Now what?!

Okay... so all the various alternative solutions to our appetite to energy seem abysmal. What now?

What other types of solutions or priorities should we be looking at to address the impact of peak oil? I compiled these from notes I took at a number of sessions at the Peak Oil & Community Solutions conference. Communities could (note I don't use "should") become increasingly self-sufficient by taking the following actions:

• secure local food, water and energy sources, with a particular emphasis on ensuring and purifying water;
  
• reduce the need for transportation (97% of transportation is still fueled by oil);
  
• foster local manufacturing of essential goods;
  
• plan for long-term emergency services (we can learn alot from the recent hurricanes);
  
• assess the community's needs and vulnerabilities and create a step-by-step plan for filling the gaps. (Sebastapol, CA and Wilmington, IN are two places that are doing something like this.)
  
• Consider "fee-bates," a concept supposedly introduced by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute that would offer rebates to those car-owners whose vehicles achieve greater than 40 mpg.
  

We can also learn from two countries whose oil was effectively cut off due to the end of the Soviet Union:

• We could learn from Cuba's experience: they had contingency plans, they learned to trade with others, they developed alternatives that now work for them;
  
• Or we could learn from North Korea which experienced immense suffering because they could not produce enough food for their people; millions died. Their woes were exacerbated by floods and droughts.
  

Another solution being proposed by Richard Heinberg is an Oil Depletion Protocol that calls for oil importing nations to reduce their imports by an agreed-upon yearly percentage (the World Oil Depletion Rate), while exporting countries would agree to reduce their rate of exports by their national Depletion Rate.

Heinberg is hopeful that even oil companies could get behind such a proposal. Boom and bust is not good for companies, and there is plenty of precedence for modifying production to maintain stability.

And then, of course, there are the solutions that no on really wants to talk about:

• radically reduce our current use of energy
  
• limit our numbers; reduce our population
  
• distribute resources more equitably, globally