At its monthly meeting on December 6th, the Franklin Town Board unanimously approved a resolution establishing a Citizens' Commission to assess the needs and resources of the Town of Franklin in the face of Peak Oil.

This report, prepared for the Portland Peak Oil Task Force in 2006, is a good introduction to the issue report, and also takes into consideration many aspects of the city's vitality and resiliency. The categories of potential areas of impact were influential in shaping the task force's inquiries and eventual recommendations.

Rob Hopkins is the founder of the Transition movement in the UK, "transition" being the term for a process of creating more resilient and self-reliant communities. The handbook is a good guide and motivator to making changes at the local level and includes a compelling argument that peak oil and climate change must be addressed together.

Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg, on the psychological aspects of working to counteract the problems caused by peak oil and climate change. His "pep talk" reaches out to those working hard to make sure their families, their communities, and their planet are safe in a situation with many unknowns.

The world will have to suffer a deep economic downturn before serious attempts are made to kick the oil habit, according to Robin West, chairman of PFC Energy, the Washington-based oil consultancy. Summary of a recent interview with award-winning investigative journalist David Strahan.

The report prepared by the Oakland, Calif. Peak Oil Task Force, to be presented to the Oakland City Council Public Works Committee on 26 Feb 2008. The report is, as titled, an action plan that advises a course of action to transform the City of Oakland into a much less oil-dependent city.

This is a draft of the final report of the Haines Energy Task Force of Haines Borough, Alaska.

Better known as the "Hirsch Report," this study was prepared for the United States Department of Energy in 2005. It examined the likelihood of imminent Peak Oil and its potential effects, and recommended a set of mitigating actions, stressing that while the problem is unlike other energy crises, it is not insoluble given timely preparation. The recommended time frame to start preparation was 20 years before peak; a 10 year rush transition with moderate impacts is possible with extraordinary efforts from governments, industry and consumers.

The major challenge facing this and the next generation of architects, planners and builders is how to develop land use patterns that respond to the demands of the post-carbon age and provide a high quality of life for future generations. How our profession adapts to the need for reducing dependency on fossil fuels and contributes to the use of new technologies and approaches to planning and development that foster sustainability is critically important and will be the focus of this year’s Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development.

"You have to be careful with peak oil that you don't immediately leap to 'We're all doomed and our economy is doomed,'" says San Francisco Peak Oil Task Force Chairperson Jeanne Rosenmeier. "I think there is an intermediate phase, which is what we are being asked to address: the transition from business as usual." San Francisco was the first city to pass a resolution recognizing the problem of peak oil; its task force is hard at work putting together a plan to deal with that problem.