In pondering the end of cheap oil, we tend to focus on the material aspects that we think we'll lose. No more zipping around in SUVs. No more dazzling acres of cheap goods in big box stores. No more shining, new electronic toys every month or two. No more big houses, big kitchens, big closets strung with clothes and shoes for all occasions.

But change never causes only loss. What can be gained is a reinvigoration of community--economic and productive ties to those in your neighborhood, city, county, state. Our emphasis on community being merely the social aspect leaves the economic and productive aspects of community to anonymous corporations headquartered hundreds or thousands of miles distant. The outflow of local dollars garnered from many households to be concentrated in bank accounts in far away places is the real cost of cheap goods.

Megan Quinn's evocation of communities of the future inspires us in working toward that possible reality starting today.