"Global Warming is the greatest long-term threat facing humanity.  Peak Oil is the greatest short-term threat.  The solutions to both are virtually identical."          -Peter Lundsford, Washington County Peak Oil

 Climate change is not the only reason to shift our society away from fossil fuels - though it is the most pressing reason.  We also are running out of fossil fuels anyway, especially oil and natural gas, and our economy is going to have to prepare for the consequences of a world in which cheap energy, easily pumped out of the ground, is no longer available.  We can either wait for the oil crash to arrive without preparation, and then enter a period of mayhem and collapse, or we can prepare for the fossil fuel shortage, re-design our urban areas so we need to use less fuel in the first place, and shift to renewable sources for our remaining energy needs.  This is the idea behind Peak Oil, which assumes that oil and gas will only become harder to find, and more expensive in the future, and that we must begin a transition away from fossil fuels to save our civilization.

Programs to reduce greenhouse emissions usually also help prepare us for the oil crash, and vice versa.  So it makes sense for groups concerned about the two issues to work together.  Accordingly, the Students for Environmental Activism Club at Pacific University will be collaborating with the grassroots citizen group, Washington County Peak Oil, to host a screening of the film "A Crude Awakening" on the Pacific campus.  "A Crude Awakening" discusses the coming oil crisis, and the measures that must be taken to avoid disaster.  The screening will be followed by a Question & Answer panel session, in which the audience will be able to ask such figures as Commissioner Dick Schouten from the Washington County Board of Commissioners, and Assistant City Manager Robert Dixon, from the City of Hillsboro, about what our local governments can do to prepare for Peak Oil while fighting climate change.  Pacific students and members of the public are invited to attend the event, which will be at 7pm, November 18th, in the Milky Way Gallery.

This should be truly inspiring; and it will be a critical part of the campaign to educate WA County residents about what their government officials should be doing to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.  Please support strong action from our local governments: SIGN THE PETITION TO THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD, ASKING THEM TO PASS THE COOL COUNTIES DECLARATION!