Gender, Peak Oil, and Culture: Part One

Have you noticed that so far all the major books on Peak Oil are by men? These good thinkers also seem to be mainly Caucasians, like this reporter. I saw the film “The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream” again last year. I viewed it in a place where the majority of people are not of European descent. Hawai’i County is the most ethnically diverse county in the nation. It also has a long tradition of female leadership, going back to Pele, the Volcano goddess, and to its current woman governor. But those interviewing and being interviewed in the film appear to be exclusively men of European ancestry. This contrast stimulated this article.

Male Peak Oil authors have done a great service by bringing oil depletion to the world’s attention and documenting it with solid analysis and science. But some important things are missing.

We could benefit from a greater variety of voices at the front of the growing Peak Oil awareness movement, as well as doing important work behind the scenes. More women and people of color could bring various perspectives on Peak Oil-related issues. We need more than persuasive facts, figures, logic, equations, projections and economic, mathematical and geological studies. They provide a solid foundation of information and data. We now need to get beyond what can be seen, measured, and described as the Peak Oil problem into the hands-on, practical work of creating local solutions within diverse communities.

What might women and people of different races, colors, nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities have to contribute to the growing awareness of Peak Oil and its potential consequences? How will they be impacted by oil descent? Would they tend to raise issues of family (called ohana in Hawaii) and relationships more? Would they be more concerned not just with clear thinking but with how people feel when they hear about oil descent? Would they tend to be less competitive and more cooperative?

Energy Bulletin