I don’t think there is a “Peak Oil movement” in the same sense as there is a “States’ Rights Movement,” so I don’t think such an “embrace” is really possible. The “peak oil movement,” such as it is, is mostly loosely affiliated individuals and local affinity groups, while the “secession” movement, as I understand it, is often promoted by well-heeled Libertarian/Republicans with agendas of their own.

I’m generally in favor of local sovereignty, but considering some of the intolerance that fuels “states’ rights,” I’m not about to sign on to such a broad platform. Vermont independence is one thing. Texas independence, as advocated by Gov. Perry, is quite another, and I suspect a lot of Texans don’t relish the thought of him being their “supreme leader” with no federal oversight, either. That said, I think we will devolve into localism more or less involuntarily over the next few decades, and even state governments will become toothless anachronisms.

This gets into what Ken Wilber refers to as the “pre/trans fallacy”–there are some ideas that can be advocated in both enlightened and very unenlightened modalities, such as “simple living” and “local sovereignty,” and just because two groups or individuals are advocating what on the surface seems like the same thing, does not mean they are actually in the same league with each other. Life is not black and white, and neither is the “secession” question.

North American Secessionist Congress, October 2010