Why stop at men and women? Shall we discuss the subtle nuances of the drag queen, trans-gendered, cross-dressing, gay, or straight responses to Peak Oil? But the fact that we strive to keep gender balance on our peak oil panels suggests that gender roles are important both to us and to your audiences. Let’s see what we can do without stereotyping.

In GENERAL, when women are in a crisis, their first response is to gather their family and children around them, and then seek out their friends and the wider community, have lots of discussions, and arrive at some solutions together. There are many studies on this female behavior, though it would be difficult to separate it from cultural influence. Men on the other hand, GENERALLY tend to strike out alone or in small groups, establish a chain of command, and attack the problems head on with minimal discussion, lots of action and lots of force. Again, is this a guy thing or a cultural thing? Unknown, but let’s call them extreme feminine and masculine responses, on a spectrum of possible responses.

How can we extrapolate these behaviors for Peak Oil? We can imagine that the guys will build micro hydro systems, modify their hybrid cars to be pure electric, or brew bio-diesel in their garages while the gals have in-depth discussions about forming community gardens, give each other tips on canning, sewing, knitting, and sharing the work of transforming their suburb into a village. Techno-fix vs shrinking to fit.

Your individual response depends on who you are, where you live, what your cultural references are, and where you are on the bell curve of masculinity and femininity. The above extreme examples suggest that both kinds of responses are important, meaning we’re all back in therapy, developing whichever side of ourselves is weaker. Individualism and isolation are exactly the wrong response to Peak Oil - communal self-sufficiency is the goal - and yet there’s very much a pioneer spirit to being a Peak Oil believer, so strong leadership is important. And you never know, there might just be some gizmo out there that will really save our butts. (Or maybe we should just legalize the Segway.)

Foresight, ability to take personal responsibility and to take action are critical, regardless of whether you’re starting from the masculine or the feminine. But don’t neglect the psychological stuff - for more depth on that, try the Peak Oil Blues website.