A thirsty world is running dry

“Our society is in a state of collective denial that has no precedent in history, in terms of its scale and implication,” writes scientist Jeremy Leggett in a book, Half Gone (2005), about the imminent arrival of “peak oil”, when global oil reserves begin to run down. Half Gone argues that “peak oil” has already arrived, and we are not prepared for the consequences.

Even if Leggett has overstated his case, innumerable scientific reports have urged the need for a move away from oil dependence. In 2004 a unit of the United States Department of Energy warned: “A serious supply-demand discontinuity [shortage] could lead to worldwide economic chaos.”

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