More articles like this need to be written and read: Wake Up, America. We’re Driving Toward Disaster.

It calls out the idea that our current lifestyle is not up for negotiation in the efforts to save the planet and build a sustainable society. The author is correct that it will need to change. We’ve had a free ride for 60-ish years so far and it’s obviously going to be changing somehow in the near future.

The other point is that the notion of “peak oil” isn’t a single event as is often portrayed. Absolutely every aspect of our lifestyle is driven by oil. We’ve seen a hint at the stresses on economies recently caused by $4/gallon and $1.20/L gas in North America. Just imagine what will happen when that reaches $10/gallon. I’m not saying we won’t find a way to fix it, but ignoring the problem isn’t helping us get there and ultimately will be worse. We could be taking small steps to help prepare for that now and make the transition easier, like trying to improve the dying North American rail system and mass transit.

I think the only way we will be able to sustain our lifestyle is if a technology is found for creating massive amounts of electricity, or perhaps huge solar infrastructure. However, those are all in the sci-fi stage of development so cannot be counted on.