Possible Solutions: Is There Anything We Can Do?

Now that you've read the potential doomsday scenarios you might be alarmed and asking if theres any possible way to avoid these ramifications. The pathway to making sure the effects of peak oil are not as severe as previously mentioned is pretty simple. It requires the unwavering dedication of many collective groups, especially that of cities and town more than the government itself. Government are notorious for having slow reaction times in response to pressing issues that need immediate and undivided attention. This is one of those issues.

We have the additional problem of having the majority of the worlds emerging populations live in not only in some of the worlds most polluted cities but also some of the poorest in the world. Figure 6 shows population density and as you can tell China and India are going to play major roles in the future of sustainable development (Newman, pg. 23).  Developing countries are going to have to play the biggest roles in leading the way to a sustainable future. Considering the fact that green technology is also usually the most expensive, the world's poor are either going to have to make some great sacrifices or deal with the consequences.

The way to avoiding the repercussions of oil scarcity is theoretically simple, it only requires one thing: preparation. But most people in positions of power or in circumstances to make preparations, as outlined by Rob Hopkins in his TED talk titled Transition To a World Without Oil, are in either one of four mental states:

1. Business As Usual: the idea that the future will be just as the present. Many people in this state of mind convince themselves that there is no problem at all. By far the most dangerous mentality for anyone to have and even more dangerous for us as a society to have. 
2. Hitting The Wall: the idea that everything is so fragile and interconnected that once one thing goes wrong and oil as an energy source is swept out from under our feet everything will begin to unravel and collapse. This is a very popular theory popularized by alarmist to dramatize their end of the world scenarios. 
3. The Impossible Dream: The idea that we can invent our way out of a profound economic and energy crisis. That technology can solve everything and get us through this completely. That technology can push us past geological and environmental constraints but technology cant create more farmable land create resources at the click of a mouse. We can be astonishingly creative and inventive but we also live in a world with very real constraints.
4. Resistance: the acceptance of the idea that the future world that we are going to live in is not going to be one of cheap and easily available energy. Instead of concentrating on sustainability which revolves around continual production and recycling of products. Resistance asks questions like, what circumstances lead us to be so vulnerable and reliant on one resource and how can we change that addiction and dependancy.

The only mentality we can have moving forward as a society and expect any possible solutions to be made is the last one. Breaking our addiction to oil is going to be a multifaceted war with battles taking place on cultural, economic, social and political levels. The only thing more difficult than dealing with a world where oil supplies are only declining is preparing the world for that future. That preparation is going to have to include the development of renewable forms of energy. An all of the above approach is appropriate. The power grid of the future is going to include power from solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, and nuclear. These solutions although have to be implemented and developed before we hit the peak because Im sure it is a lot harder to construct new power plants and grids without oil. 

The future of the peak oil world has to include major urban re-planning. It must involve looking at how we can live with nature rather than fighting it. Some of the principles are:

• Waste products are not thrown away but reused
• Buildings are designed as being part of the environment, taking into account sunshine, wind, heat, distance to travel, etc
• Wilderness not looked upon as 'wasted' land but an essential part of the environment
• An aim to get the maximum yield from the land without employing agrichemicals
• Building a sense of community

Transport

One of the most important requirements for a sustainable society is the reduction in transportation, for things as well as human beings. Since most transportation is achieved by fossil fuels and we will not have the spare electrical capacity to produce hydrogen, it is clear that unnecessary movement must be avoided. It is likely that we will return to a biological (walking, cycling, rowing or animals) or wind (sailing ships) basis for most transport which will limit the distance we can sensibly travel. Even if enough oil and electricity were available to run some vehicles such as lorries or trains, we have to remember the cost in time, energy and money to keep the roads and rails in good condition, and the energy and skills needed to maintain such complicated machinery. A cart is far easier to build and repair, and a horse can cope with far rougher terrain than the best of four-by-fours. If we can keep our telephone or radio services going, most people will not need to travel far in the sustainable future.

Urban Planning

Two effects that are likely to come with the depletion of oil and gas are the collapse of the economy and a decline in food production. The first will bring large rises in unemployment and these two problems can be tackled with the same answer: urban farms. If urban farming doesnt become an urban staple, there is probably going to be a mass migration out of the cities and towards the country side.

"Eighty percent of American and Canadians live in metropolitan areas, and these place produce an equal amount of the continent's greenhouse gases. Current decentralized, auto-mobile-based patterns of development helped make North Americans the biggest generators of greenhouse gases in the world per capita. For this reason, transitioning to less land and energy-consuming patterns of development will be cruicial to reducing overall carbon production. Cities and regions, not national governments, will play the leading role in achieving these goals. This book shows how changes in the design of our cities and metropolitan areas can achieve dramatic reductions in carbon emissions while improving livability and competitiveness and at the same time reducing the cost of building and maintaining infrastructure systems."

- Amanda Reed, Worldchanging.com