Glad to see someone is thinking ahead.. Too bad the news may not be what most people want to hear or read about!!
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060828/post_carbon_worldCurrently one of the big debates in the energy field is what will occur if and when all the oil is used up and we find ourselves in what is being called the "post-carbon age." That's a debate for geologists, economists and think tankeroos. But there is no debate over the steadily increasing price of oil, which is certain to double, triple, quadruple in years to come.
The economic and therefore the political consequences, even if we are somewhat prepared, will be shocking in ways only a few presently understand. Most of us have been nurtured to believe that after a few adjustments are made by way of "energy conservation" and the "miracle of technology," we shall be on our merry way as before. We buy it when George Bush remarks, almost absent-mindedly, that America is addicted to oil but that he and his allies have the biofuel methadone needed to kick the habit. Well, methadone doesn't work on heroin junkies, and it won't work on oil junkies either.
If we are to survive, much less prosper, in a time when oil will vie in price with Cristal, we must not only think outside the box; we must get rid of the box. We must do something Americans have never imagined: Give up on economic growth. We must abandon the long-held idea that we can grow our way out of every problem, that growth is the path to achieve every national goal.
In the post-carbon age, growth will be anathema. We can start with population. The United States is already the third most populous nation in the world behind India and China, both of which have long since understood that infinite population growth is the road to the poor house.