A chart is now available on the Relocalization Network comparing Peak Oil Resolutions with Mayor's Climate Change Agreements:

PEAK OIL RESOLUTIONS AND MAYOR'S CLIMATE PROTECTION AGREEMENTS

This comparison is very helpful in noting similarities and differences between the two types of initiatives. Both proposals emphasize conservation and reduction of CO2 emissions, listing similar means of accomplishing this. However, the Climate Protection Agreements do not take into consideration the serious impact depleting petroleum supplies will likely have communities.

The Peak Oil Resolutions suggest that we must go much deeper and further, and involve the entire community on a deeper level than the Climate Change Agreements - emphasizing the need for education at all levels of society about the need to reduce energy consumption. They call for farmland preservation, more community gardens, planting of fruit and nut trees, and local food assessments. They also call for revitalizing the American rail system, gas taxes, shifting of highway funds to more light rail funding, a carbon tax, speed limit reduction, more local manufacturing, green taxes towards public transportation.

Tim Moerman, an urban planner in Canada, makes this distinction about peak oil and climate change responses: "...peak oil is more demanding in that (1) it doesn't let us set our own targets, it will dictate them and it will be our task to adapt, and (2) it calls for more system-wide thinking and doesn't allow us some of the sloppy/wishful thinking that has characterized many approaches to global warming. For instance, much was made of hydrogen cars and how we'd run them on H2 from renewables... but peak oil forces us to really look at the numbers on how these alternatives would work...Another way to make the link is that global warming--and the decades of denial, half-measures and messing around that led up to where we are now--were in some ways a test run for peak oil. Now we have to make the same leap, only much faster."

Richard Heinberg recently wrote an excellent article, "Bridging Peak Oil and Climate Change Activism," describing differences in perception between depletionists and climate change activists, and ways of finding common ground. These differences must be worked out so that together the two camps can move forward.

Salt Lake City has been an internationally recognized leader in the Climate Change arena...now can we make Peak Oil a prominent issue in the upcoming mayoral race, and can we pursuade our Council members to pass a Peak Oil Resolution and set up a Peak Oil task force?