Aiming for a soft landing

Whether we like it or not, the unprecedented double challenge of peak oil and global warming is already transforming our lives.

As with the current financial meltdown, these now crises have been developing rapidly, largely without the concern and scrutiny of U.S. political leaders or the media.


Like the melting ice in the Arctic, the world as we have known it is dissolving and we are being given the stunning opportunity to create a new kind of society.

The prudent response for a nation facing such profound change would be an all-out effort to craft a comprehensive energy-descent plan, similar in scope to our nation’s rapid mobilization during World War II, so that our bloated balloon of excess could float to earth gently instead of crashing in a heap.

But we North Americans are not yet accustomed to looking very far ahead.

Brattleboro Reformer