Local Control
By Indy Staff, July 13, 2006
Santa Barbara Prepares for Peak Oil
by Dr. Philip Grant, cofounder of the Santa Barbara Ecological Education Coalition and executive coordinator of the Institute of Reverential Ecology; and Sri Subramanian, a fellow at For the Future.
Today something extraordinary is happening in Santa Barbara. Local business leaders, public officials, and environmental activists are meeting to discuss solutions to the ever-increasing demand for oil in the face of dwindling reserves. Dubbed “peak oil,” this crisis seems irresolvable at the national and state levels. As motorists in Santa Barbara struggle to economize at the pump, our political leaders are unable to develop a national and state energy policy that lessens reliance on big oil, instead continuing to subsidize all manner of oil-guzzling practices.
The consequences of this political blindness impact not only our pocketbooks, but also our nation’s security. A national security policy focused on access to the oil-rich Middle East diverts attention from more threatening problems like nuclear proliferation and genocide. The spending of our national treasure and the lives of our young on military adventures in the desert also weakens our ability to prepare for domestic threats like terrorism, natural catastrophes, and pandemics. In addition, big oil’s unprecedented profits are giving energy companies enormous political muscle in Washington and Sacramento, blocking remedies that might threaten short-term corporate profits. As energy scarcity becomes the rule, a survivalist mentality will most likely intensify the bottom-line thinking shared by most corporate managers as they scramble to assure shareholders an unrealistically high rate of return on their investments.
Given this stalemate at the national and state levels, local communities like Santa Barbara have emerged as the most viable arena for developing solutions to peak oil. One of the most important places to begin is in policymaking regarding food. Our entire industrial approach to growing food and raising livestock depends on the availability of cheap oil. Pesticides and herbicides are oil-based, while fertilizers are produced using natural gas, a petroleum product whose continental reserves are also declining. Furthermore, the use of agribusiness machinery to grow and process food, and the transportation systems necessary to deliver it, require incredible outlays of energy. Some estimate that for every one calorie of food we eat, 10 calories of petroleum are used.
Will this simply mean that food in Santa Barbara will cost more? Or could there be more dire consequences? Will big-box food stores, which purchase the cheapest food from vast distances, survive? And what will happen to food standards as people start to complain about the cost of high-quality food? Luckily, Santa Barbara is endowed with amazingly rich topsoil, allowing the land that has not been paved by developers to be farmed by local growers embracing fossil-free, organic practices.
What about Santa Barbara’s economy? Will tourists continue to flock to the “American Riviera” after an oil-led inflation? How will our city adequately provide the services needed to ensure Santa Barbara remains clean, safe, and healthy? The city has already started to incorporate biodiesel in its transportation fleet. Additionally, an efficient mass transportation grid, developed in cooperation with other coastal cities, could guarantee that Santa Barbara continue to attract visitors. Would investment in some facsimile of the San Diego light-rail trolley system be a wise strategic move?
When energy costs are rising so quickly, should we not attempt to conserve it in all aspects of our lives? How can planning, zoning, and building codes be rethought in the face of peak oil? We could embrace New Urbanism principles to integrate walking- and bike-friendly facilities in planned developments that incentivize urban gardens, rainwater recovery systems, greywater systems, and energy-saving straw bale and cob buildings. Building codes could be updated to fast-track the use of environmentally friendly materials, solar and wind power, and composting toilets and sewage systems. Permaculture principles could form the basis of creative revisions in our city planning.
How will our children and grandchildren cope with future energy shortfalls if they are raised with an ethic of extravagant use? We could reemphasize the primacy of the neighborhood school with incentives for students to walk and bike to school. Currently, the long lines of cars winding around schools as parents drop off their children and pick them up are an incredible waste of energy. In many countries like Japan, cars are seldom used to transport students. If personal safety is a factor, why not employ our retired citizens to keep a watchful eye on kids? Financial incentives could encourage schools to abolish student parking lots, addressing youth obesity. Most importantly, a school curriculum focusing on peak oil would encourage youth to develop their own solutions.
These are just some of the questions to be considered at a free public forum with Randy Udall of Colorado’s Community Office of Renewable Energy and Larry Saltzman of For the Future. The Udall family includes generations of national environmental leaders, and Larry is well known throughout Santa Barbara as an innovator in re-localizing our community’s economy. Please join us at Santa Barbara City College at 7:30 tonight Thursday, July 13.
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Discuss local solutions to peak oil this Thursday, July 13, 7:30pm at SBCC, Earth and Biological Sciences Building, Room 309. Go to relocalize.net/groups/santabarbara for more information.
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