R.I.P: The hydrocarbon economy

Quite simply, the lavish and abundant American lifestyle cannot be sustained much longer. Are Americans prepared to re-scale their lives? Are they prepared to live a life that involves less mobility? A life without central air conditioning and Super Wal-Marts? A life without fruits and vegetables flown in from South America or trucked across the country from California? A life without cheap consumer goods from China? Without wonder drugs, or the tens of thousands of other products that are petroleum-based?

In the current age of unreason, few Americans want to think about this. Better to ignore it, because Americans are supposed be can-do optimists who figure out a solution to any problem. But our leaders aren’t doing anything, and have no plans to. They want to maintain the current set-up as long as possible.
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