Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Many of the professional pundits are saying that Peak Oil has arrived. No doubt the meteoric shift in crude prices is contributing to this notion. One of the problems with pinpointing the time of Peak Oil is the fact that we won't know when the Peak is going to occur. We can only observe it in the rearview mirror. Another problem is that many say that the availability of oil declines more sharply than it increases on the way to the peak. This is possibly related to the demand side of oil - when we find out what cheap energy can do for us, we want more of it, and more of us want it. Demand in industrialized and industrializing countries continues to increase yet we don't seem to be able to produce enough to meet with demand. The paradigm of classical economics suggests that when demand is high enough, prices will increase, providing a stimulus for providers of goods (oil in our case) to provide more to those wanting it. The bad news (or good news, depending on your perspective) is, we are not meeting this demand. OK, enough philosophy and musings about stuff we can't control for one blog...

So, what can you and I do about this to mitigate the impact that fuel prices and possible future shortages/rationing is going to have on our lives, our communities, and our nation? As a mature economy with decent infrastructure in place, we have particular advantages that can help sustain us through what may be an interesting transition period. I will not elaborate too much on potential advantages, but would like to list a few here to get your mind on possibilities. While we can't make more petrol, what we can do is use it in a dramatically more efficient fashion, and consider alternatives. There is lot of slack in the system if we take a look.

- significant natural gas resources can help with the transition to the next transportation energy infrastructure. A shift of a large portion of the Australian fleet to dual fuel or gas can buy us time while we figure out how to deal with declining fossil fuel stocks.

- finding, purchasing, fixing, and maintaining the fleet of existing fuel-efficient cars for longer periods of time.

- a rail network that is run on electricity, althought a significant fraction of Queensland railways are diesel dependent.

- car pooling...it used to be for the environment, and still is, but the car pool holds promise in the new age of petrol prices.

- ethanol production can extend the mileage of whatever petrol Australia ends up with. However, a cautionary note: in my opinion, ethanol crops should only be grown in places where they are the only possible crops. They should not be replacing food crops. Worldwide, we are in danger of heading towards the possibliity of a minority of motorists competing with a majority of hungry people for agricultural land use because of the rise of the ethanol and bio-diesel industries. People or fuel...?

- cycling - and you've seen it elsewhere on this blog, but I'll say it again: the bicycle is going to make a comeback, and mopeds and motorcycles are going to make inroads in the daily commute.

- undertaking the development and implementation of government and corporate policy that attempts to move the workforce closer to home. What would the impact of reducing the average Australian commute by even a kilometre a day? Whilst the figures below are only unsubstantiated estimates, you can see what I'm getting at:

5,000,000 employed and car-commuting Australians x 1 kilometre saved per Australian x 0.1 average litres petrol per km = 1 million litres of petrol saved every two days

- food production: this is absolutely key. Many people in Australia are used to having access to cheap food on a regular basis, and this has been going on now for long enough that many of us are unaware of the intricate infrastructure that exists to keep the food coming and going. Many of us are unaware of the (fossil fuel intensive) processes involved to get the food to us, never mind the production of it. In case you missed it, food prices are climbing steadily upward, and it is reasonable to suggest that crude prices are impacting upon food prices and will continue to do so. The drought is adding to this impact. What to do? Grow your own food. There are gardening companies and organisations that tell us that we can grow a very significant proportion of our own food in surprisingly compact spaces. I started growing my own food two years ago, and I can say without hesitation that it is one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done. It is more work than a walk in the park, but it is also fun, tasty, and healthy. It does cost some money up front, but the payback time is pretty short and getting shorter as food prices continue to rise. It also gets you in touch with the earth, which can have an amazing positive impact on the mind. And there are absolute stacks of information available to get you started: permaculture and gardening blogs, chat rooms and websites are not hard to find if you've managed to find this blog. A couple of books, charts, and pamphlets are handy to have as well when you are around the garden. And this brings me to my final point:

- Information & Communication technologies (ICT): If we are creative enough, ICTs provide a key link in the transition to a lower-energy future. A lot of the work done today involves the gathering, processing, and transmission of information. Theoretically, this can all be done on computers. If companies and workers are willing, we can cut down on a lot of physical commuting and build the telecommuting economy.

If we are willing. Let's do it!

Peace.

P.S. Added bonus: endeavouring in the above initiatives also impacts positively on global cooling.