The historical roots of Amherst go back to the 17th century with the founding of Hadley. It would seem odd, therefore, to ask: “Does Amherst exist?”  Quite clearly it does. Wind the tape of history back to the beginning, however, to discover that Amherst did not have to come into being as a town.  The district of Amherst, for example, split apart from Hadley as a result of a petition to the General Court in Boston, which did not necessarily have to assent. Both Amherst and Hadley were the products of political deals that did not have to occur. Why, then, should any particular town exist?  Is the existence of a Town necessary for the sustainable future of its people?  These questions must now be contemplated.  

In support of the recent adoption of a master plan by the Town of Amherst, the Pioneer Valley Relocalization Project submitted this essay to the Amherst Planning Board to highlight a critical issue confronting community planners and town executives everywhere: the looming crisis of peak oil and climate change.  These are civilization-threatening processes caused by human action and must be confronted now – not later – by all planners sharing the goal of a sustainable economic and social future.  Scientists throughout the world, including James Hansen of NASA and Rajendra Pachauri of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have reached fundamental consensus regarding the climate threat while Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute and others in the academy and in the oil industry have articulated the same with regard to peak oil. Because the crisis is imminent, far-reaching, and human-caused, it can be avoided only through planned action, and must be a first-order objective at every government level – municipal, state, and nation.