Bob Waldrop Elected Mayor Of OKC

by Peak Oil Hausfrau

Featured here is the first post of the Envision 2020 blog, which imagines the events in Oklahoma City as we transition from the present, a time of abundant and cheap energy, to the future, a time of declining and expensive energy...

(OKLAHOMA CITY) Mar. 7, 2014 -- Bob Waldrop, local social justice activist and founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, was elected mayor of Oklahoma City in a landslide election yesterday evening.

"I am proud my fellow citizens have embraced my platform of 'Local Food, Energy and Economy,'" Mayor-elect Waldrop told Peak Oil Hausfrau today. "It shows that our city is ready to tackle the enormous challenges facing us and take responsibility for our future. When we are willing to work together, we can create great things as a community."

Opponents tried to paint Waldrop as a radical, calling him a "sad old Hobbit hippie," "permaculturist" and "local foodie fanatic." These attacks did not resonate with a population weary of years of recession and the lingering effects of the financial crash of 2009. Local groups banded together in a swell of grassroots support to knock on over 54,000 doors in a massive volunteer campaign.

First on Waldrop's agenda: Restoring granaries within city limits. Mayor-elect Waldrop explained, "This step will provide local food security in the face of another oil shock like the one of 2011. We will have grain and beans on hand to provide a two-week basic minimum diet for our most vulnerable citizens. But I encourage everyone to have three months of their own food storage if at all possible."

The oil crisis of 2011 laid the foundations for Mr. Waldrop's campaign of "Local Food, Energy and Economy." While not entirely unprepared due to the efforts of local group Transition Town OKC, Oklahoma City nonetheless endured great stress from the effects of the oil supply crisis. Without constant deliveries of food, grocery shelves were emptied within three days of the Ras Tanura refinery bombing in Saudi Arabia on June 14, 2011. Highways and roads became deserted, and basic city services stopped. Luckily, the crisis lasted only two weeks before the federal government began rationing gasoline and released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ensure coal and food deliveries. Still, the economy was at a standstill, and without regular paychecks, many people could not even afford to buy the food that was available.

Leading citizens, business and spiritual leaders from all walks and parties endorsed Waldrop, including many that had opposed him in the past.

"After the Crisis of '11, the Federation of Churches realized that we needed a city that would prepare for the future of oil depletion, not be stuck in the past of oil dependence. We decided to mobilize and make sure that the city had a plan. Our church was very excited to support Bob's campaign, which had a great, innovative focus on preparedness, resilience, and localization," said John Franks, minister, Faith and Hope Community Church.

Mayor-elect Waldrop will celebrate his election with a "Local Food Extravaganza," and invites all citizens to an open-air potluck festival downtown to be held directly after his inauguration. "We look forward to bringing all our citizens back into the democratic process," he remarked. "My administration will be one of inclusiveness and responsibility and will offer a new vision for the future--one of energy efficiency, local food and economy, shared transport and renewable energy. Our hope is that everyone will participate."

Comments

[clifford.wirth@yahoo.com]

Global crude oil production peaked in 2008.

The media, governments, world leaders, and public should focus on this issue.

Global crude oil production had been rising briskly until 2004, then plateaued for four years. Because oil producers were extracting at maximum effort to profit from high oil prices, this plateau is a clear indication of Peak Oil.

Then in August and September of 2008 while oil prices were still very high, global crude oil production fell nearly one million barrels per day, clear evidence of Peak Oil (See Rembrandt Koppelaar, Editor of "Oil Watch Monthly," December 2008, page 1) http://www.peakoil.nl/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/2008_december_oilwatch_monthly.pdf.

Peak Oil is now.

Credit for accurate Peak Oil predictions (within a few years) goes to the following (projected year for peak given in parentheses):

* Association for the Study of Peak Oil (2007)

* Rembrandt Koppelaar, Editor of “Oil Watch Monthly” (2008)

* Tony Eriksen, Oil stock analyst; Samuel Foucher, oil analyst; and Stuart Staniford, Physicist [Wikipedia Oil Megaprojects] (2008)

* Matthew Simmons, Energy investment banker, (2007)

* T. Boone Pickens, Oil and gas investor (2007)

* U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2005)

* Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Princeton professor and retired shell geologist (2005)

* Sam Sam Bakhtiari, Retired Iranian National Oil Company geologist (2005)

* Chris Skrebowski, Editor of “Petroleum Review” (2010)

* Sadad Al Husseini, former head of production and exploration, Saudi Aramco (2008)

* Energy Watch Group in Germany (2006)

* Fredrik Robelius, Oil analyst and author of "Giant Oil Fields" (2008 to 2018)

Oil production will now begin to decline terminally.

Within a year or two, it is likely that oil prices will skyrocket as supply falls below demand. OPEC cuts could exacerbate the gap between supply and demand and drive prices even higher.

Independent studies indicate that global crude oil production will now decline from 74 million barrels per day to 60 million barrels per day by 2015. During the same time, demand will increase. Oil supplies will be even tighter for the U.S. As oil producing nations consume more and more oil domestically they will export less and less. Because demand is high in China, India, the Middle East, and other oil producing nations, once global oil production begins to decline, demand will always be higher than supply. And since the U.S. represents one fourth of global oil demand, whatever oil we conserve will be consumed elsewhere. Thus, conservation in the U.S. will not slow oil depletion rates significantly.

Alternatives will not even begin to fill the gap. There is no plan nor capital for a so-called electric economy. And most alternatives yield electric power, but we need liquid fuels for tractors/combines, 18 wheel trucks, trains, ships, and mining equipment. The independent scientists of the Energy Watch Group conclude in a 2007 report titled: “Peak Oil Could Trigger Meltdown of Society:”

"By 2020, and even more by 2030, global oil supply will be dramatically lower. This will create a supply gap which can hardly be closed by growing contributions from other fossil, nuclear or alternative energy sources in this time frame."

With increasing costs for gasoline and diesel, along with declining taxes and declining gasoline tax revenues, states and local governments will eventually have to cut staff and curtail highway maintenance. Eventually, gasoline stations will close, and state and local highway workers won’t be able to get to work. We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel and gasoline powered trucks for bridge maintenance, culvert cleaning to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, and roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, large transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables from great distances. With the highways out, there will be no food coming from far away, and without the power grid virtually nothing modern works, including home heating, pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, and automated building systems.

Documented here:
http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html
http://survivingpeakoil.blogspot.com/

[lewru]

I would love to see Bob the mayor!

[Bob Waldrop]

This was a hilarious way to wake up this morning. I looked at the screen and thought, "I forgot to vote", and "How did I miss the campaign?" Then I noticed the dateline -- 2014 -- and was somewhat relieved.

[ron ferrell]

I find it very interesting that with all the bad economy chatter, empty food pantries at shelters, etc, reduced food budgets at schools, on and on ad nauseum, there is never a conversation on the TV about the necessity of growing food. IT APPEARS THAT GARDENING HAS BEEN INTENTIONALY TAKEN OUT OF OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION.
Obama should mandate that every school have a garden project and actually teach peopple how to grow food, and it should be mandated that every possible citizen plant a garden. They use to call them Victory Gardens, and I think they will be called Survival Gardens.......

VOTE FOR BOB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREAT BLOG