A world with energy doubled in price That’s the scenario for the year 2020 that 150 people in Addison County, Vermont considered for a day last weekend. Paul Ralston, executive director of the Vermont Coffee company, laid out the scenario at the beginning of one of the working groups: The participants’ task was to figure out what they want their world to look like under that scenario, and then figure out how to move in that direction. The exercise was the heart of the county’s seventh Conservation Congress. The focus was on how to respond to peak oil, climate change, and the financial unravelling. Inspired by the Transition Towns movement that began in England, the organizers invited the community to plan together for radical, desirable transformations. David Brynn, executive director of a key sponsoring organization, Vermont Family Forests, put it this way: [actuality] Similarly, John Elder put the participants in the mood to imagine a positive future, very different from today: [actuality] This was no mere lip service to celebration and beauty. The main work of the day was done in 12 separate rooms, each addressing a pair of related issues. Money and banking was one; food and farming was another; a third was heat and power. In each room, a visual artist listened to the discussions and summed the discussion up… in a painting! The paintings were later taped together to form a long roll, and the roll was wound through a vaudeville era device called a “crankie.” It was like showing a slide show of drawings. Pete Sutherland, who wrote and performed the theme music for the Peak Oil Check-In, accompanied the crankie show with his song about peak oil, Nothing But Wisdom. [Song.] At the end of the day, each of the 12 working groups had produced not only a painting, but also a vision statement for their theme, 10 goals for the year 2020, and 3 ideas on how to move forward towards those goals. Next week, I’ll talk about some of the ways these groups envisioned a hopeful and energy-poor 2020. I’m Carl Etnier, and that’s this week’s Peak Oil Check-In.