Last month in a burst of true believer euphoria, the Madison Peak Oil Task Force announces the end of civilization as we know it and calls for drastic changes in how people live their lives. When the ‘report’ is released, Jenna posts a collection of links to the radical anti-car movement. I might add, what exactly is utopian in a future of "rickshaws, walking, pedal cabs and horse drawn carriages"?
The sincere and earnest proposals, including a ban on automobile advertising and prohibition of parking spaces in buildings, are so extreme the twist in the wind editorial board of the Wisconsin State Journal finds the courage to call for resistance.
Put the brakes on anti-car drive: The city of Portland, Ore., - one of Mayor Dave's favorite models - has succumbed to pressure from Peak Oil activists and appointed an official committee to study how Portland should prepare for the "post- carbon" age. So far, Madison's Peak Oil Task Force remains strictly an unofficial group spouting unofficial nonsense. Surely, Madison and Dane County leaders will be smart enough to keep it that way.
Oil crisis requires drastic changes in Madison: Cieslewicz hasn't met with Sweet, but the mayor's spokesman, George Twigg, said the mayor got a copy of the report. Twigg suggested that peak oil activists get involved in the sustainability initiatives the city already has in progress, including the Sustainable Design and Energy Committee, chaired by Sherrie Gruder, which is working on initiatives to reduce emissions and energy consumption for city government as well for the community.
The mayor's "Building a Green Capital City" blueprint for sustainability also seeks to address the same issues, he said. Madison is one of the first cities in the nation working on a program designed to "re-engineer city government to make principles of sustainability a part of everything we do," Twigg said. That program is called "The Natural Step."
