Joao Carlos. Excelent reply, and no need to appologize. I could not agree more. Everyone must realize what peak oil means in the reality of this current world. The United States will continue to get more beligerent, both abroad and domestically as the thin veneer that cheap oil provided us, is stripped away. Mark my words, what you saw in the aftermath of Katrina(meaning the slow federal response and the draconian attitude of many in law enforcement), is what's in store for all of us.

Peak oil is so much bigger than just a bunch of static charts and depletion rates. It will dig straight to the bone of our civilization. It will and already has, changed the face of my beloved country. In a mere 5 years we have gone from superpower of last resort,to the biggest bully on the planet. And it only gets worse from here on out. If even the best case scenario is what we have to look forward too, then God help us all!!

Robert NW Ohio

There is no other alternative guys.  I understand what demand destruction means.  But look at the facts.  The political will has not existed in the US to change course.  It will not change course until there are food lines and people losing their homes and rising crime and all the other problems associated economic dislocation.

I've read history.  I'm familiar with the pain of demand destruction.  Accept it.  The dream of five TVs and three cars, the dream of living in a suburb 60 miles from your place of work, and 20 miles from the nearest major thoroughfare, must end.

My point is clear.  I do not believe alternatives will make up the difference.  At some point, significant demand destruction will be necessary in order to shake up the tree, at least here in the US.

You can propose alternatives.  I try to be as realistic as possible when approaching this topic.

Please propose what you think WILL HAPPEN.  That is what I am discussing.  What will happen.  Based upon the best of my intution, looking at the numbers (CERA, ASPO, Reynolds, etc etc) and considering economic issues and human nature, the politics of the US, etc.

So please please tell me WHAT YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN.  The world is living beyond its means.  Money is sloshing around going into investements that are dead ends (condo towers, etc).  It won't stop until there is a collision.

Alternative are welcome.  We can put together all kinds of depletion graphs, economic/geolocic depletions graphs, but that does not tell us what will happen.  We can describe what we SHOULD do.  But in my opinion, starting with the Reagan years in the 1980s, the vision of a free party, of techno-tax-cut utopia, has been ingrained in the thinking of the American people.  They then pull out argument after argument:  WE WON THE COLD WAR, ENERGY WAS CHEAPER, AMERICA IS THE KING OF THE WORLD.  This has to be knocked out.  Energy must be more expensive enough so that people make a conscious choice when getting into that car to drive to the corner store.  They don't now.

So yes, we can pretend.  We can invision a perfect future.  Or we can be realists, accept what must come, and work with it.  What must come, in my mind, maybe in a year, maybe in five years, maybe in ten years, is demand destruction.

Alternatives are more than welcome.