“America has always risen to great challenges, and our dependence on oil is one of the greatest we have ever faced. It's a threat to our national security, or planet, and our economy.”
- first two lines of then Senator Obama's election speech on energy, March 8, 2008.
Let's just assume for the length of this article that Obama and Hubbert are correct. If you recognize the second name, chances are you've already been down the rabbit hole of peak oil discourse. If you don't, I'd suggest doing a quick web search for "Hubbert" and "Peak Oil" and educate yourself. If Hubbert is right, we are in for quite a wild ride, economically, socially, and politically. Feel like you've already boarded the rollercoaster? Me too. For the purposes of the next few Living Well articles, I'm going to skip right over the doom and gloom scenarios and talk about the concept of Transition, or how we can move away from the oil based economy and into something genuinely sustainable. If we all end up on the rollercoaster, then you will thank yourself for any steps you've taken towards a sustainable home and lifestyle. Keep your head in the sand, and maybe, just maybe, you will still be able to sustain the two cars, giant television, 4000 square foot house, and job in Toronto ten years from now. Oil supplies will continue to dwindle, greenhouse gases will continue to build up in the atmosphere, and we can all go down in a blaze of carbon glory. Disclaimer: I drive an automobile, live in a gas heated house, spend summer weekends at distant cottages, and fly to travel. I am also a bit of a conspiracy nut. So it goes.
The key to breaking our oil habit is to start with understanding how pervasive it is in our lives. The more we are aware of this influence, the better equipped we are to seek alternatives and wean ourselves from an increasingly costly resource. Even if it doesn't end up being economically necessary to stop using oil, it certainly won't hurt to make it an ethical priority.
Starting with the simplest topic, our transportation, I'm guessing that if you know anyone without a personal automobile they are a rare exception. The radicals in this area are those who drive hybrids, which still depend on oil. The real radicals tend to be either on the low end of the economic ladder, or Mennonites (and yes, there are notable and laudable exceptions to every gross generalization). How would your life change without an automobile or city bus at hand? Are you within walking or biking distance of a grocery store, hardware store, library? Can you actually walk or bike that far? Trips to the cottage are absolutely out of the question, but how about trips to your friend's house in the same city or province? Gaging your dependence on oil powered transportation is the first and most critical measure of the sustainability of your life. Become aware of how oil enables your job and food supply, your social connections, your sense of community and well being. If you have the opportunity, try relocating to a place where you can fill these needs without a car, a system of highways, and transport truck deliveries. If you don't have the luxury of choosing your location, look at the networks around you, the availability of alternate modes of transportation, food sources, community resources, which you may have overlooked on the way out to Wal Mart. Many food share or box programs are organized by neighborhoods, with local pick up of locally grown produce and meats. Car shares and transit pool transportation resources rather than taking an everyone for themselves approach. And walk / bike ability is the ultimate economic failsafe. Can you get everything you need to survive and thrive within a walking radius of your home? Draw a 2km circle (walking) and a 5km one (biking) on a city map and see where it takes you. Then try actually living for a week without a car.
Automobile based commuting is a modern luxury, and an unfortunate necessity for most people. What this effectively does is take your labour, intellectual contribution, whatever economic skills you have, to another city. Take this a step further if the fruits of your labour end up as profits for a non-local company, siphoned away to enrich something other than the community outside your door. As commuting becomes too expensive for the individual to sustain, employers will have to either invest in bringing the people to them through mass transit and tele-commuting, or move themselves into the communities which supply the labour. On the other side of this picture, on both a macro and a local scale, we've seen the effects of a recent spike in the price of oil on the auto and manufacturing industry. The cost of energy and production eroded the profits of many manufacturers very quickly, the immediate effect of this is a mass reduction of the workforce. In transitioning to a less oil dependent job, people should look not only to stay within their community (if not neighbourhood), but to seek work in fields which are not so dependent on cheap oil. Goods and services that are created and consumed locally are far less likely to suffer when the costs of transportation (of both the labourers and the goods) get unreasonable. Car ownership is generally considered to cost between $5000 and $8000 per year. How many of your after tax dollars are being spent just to afford the means to get to work?
Some municipalities are ahead of the curve on transportation issues. The City of Waterloo has recently created a whole new category of high density residential zones, in an effort to bring people closer to the core and limit suburban sprawl. The plans for light rail rapid transit are forging ahead, making the distinct possibility of fast and accessible transit through our region in the next 5-10 years. Local industry and investment is strong, and perhaps as well insulated from the current financial meltdown as any area of North America. But we continue to be a fundamentally oil dependent community, choosing to export a large portion of our workforce, and import the majority of our manufactured goods and foods in oil powered cars, trucks, planes, and ships. As soon as oil prices return to the $140 / barrel level and above, it will become very clear which parts of our transportation infrastructure are sustainable, and which aren't. Your personal dependence on that system is an important lens through which to view your lifestyle, and a great opportunity for change.
Further reading on the oil economy, living sustainably, and transition:
www.theoildrum.com
transitiontowns.org
1greengeneration.elementsintime.com
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