Sir, you take we Americans to task for our profligate use of energy as compared with the rest of the world. I did not hear comments like that when we were saving your royal arses during World War II, but let that pass. The fact is, Sir, since you lost your bloody Empire, the only thing that prevented you from being as "profligate" as we is that you can't afford it. So would you kindly go bugger yourself and cease your public envy.

Yours,

Yank

Planting gardens! Courses on milling grain! Talk of the 13th Century! Why do the same old white elites pitch the same old nonsense over and over again: it's the end of the world as we know it! In this version, the elites dream of an honorable peasentry, where former programmers and professors trade in their thinking caps for smocks and boots and gloves, proudly tilling the earth and milling their own grain, because without oil, 700 hundred years of science and medicine and agricultiure and innovation and culture and art disappear, poof, and instead of accepting that we might not have oranges year 'round, but only seasonal fruits and veggies (like when I was a kid), and that we might have to do more walking (I live in a city and almost never take a car, relying on mass transit and alternate-fuel busses), more stair climbing, more bike riding, and more home centered pleasures - similar to 40-50 years ago, not 600 years ago. As stated earlier, SUVs will have to be junked, and we might see less disposable everythings, but to suggest that we will crumble as a world (because if it's bad here, it's going to be worse in developing countries) is an absurdity that belies our ability to adapt and find a better way... SO you go plant your gardens and mill your grains - I'll keep studying engineering - post 13th century BTW, and we'll see who wasted their time on foolish endeavours: if you're right, your puny garden won't mean a thing - as others have said, unless you're armed to the teeth, your garden will belong to all of us, and your milled grain will fill my belly, but if you're wrong, and you are, then my degree in egineering may be used to find intelligent alternatives to our addiction on oil.

Let the fun begin...

Interesting facet of the "peak oil is upon us already" theory... the oil companies have posted record profits. It would seem that at least the "supply" side of the equation is delighted with this state of affairs for the moment.

I would seem more likely the recent rise in and volatility of carbon fuel prices is more directly related to the producers' unfettered ability to control prices, rather than blind market forces at work.

I think we can deal with peak oil if we rationalize our transportation and land use. This will mean living in compact communities. No more mcmansions on 3 acres miles from anywhere. And it will mean more walking, bicycling, public transit and railroads. No more private automobiles, long distance trucking and airplanes. Then what energy we can produce from sustainable sources may just be enough.

Ken

I'm old enough to remember clearly pre-overconsumption America: a period as recently as the early 70s when families owned one car, took trains, saved money....My parents, born in the late 30s, grew up when a car was a HUGE luxury, driven once a week -- remember "Sunday Driver"? Day tripper? So the "lifestyle" the US is currently enjoying is new, probably not 30 years old if one looks at it closely. Think about it.

In this brief period our reliance on petroleum has become broad and deep: one thing the article didn't quite make clear is that "oil" is not just about cars and heating--petroleum distillates are used in everything from furniture polish to clothing to cosmetics. At the same time, population has not only soared but also shifted to areas with the least natural resources available to support the housing boom: The Sunbelt--where fresh water is already scarce, the aquifers are not sufficient to support the population. And you can bet your boots desalination processes cost more than freshwater.

I think we are already in the midst of peak oil, and other problems are looming ominously over the horizon. How the rest of the world will be affected is open to question. Just as a country with no phones, for example, is better positioned install modern telecommunications than a country that has to constantly bring an old system up to date, so a country less heavily invested in infratstructure for autos (massive 14 lane highways), for instance, is actually better situated to transition to different energy production.

To hedgerowteacher et al who dismiss nuclear energy. The biggest opponents of nuclear power for the last 40 years have been the fossil fuel industry. Their profits would have been threatened. They coopted a bunch of non-technical greenies into buying their propaganda. I live within 40 miles of a site where over 50 nulcear reactors have operated. Even the liberals around here love nuclear power. For all intents and purposes there is an infinite supply of nuclear fuel in the world. It will not be expensive if lots of nukes built to standardized designs are built. The first nuclear power plant to produce "commercial" nuclear power was EBR-1 (experimental breeder reactor 1). It is now a national historic landmark 50 miles west of here. It produced power for the town of Arco Idaho 50 years ago. From concept to operating reactor took 26 engineers and technicians 18 months. All this talk of time and expense is crap. As fossil fuel goes up in cost other sources will come into place. Peak oil means that over the next hundred years energy will go up in price. As prices go up other forms of energy will become economic. We will probably never again have energy as cheap as we have had it. But we will learn to use less. For example, as soon as the present housing boom collapses I am going to add two inches of foam and stucco to the outside of my house, and install high efficiency windows. I will cut my Btu use in half. I'll probably still spend more, but not as much as I would have. My biggest concern is will I be able to afford to tow my sailboat to the lakes? It weighs 2500 lbs so a Prius won't cut it. OTOH I use less than 5 gallons of gas a year for the auxiliary outboard on it. Or I'll get a lighter boat that can be towed by an efficient hybrid. I believe that this type of concern will be more prevalent than the doomsday scenarios, at least for the next hundred years.