Welcome to the Sustainable Community Solutions website! I will be blogging here on issues related to sustainable community development.
As 2007 begins, humanity faces monumental challenges. From war in Iraq to the continuing global AIDS pandemic, the list of massive problems can seem overwhelming.
Of these daunting problems, global climate change has perhaps more potential than any other to disrupt societies worldwide. 2006 was the sixth warmest year on record globally, with the ten warmest years all having occurred since 1995, and several eminent climate scientists have already predicted that 2007 could be the warmest year on record. A recent British government analysis warns that failure to take aggressive action immediately “could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century. And it will be difficult or impossible to reverse these changes.”
On top of this risk, uncertain supplies and prices of oil and natural gas pose additional major threats to economic and social stability. At some point in the near future, global demand for oil (and natural gas) will outstrip the ability of the world’s oil producers to supply adequate quantities, and production will enter a phase of terminal decline, a phenomenon referred to as peak oil.
One response to these massive global problems would be to shrug one’s shoulders and party till the Apocalypse, as it were. A more mature response, I believe, is to address the problems head on, look for opportunities in times of peril, and do whatever can reasonably be done, personally and locally, to address the problems (and simultaneously position oneself and one’s community to be ready for whatever economic and social disruptions may come in the future).
I won’t presume to offer solutions for the unfolding tragedy in Iraq or the AIDS crisis, but I do have suggestions and strategies for building communities here in Minnesota that have a fighting chance to thrive in the challenging future we are likely to live in as a result of global climate change and peak oil. Some of these strategies can be implemented by individuals or individual businesses; others require rethinking how we work together in communities, and how our communities develop.
Developing such sustainable communities offers a chance to do well while doing good. Stay tuned to learn more as I develop this website, and blog on energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building, and other subjects.