Citizens of the West — citizens of the U.S. in particular — use more than our share. You know this. You have probably taken a carbon or ecological footprint quiz. You have probably found that it would require 2 or 3 or 6 Earths to support your lifestyle. Yes, me, too. I am not particularly wasteful, though my friend the No Impact Man feigned horror when I told him I dry my hair. I offered to use a human-powered peddle energy to run my hair dryer. “Why not just stop needing that energy at all?” he asked.

Yes, why not?

While I’m well aware of the need to cut my needs, I’m one of those who hopes that my small lifestyle (small house, small car, small family) will be enough.

It won’t.

I know. I don’t really hope I can continue with my below average number of required Earths, but I do I hope I won’t live to see the crash. I don’t linger too long on that ridiculous hope, but I do linger. Even if I don’t see it with my own eyes, chances are very good my children will see it up close.

But someone will.

So, I have to reduce?

Yes, drastically.

I’ve been following the conversation among those rioting for austerity in the past month. Basic idea: the fair share of U.S. citizens is 94% less than most of us use now, so reduce to our fair share. Go slowly by just reaching for 90% to start.

The Rules of 90% Reduction including 7 areas (quoted from the rules):

1. Gasoline. Average American usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR. A 90 percent reduction would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
2. Electricity. Average US usage is 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH. A 90% reduction would mean using 1,100 PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR or 90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH.
3. Heating and Cooking Energy - this is divided into 3 categories, gas, wood and oil. Your household probably uses one of these, and they are not interchangeable. If you use an electric stove or electric heat, this goes under electric usage.
4. Garbage – the average American generates about 4.5 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean .45 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.
5. Water. The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.
6. Consumer Goods. The best metric I could find for this is using money. A Professor at Syracuse University calculates that as an average, every consumer dollar we spend puts .5 lbs of carbon into the atmosphere. This isn’t perfect, of course, but it averages out pretty well.
7. Food. This was by far the hardest thing to come up with a simple metric for. Using food miles, or price gives what I believe is a radically inaccurate way of thinking about this. So here’s the best I can do. Food is divided into 3 categories: 70% local food, 20% dry bulk, and 5% wet goods.

There is oh so much more detail in the rules, and the Yahoo! group includes a spreadsheet set up to track reductions. I’ve been thinking that a chart of 7 thermometers would be a good way to track my sinking usage from my place somewhere below the American average down to my fair share. A compelling scoreboard might encourage my children to participate through their own motivation more than my nudging.

Nearly irrelevant final note: When I typed in the link for the Earth Day footprint calculator above, I typed “Death Day.” I type fast, and I sometimes find it interesting to see what comes out my fingers before my brain engages. This type, I stopped short. Is that how I see it? Somewhere inside, I must see it that way.

The amazing Jean Arnold, hub of Post Carbon Salt Lake, has compiled a great slide show to introduce audiences to the idea and implications of peak oil. The one-hour version was shown recently on SLC-TV Channel 17 (public access) — shown again today, Thursday, May 31, 1:30pm.

This one-hour presentation is a good introduction for those new to the whole Peak Oil subject, and sufficiently in-depth for those already familiar with the topic.

You can also watch online or order a free DVD. Send your name and address to:

Bill Haight – Bill.haight@slcgov.com
Technology and Software Support Manager
Salt Lake City – Information Management Services
801.535.7977 Office – 801.535.7634 Fax

Members of Post Carbon Salt Lake are learning to present this show to take it on the road. They will be listed with local speakers’ bureaus soon.

• Jean Arnold is the author of “Another inconvenient truth: peak oil: the rise and fall of oil production,” a comprehensive article from the Catalyst, October 2006.

Rob Hopkins, of the amazing Transition Culture in Ireland, lead a recent meeting on energy descent in Lampeter, Wales.

I talked about peak oil and the need to begin preparing for it at a community level. I talked about the experience of Cuba and of the process which gave rise to the Kinsale Energy Descent Plan. 

I happen to know a little (very little) about this town.  My mother’s grandmother was born near there, a fact which drew me to hike up and down the green hills to find my people in my mid-20s. I didn’t find many people, but I found the overgrown foundation of a house and a sense that these small towns didn’t have much need for the technology that shaped my life.

One of the points Hopkins makes fairly frequently is: older structures are already prepared for power down.  This is true for buildings as well as for human structures like governments.

Hopkins mentions the Cuban experience.  My local Post Carbon group recently showed “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.”  Wow.  What a film.  An article last summer in Yes! Magazine compares the post-Soviet power down in Cuba and in North Korea.  Guess who survived best.  How and why Cuba was prepared offers very interesting lessons to those of us who will meet (or whose children will meet) peak oil in the near future.

Play the game before you face the reality.

On April 30, 2007, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (as in PBS), a new alternate-reality game will be launched. Apparently, this is the first game meant to do good for society and backed by a nonprofit. There will be interactive storylines, which sounds like Second Life. Will it be like Second Life?

The game:

“. . . will ask players to imagine the U.S. without oil and envision how Americans would respond to such a crisis.”

It’s all part of the happiness hacking movement, according to the game developer. Technology that no only makes you feel good but urges you to do good.

Games for social good. Yay. When I need to face up to the future, I like to do so by plugging into virtual reality. Every day I’m already playing the game where I imagine what the world will be like without oil. I guess the fun of this will be to join the anticipated 100,000 others in my projected responses.

Meet you there?

Transition Culture is, bar none, the best site I know on life after peak oil. Rob Hopkins is a teacher of permaculture and a developer of a powerdown community in Ireland. He speaks publicly, he teaches courses, he is active in his community — and he blogs it all to encourage us to prepare for powerdown in our own communities. We find out how his town’s Energy Descent Action Plan is going as it goes.

For those who want to know where to begin in creating their own transition town projects, he has compiled 10 First Steps for a Transition Town Initiative, based on the experience in his town of Totnes.

1. Awareness Raising
2. Lay the Foundations
3. The Official Unleashing
4. Form Groups
5. Use Open Space
6. Develop Visible Practical Manifestations of the Project
7. Facilitate the Great Reskilling
8. Build a Bridge to Local Government
9. Honor the Elders
10. Let it Go Where It Wants to Go and Reflections

Every one of these steps and every post on the Transition Culture blog is a rich inspiration in itself. And, yet, it’s all just plain practical if you are concerned about relocalization. These steps are seriously practical. It makes me think of the statement by Hopi Elders.

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know our garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

This could be a good time!