Most of the food we eat is transported to us over long distances using oil-powered locomotion. Most of the food we eat is kept fresh for weeks or more by means of refrigeration - our electricity is largely powered by oil, natural gas, or coal. And most of the food we eat is cooked, either directly or indirectly, by fossil fuel combustion. Due to monocroping and other corporate farming practices, many agricultural regions do not produce a complete diet for the local population. If fossil fuels and the energy we derive from them were not available tomorrow, how soon would your community be able to produce a harvest for its entire population from its local land?

Peak Oil 

If you draw a circle around any oil-producing region and begin extracting oil, the amount of oil you get out of the ground will increase as you drill more wells and improve your oil-extracting technology. Eventually however, the amount of oil extracted from the ground in that region will peak, and then diminish, no matter how much effort or money you spend. This occurs because the planet does not produce oil nearly as fast as we consume it. Relative to the lifespan of human beings, oil is a limited resource. The Peak Oil phenomenon is true for any geographic region, whether a single well, or a whole oil field. The geographic region of the United States peaked in oil production in the early 1970s - we have never produced as much oil as we did in 1971. The planet as a whole is also subject to Peak Oil. Some of the best analyses indicate that the globe peaked in oil production in late 2005, however, we will not know the year of global Peak Oil for certain until several years after it occurs (there were significant reductions in global oil production for the first time in 2006).

Putting the Two Together 

It is important to recognize that although oil production will continue well after global Peak Oil, the actual output of oil will decrease, even if the demand for oil increases. This will create an energy gap between the demand for energy and the availability of energy. An energy gap, by definition, will cause certain regions (depending on social, economic, and political factors) to lose access to their required energy - there simply will not be enough of it to go around. An alternative view of this process is that as energy becomes more expensive, certain regions will not have the wealth or natural resources to pay for the energy they require. As we watch the rest of the world suffering through increasing blackouts (it is already happening) we must not allow our habitual pattern of denial "this sort of thing only happens in other countries" to continue. As it happens, we in America are more prone the potentially catastrophic effects of Peak Oil than any other country - we use more fossil energy per capita than in any other country. This means that we have the farthest to go, in terms of changes in habits and lifestyle, before the proverbial fertile field is within reach.

The Solution = Sustainability

A sustainable lifestyle, by definition, is a lifestyle that can continue indefinitely. A lifestyle that depends on the consumption of a limited natural resource (such as oil) is non-sustainable. Solar panels and wind turbines are examples of sustainable energy generation, provided the energy required for production and maintenance of the infrastructure is produced by the infrastructure.

A sustainable lifestyle can be rich - it can afford us all the enjoyments of life - ample and varied food, leisure time, entertainment, recreation, industry, higher education, fine arts, and even travel. A sustainable lifestyle requires however, that we are aware of our connection with nature, and of our dependence on that which she provides. Certainly we have all lamented, at some point in our lives, how disconnected we have become from the natural world. Indeed, more than just a sentiment, this recognition has immense practical significance.

When the debate on the imperative of sustainability is over, the next debate centering on the question "What does a sustainable community look like?" begins. As one of many viewpoints in this lively and important debate, we believe that there is not one answer to this question - it is a matter of will, vision, and creativity. Just as nature produces both the desert and the rain forest - both beautiful, both sustainable - we have the opportunity to create a variety of sustainable communities. We must be like the farmer who creates the harvest of tomorrow by cultivating the field today. If we ignore this brief opportunity of foresight to transform our habits, then necessity, although motivating, will not afford us the time we need.

References

There are a great number of well-researched references on the subject of Peak Oil and its implications. Here are a few of our favorites:
 

The End of Suburbia - A DVD

One of the best-known documentaries on Peak Oil - also available on Amazon.com
 

The Hubbert Peak - a web resource

Named after Dr. M. King Hubbert, the geologist who first described Peak Oil in the 1950s

Speeches by Matthew Simmons - a web resource

President of Simmons and Co International (SCI), an investment banking advisor to the energy industry

Wolf at the Door - A Beginners Guide to Peak Oil - a web resource

The Post Carbon Institute  - a web resource

The Community Solution - a web resource

For more references, simply type "Peak Oil" into your favorite internet search engine.