We've all been surrounded by so much energy for generations now, and we simply cannot see it. To get in a 5000lb vehicle and go hurtling off at incredible speeds across hundreds of miles - this is access to an unimaginable amount of energy for most of human history. But to us, it is nothing. Yet there are very few primary sources of energy on earth, and we must ultimate return to using those in real time, de-rated by our limited ability to harvest and store them. I believe that's a hell of a lot less than we've all gotten used to, especially as we've gotten so used to just using the cheap, easy and concentrated stored solar energy of fossil fuel.

I know that lawyers are not stupid, and I know that "the common man" is capable of far more than is usually demanded. You question "one wonders just what it would take to get these thoughts into the heads of our government and the common man" has already been answered by the media and advertising establishment.

They have made people worry compulsively about body odor and germs on their kitchen counters, and they have made people completely indifferent to the perils of nuclear holocaust. That sort of power is available to make people wake up to the new energy regime, but it is still being misused.

There are a lot of explanations for this -- the "corporations" own the media, etc. But the fact remains, if you want something done, you have to get to people's core beliefs and modify those, and the advertising industry has the most practical knowledge of this.

We need more discussion of how to steer the advertisers and the media -- function will follow form if we succeed.

Your attack on NASCAR folk is unfair.

The elite yacht club, jet-set, and travel folks like me have used up billions of barrels of oil more than the poor NASCAR folk.

Look at the hundreds of thousands of cabin cruisers and gas/diesel guzzling "yachts" and "sailboats" with twin 500 hp engines. Look at the private jets and prop aircraft. Look at the millions of vacations to Europe, Greece, Far East, look at all of the big Mercedes/BMW/Suburban/Toyota/Hummer/ and soccer mom SUV's, look at the jets trips to Hawaii and the Virgin Islands. And my month is Spain, driving from place to place :) Ahhhhhhhh, I just need some more $$$$ and I'll do it again. Wow! Look at all of the tony fashion magazines and stores and the enormous houses in the suburbs....... and I could go on for pages...............

Let's not pick on poor people.

When I was 17 I owned a used 1952 Jag XK-120 and burned up the highways and have never stopped :).

I knew about Peak Oil when I was 10 years old, as my dad worked for Atlantic Richfield as a lab technician and he and I knew what was happening then. I've conserved and recycled, but hey, let's get real-- the folk here in the USA use 10X the oil that most poor folk do.

We're all guilty, not just the poor NASCAR folk.

My next trips: driving from here in the State of Veracruz to the Yucatan, Chiapas, and Oaxaca.

Next year, if I get the $$$$, it's off to Greece, Italy, Turkey :)