After seeing “An Inconvenient Truth” (as well as “The End of Suburbia,” “The Power of Community” and other peak oil films), it seemed only logical to discover what cities are doing about the potential disaster of both global warming and peak oil (let alone the fiscal deficit and the political lethargy and deficit of a nation). We have already reported on the farsighted policies implemented in such cities as Willits, but we wanted to know more.

For years we have been reporting on what individuals are doing in the face of predictions of environmental catastrophe: designing ecovillages, building naturally, creating water catchments, getting involved with permaculture as an umbrella activist philosophy.

But with this issue, we felt the need to move beyond highlighting the pioneering work of individuals or the individual consumer (e.g. “just buy yourself a hybrid”) and see what cities are doing. And of course it would be a waste to do an entire issue on what the Bush Administration is doing to prepare us. In fact, they are going in the opposite direction by continually attempting to scare us with the threat of terrorism rather than the real threat of global warming, peak oil, the huge deficit and our embedded unsustainable way of life.

So, inside this issue, we hope you will be inspired not only to learn about what cities are doing and what groups like Community Solutions, the Post Carbon Institute and BALLE [Business Alliance of Living Local Economies] are doing, but to be inspired enough to act, to sustain and invigorate us all into action. Either replicating what you read here in your own cities or creating something entirely different. Check out the interviews with Julian Darley (with Michael Brownlee) and David Korten (with Brad Johnson) for even more inspiring and wise reflection on our current situation.

Also, we have reports on various conferences and summits that hopefully will entice groups to replicate them in their own towns, with their own people. Check out the report of the BALLE Conference in Vermont; the Tri-Counties report, the North Bay Summit, the Village Building Convergence in Portland.

Most of us world-changer types have had experiences of abject misery and downright despair when it comes to discussing peak oil, global warming and all the other plethora of dreadful potentials. Steve Wohlrab, a psychologist, explores various possible explanations and remedies. And his insights are especially acute since he is also a Peak Oil presenter.

There are so many examples and models of creative possibilities and solutions that my new mantra has become: it’s not just that another world is possible but that it’s happening here and now (as well as another favorite: “Synchronicities are running amok!”). And cities’ greening policies are proving that we have shifted beyond the incredible efforts of lonely pioneering individuals. Sustainability is not just a fringe movement. It has moved into the mainstream. The shift will become tenable and visceral as more and more people want not only to survive but to participate locally in a more joyful and celebratory existence (see the front cover art) rather than be a party to globalization’s rape of resources, both planetary and human, for a tiny minority.

Check out my notes about the press coverage of our sexuality issue due to censorship in SLO county Libraries.

Our next issue will focus on The Truth About 9/11, so send us your articles and reviews and films and web links. And, of course, report back on what you have learned about your particular community and what you are doing to help your neighborhood or city prepare for the rough times ahead.

Bob Banner
Publisher


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