Santa Barbara Warned of Oil Shortage Impacts

After hearing how prolonged oil production shortfalls will wreak 40 years of economic havoc on industrialized nations from Robert Hirsch, one of the nation’s authorities on peak oil production, representatives from the cities of Santa Barbara and Ventura acknowledged they might better address the economic and cultural fall out by acting regionally rather than individually. The City of Ventura already has already commissioned a report on the consequences of diminishing oil production, one of the few cities to have one. A spokesperson for the city of Portland, Oregon described the efforts they undertook to make bicycle commuting-and the attendant curse of helmet hair-attractive to the city’s business set. The conference, organized by the Community Environmental Council , helped prod the cities of San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Santa Barbara to get together in the future to discuss possible regional responses to the escalating price of oil and global oil shortages.