Australian Senate: Peak Oil motion defeated 31:6

[Rob Olason]

This is an interesting posting in the RSS feeds on the Whatcom Transition ning site, that I think is very telling about the level of political will to name the elephant in the room, let alone do something about it.

I think the size of the opposition on this vote reveals that the traditional politician has a huge learning curve on the upcoming "Story of the Century." I also think that when the paradigm shift regarding peak oil and climate change become undeniably avoidable for even the most vehement deniers, we will still remain disappointed in the lack of leadership, or the unwillingness to be leaders, that our traditional politicians will play on this issue.

The fact that this issue isn't "on the legislative table," will be viewed several decades from now as the biggest blunder of our times.


Australian legislators dismiss Peak Oil

[David MacLeod]

Rob, I saw that discouraging post as well. This is why Transition is focused on community action rather than legislative action (although an important Transition step is to "build a bridge to local government" - http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/page/12-steps).

As is said on the Transition Network website:
“What we are convinced of is this:
* if we wait for the governments, it’ll be too little, too late
* if we act as individuals, it’ll be too little
* but if we act as communities, it might be just enough, just in time”