Peak Moment 134: Shocks, Shortages, and Scenarios – Planning for a Post-Oil Future

Responding to peak oil will require reshaping our communities. These two interviews, taped in September 2008 at the ASPO-USA conference, are with Megan Quinn Bachman of Community Solutions, and Bryn Davidson of Dynamic Cities Project.

Megan observes that while the ASPO-USA conference focuses on the energy depletion problem, what’s needed are solutions and strategies for communities and people. Her town’s anxious response to a recent power outage provided a lesson, as many people didn’t know what to do, nor had they built a network of mutual support. We need community contingency plans for sharing and surviving with less energy.

Focusing on urban planning, Bryn Davidson uses scenarios to test strategies for an energy-constrained future, particularly for infrastructure like roads. He asks, how do we invest today that’ll pay us back in multiple plausible futures — from “business as usual” to long-term energy decline and shortages. He notes wryly that as a result of peak oil, we may have also reached “peak roads”. Produced November 6, 2008. Episode 134.