Preparing our communities for peak oil is no easy task. From local zoning codes to national highway bills, just about every policy and infrastructure decision made since World War II has prioritized driving over walking, bicycling and taking public transportation. As a result, today most Americans and Canadians are powerless to meet even their most basic daily needs --whether going to work or buying food-- without using a petroleum-powered car or truck.

Fortunately, policy and infrastructure decisions are just that: decisions. We can choose to set policy as if we're still in a world of cheap oil, or we can choose to set policies more appropriate for the new and very real and world of energy and climate uncertainty. For most people that means electing government leaders who understand peak oil, and letting them figure out what exactly to do about it. As people who work in government know, however, it takes more than winning on Election Day to change policy.

Minnesota State Representative Bill Hilty hosted John Kaufmann (Oregon Department of Energy) and I this past January for a series of presentations on peak oil and the Portland Peak Oil Task Force. After two of the presentations, audience members asked why legislators weren't acting on peak oil. In both cases Rep. Hilty replied, "A politician isn't going to stand up and say something unpopular if there's nobody standing up behind him or her."

Hilty put the responsibility back on the voters, noting that while elected officials need to be aware of and act on the peak oil problem, it's also incumbent upon the voters to let them know what they want, support them when they do the right thing, and criticize them when they don't. John added that, especially in smaller communities, there's nothing stopping concerned citizens from running for office and becoming, themselves, the elected officials who act on peak oil.

Citizen or politician, however, it is undeniably difficult to show political leadership on an issue as challenging and unpopular as peak oil. Much like global warming, it's an incredibly huge and complex issue that requires a certain amount of scientific and technical knowledge to fully understand -- and it also happens to threaten our very way of life. We've seen brave local leadership on global warming: Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels signed his city up to the Kyoto Protocol when it went into effect in February 2005 without U.S. invovlement, setting an example that nearly 900 mayors have since followed. Now it's time for similarly brave political leadership on peak oil.

Fortunately, every month there are both more officials speaking about peak oil and more resources available for those who want to know more. Post Carbon Institute recently released a video by peak oil experts Richard Heinberg and Julian Darley made especially for policymakers. We also have a government-focused video of a presentation I did on Post Carbon Cities, discussing why peak oil should be of particular concern to local governments:

» VIDEO: Peak Oil for Policymakers (12 mins.)
» VIDEO: Peak Oil and Energy Uncertainty: Challenges for Local Governments (10 mins.)

Energy Challenge TV has a new and excellent video of Connecticut State Representative Terry Backer at this year's national peak oil conference in Sacramento. In it, Backer describes how the Connecticut Legislature recently established an energy security and sustainability task force, with lots of advice on how to frame peak oil as an accessible policy issue. Energy Challenge also has video of John Kaufmann discussing the Portland Peak Oil Task Force, for which he served as lead staff.

» VIDEO: How to Speak to Government and Decisionmakers (11 mins.)
» VIDEO: The Portland Peak Oil Task Force (27 mins.)

And of course, the Resources section at postcarboncities.net has copies of government peak oil reports and resolutions from around the world.

Later this month, in the Post Carbon Cities newsletter, we'll take a closer look at how some elected officials are showing leadership on peak oil.

Photo credit: alexbcthompson