You might be dissapointed. People do learn. It just takes a long time. It took two decades in Europe to establish a certain amount of environmental sensibility. China obviously is learning the hard way that their environment if a finite resource. And the US... well, the US will probably have to learn it the hard way, too, although it is obvious that there are enough knowledgable people out there who understand. What it will take, though, to reach the masses is advertising. That and higher energy prices, of course. We will see both.

I don't remember saying "boom". I remember saying that it will be expensive and that we need a tax to pay for the expenses. Just as we needed taxes to pay the expensive for all the other energy infrastructure we already have. No more, no less. Except, maybe, that people were not aware how much that infrastructure did cost them over the decades. You don't normally think about these things, I guess, and now they come at a surprise. Is that what it is?

"Were you here during the 70's?"

Sure. I remember seeing empty highways and I remember living through it with no damage whatsoever, just like everyone else. Where was that global catastrophy back then? What happened? We are still here, spending $450 billion for Christmas. So what was the big deal? Can you tell me? That you won't be able to get the toys you want for Christmas for a couple of years? Is that what it is?

"You have no clue as to what it was like nor what it will be like."

Sure I do. It will be the day when I will have difficulty getting a seat on the train. Big deal. Not.

It will be the day when people will wake up and ask themselves why they had to buy that stupid SUV.

It will be the day they discover that the two sticks attached to their body are for walking and that there is a store in the neighbourhood they can walk to.

It will be the day a lot of bikes will get a second lease on life.

And then people will figure out that putting three more colleagues into their SUV every fourth  day can cut their commute cost by a factor of almost four.

And that if enough people will share rides, they will get to work almost twice as fast because there won't be any congested highways.

And a week later there will be plenty of gas again at the gas station, again. Big deal...

PO does not mean we are running out of oil. It means we are running out of cheap oil.

It means that wasting it will come at a price that will make you think twice instead of not at all. Big deal. Some people think about it twice already.

Not out of necessity but out of a feeling of responsibility. That is not a big deal, either, just a function of maturity and how you were brought up.

Of course, thinking sometimes leads to headaches, so I expect aspirin to sell well during those weeks.

Are suffering from Angst about the future? I am sorry to hear that, but a lot of people do. You are not alone. A shrink can help with the Angst and a smaller car can help with the cost of gas. The shrink will be a lot more expensive than the cost of gas, even if you keep driving that Hummer.

Don't get me wrong... this is not about me knowing everything. This is about me not being afraid. This is about me looking forward to things that are not completely knowable. To me the spice of life is what hides behind the next corner and the corner after that. PO is nothing to be afraid off. It has been behind that corner for fifty years. In other words... you could have known about it since you are 18, it was not exactly a government secret... and you mean to tell me you didn't?