SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- Last week, I was invited by a friend to a weekly afternoon meeting on the patio of a downtown Santa Fe coffee shop. As an itinerant university staff member on an annual nine-month contract, I had recently gravitated to my familial hometown for the summer.

In the cooling shade of a Chinese elm, a group of citizens pulled a couple of tables together to discuss local planning for the effects of peak oil and natural gas.

I was grateful for the invite. Since the first of a series of Pencil Warrior columns devoted to dwindling supplies of energy sources appeared in summer 2005, I had felt a little like the Lone Ranger in my adopted hometown of Socorro.



In that first article, I?d warned that ?profound consequences of the impending peaks in oil and natural gas production will not only bring about lasting changes in our lifestyles, but threaten world civilization itself.?

The coming shortage of fossil fuels was for real and would be permanent, and we?d best prepare.  

The scant reader response my articles elicited, combined with the ease with which a heartbreaking number of acquaintances dismissed the subject in conversation, just about convinced me no one was listening.

Now that prices at the pump have nearly doubled, of course, Americans are sitting up. It seems now everyone and her cat has an opinion of what?s going on and what must be done to preserve that which cannot be saved ? our ?just in time? economy dependent on faraway sources of energy, supply and even government.  

But these citizens ? an archaeologist, an architect, an energy consultant, a former Washington political staffer and a county commissioner-elect were among this week?s attendees ? were not here to figure out how to preserve the electric toothbrush, or corporate America.

Rather, their volunteer efforts revolve around creating and managing a new citizens? energy board to assist the city and county of Santa Fe in supplying that which they realize will be required in an uncertain future characterized by both climate change and energy shortages: clean, localized energy sources to fuel a new, equally-regional economy.

The age of relocalization is arriving for those communities that have prepared to make it happen.

And it is happening. In Europe and elsewhere, towns, cities and whole countries are officially initiating programs to create local economies divorced from the doomed trajectory of carbon-based systems, in which literally all requisites for society ? clean water and air, healthy food production, adequate shelter and security ? are tied to the fate of the oil, gas and coal industries.

The ad hoc committee has been hammering out a proposal for the formation of Santa Fe?s citizens? energy board to be presented to Santa Fe?s county commission.

The draft reflects how a relocalized economy fits naturally with the principle of democratic power sharing.

?Inasmuch as local citizens are the base of the new economy, the transition process best comes from them ? The CEB would have representation from local businesses and NGOs [non-governmental organizations], city and county energy planners, sovereign pueblos and citizens from each county district. It would conduct studies, outreach and education and craft ordinances relating to energy.?

For any community seeking energy (and thus economic) security, the task of refocusing basic infrastructures will not be easy.

As pointed out by Post Carbon Institute?s Daniel Lerch, author of the essential planner?s guidebook Post Carbon Cities, ?Identifying and mitigating community vulnerabilities is one of the more important ... expectations we have of our local governments. Unfortunately, as with many other undertakings that aren?t immediate or regular priorities, local governments often don?t have the resources to address such vulnerabilities, except in times of crisis, when it?s too late to prepare.?

Thus the critical need for citizen input.    

At the meeting I sat in on, folks talked about instituting a municipally-owned electrical power grid, which could free Santa Fe?s residents from the historically-tyrannical grip of the Public Service Company of New Mexico (better known as PNM).

Another item of discussion was the eventual formation of similar citizens? committees organized around food and water security, sure to be threatened in the conversion from bountiful to limited energy availability.

As we exit one era and enter another, Americans increasingly wonder what the future will bring. At the ripe old age of 55 ? ?halfway to 60? ? it sometimes seems I?ve been there, done that.

But it feels incredibly good to rub shoulders with those who are already stuck into the process of developing solutions in a way that is consistent with our democratic ideals.

It will only be sweeter if Pencil Warrior readers see fit to join in the making of our next history.

Dave Wheelock, a member of the  Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, holds a bachelor?s degree in history from the University of New Mexico. He can be reached at davewheelock@yahoo.com. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Mountain Mail.