Tidewater Post Carbon Network is a newly formed open network of individuals and organizations in the Hampton Roads Area of southeast Virginia, who have come to this site in order to participate in the proactive agenda of the Post Carbon Institute--to foster greater public awareness of the approaching Peak Oil Crisis, and to catalyze local initiatives throughout our area to promote relocalization of our energy infrastructure, our economy, and our communities in whatever creative ways we can.

Our geographical area includes Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Williamsburg, Newport News, Yorktown, Poquoson, and Hampton. Collectively, this area is known (depending on whom you ask) as "Hampton Roads," "Tidewater," or the "Seven Cities." Ecologically, it may be defined as the lower end of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, at the convergence of the Susquehanna River (i.e. Chesapeake Bay proper), and the estuaries of the James, York, and Elizabeth Rivers, as they open out into the Atlantic. It is an area of great beauty--lots of open waterways, marshes, and shorelines, lots of big ships and boats, lots of herons and egrets, rich topsoil--but also, unfortunately, the blight of rampant industrialization, population growth, and uncontrolled sprawl, coupled with a dreadfully designed transportation network that relies on a network of bridge-tunnels (and therefore perennial traffic jams) to connect one area to another. The mass transit system is almost worthless, so everyone drives everywhere, mostly in huge, gas-guzzling SUVs.

The ambient political culture here is quite conservative, due both to its being in the Old South and the fact that the area is surrounded by military bases--Army, Navy, and Air Force, (due to its strategic importance at the mouth of the Chesapeake). The military is by far the largest employer in the area, with international shipping running second. So getting our fellow citizens here to imagine a localized, community-based, sustainable economy-- without--huge SUVs, a massive military presence, giant container ships steaming in and out, and endless expansion of malls, asphalt, and new subdivisons over our once rich and fertile alluvial topsoil--will be a challenge, to say the least. Still, we have no choice. And with courage, tact, hard work, and strategic intelligence, we CAN turn Hampton Roads into something resembling what it was only recently--a farming and fishing-based, mostly rural, small-town culture surrounded by local cottage industries and farms. A pipedream? Perhaps. But consider the alternative, once the cheap net energy that drives this region's economy, commercial infrastructure, and total reliance on automobiles is no longer cheap, but starts skyrocketing in price, along with everything else, until the system collapses!

One thing to consider, here and everywhere, is that those neighborhoods and communities who start organizing and preparing NOW for the oil crunch, and for a more localized, sustainable lifestyle, will be infinitely better off than those who are caught unawares. Planning is ALWAYS better than panic, and knowing your neigbors is ALWAYS better than being total strangers, especially when things start getting rough.

So we need to draw on the strengths of our local culture and population--the long-established traditional communities (like the one where I live, in Hampton), the churches and other faith-based organizations that form an existing social network with mutual support systems, the thriving cultural life, etc. We need to vow, right now, in all we undertake, to take care of everyone--regardless of whether they are of the same income level, culture, ethnicity, religious persuasion, or political leaning or not--and abandon no one.

Any individual who lives in this area, or who knows people who live in this area, is encouraged to join our Outpost, but in order to stay here, you must abide by the basic principles of the Post Carbon Institute: total commitment to nonviolence; integrity and courtesy in dealing with others; and a sincere commitment to proactive efforts at community education and involvement in promoting relocalization: creating a locally self-sufficient, community based way of life and socioeconomic order, networked with others throughout the world, that has the resilience and adaptive flexibility to survive the drastic changes that will occur in our area, our country, and throughout the world when the global supply of retrievable petroleum and natural gas has gone past its peak, and demand exceeds supply by ever-increasing margins with each passing year, forever.

At this point, to paraphrase the environmental scientist and visionary, Norman Myers, we have two choices: a relocalized, sustainable future--or no future. This is a place for those in Southeast Virginia who have chosen the first option, and are ready to get to work in order to make it happen. Welcome to our Outpost!