Cornucopian catechism: Notes from Pittsburgh

In early March I visited the West Coast to discuss forming a nationwide coalition on how health care will be challenged and changed by global warming and peak oil. Unsurprisingly, the city governments of San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, as well as several smaller cities and counties in those states, are addressing these issues.

Once back home in Pittsburgh I pondered the incongruity of traveling 2,000 miles to meet with people who needed no prologue on the urgency of these problems. Sitting at my desk everything looked unfamiliar; I felt like I had just fallen through an antediluvian wormhole. This is a typical grass-is-greener reaction; but the feeling persisted and I decided to engage my hometown


I began by sending emails to local and state politicians. I described the activities taking place out west and asked them to ponder the Portland Peak Oil Task Force Report. I have received not one reply, probably because to acknowledge a problem implies some level of responsibility/culpability when the blame game begins. I also suspect some or all of them found my communication