On 12 February, Rob Hopkinsm the “co-parent of the Transition Town movement”, spoke in Machynlleth about peak oil and climate change.
Although climate change gets press attention, if not meaningful political action, it's peak oil that will hit us soonest.
The age of plentiful oil and cheap transport is drawing to a close. Implications for our communities are enormous, especially with respect to food supply dependent on road haulage.
Rob noted that (west) “Wales is a hotspot for transition initiatives”. i Not surprising given we're the end of the line both for haulage and for decision-makers in Westminster.
In the relatively short time oil has been around it has remade the world, compressing distance, greasing the wheels of neo-liberal globalisation.
Now the oil age is ending, Britain foolishly turns to coal and nuclear. With respect to carbon capture, “clean coal technology” is mere propaganda, the technologies to store it pipe-dreams.
Even disregarding the scale and reach of the risks, a new generation of nuclear power is years away. As transportation fuel, moreover, both technologies are non-starters.
Don't lose heart, though. Transition initiatives have an optimistic theme that runs through all aspects of remaking the world post-peak oil: we must localise and enjoy the process.