Permaculture - emergency response

We had a rather bleak class, looking at everything that could go wrong in both the world and then at Esalen. The idea behind this was to have a crisis management plan to cope with worst case scenarios before they happened.

In the case of Esalen, we were introduced to scenarios where:
1) Forest fires in the area were raging out of control. Spookily, the next day a fire broke out just 20 miles away, which made the light go strangely orange before the smog set in. As I ate my dinner al fresco, I noticed the ash falling onto my hair and sweater like grey dandruff flakes.
2) Petrol went up to such a crazy price that only locals and the super-wealthy could afford to come stay here. The thought of a world in which travel outside of your country or hometown is a financial impossibility is a very scary one for me. It made me think I need to be in a place I absolutely adore before we run out of fossil fuels. My room-mate who dislikes her current town of residence, felt equally depressed at this prospect!
3) The recession in the US got so bad that local people couldn't afford to come to Esalen and refugees from outside were trying to get in for food/ shelter etc.

Many people in the group seemed to think that scenarios 2 and 3 were certainties. Maybe, I'm an optimist, maybe I'm burying my head in the sand - but I can not live in a world without hope, possibilities and solutions.

We learnt that making Esalen as sustainable as possible from the inside and making the structures here more resilient are the keys to be prepared for a possible crisis. I'm part of a group of 8 who are going to make a presentation in 2 weeks time about just how to do this vis a vis the management structures here. Other groups will be researching other areas such as energy production, food production, etc. My one classmate, has found out about some kind of sustainable energy solution - that would require 100 miles square in the desert to provide enough energy for all the world's needs from sun. That has restored my optimism !

Our leader, Benjamin, who has volunteered in various emergency scenarios had the following to say about being a leader in times of crisis.

It's important to spread calm in emergencies, so watch your energy. "The slower we do things, the faster they get done." Start calmly, as it allows momentum to build naturally. If you start with high energy, it will be impossible to sustain this and you can only go down.

He also spoke of the importance of standing up even when you don't know all the answers. I know that too often I don't do this and wait for others to stand up who I feel know more than me or are better equipped to lead than me.