[MD]

My own powerdown efforts to date include eliminating the 50 mile commute, minimizing use of labor saving appliances, and reducing chemical intake(going organic).

Those efforts have been offset somewhat by six trips to my region of birth in the last year(as opposed to two nornally). I also find myself jumping at every opportunity to travel.

The looming loss of our easy motoring culture is to blame for my selfish decisions to travel frivolously. I suspect you will see a flurry of "homeward migrations" occurring as the ability to move about freely becomes constrained.

[WildRose]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'T')he looming loss of our easy motoring culture is to blame for my selfish decisions to travel frivolously. I suspect you will see a flurry of "homeward migrations" occurring as the ability to move about freely becomes constrained.

[green_achers]

I've been thinking my last chance to see Europe might be in the next couple of years.

[Fergus]

Get it while you can. Do it while you can. Experience life while you can.

Even if its not the end of the world, still good advise. If it is the end of the world around the corner, Damn good advise.

[NEOPO]

maybe the problem is with the definition of living life?

As if we must travel to live it.

[WildRose]

We don't have to travel to live life to the fullest; maybe it's just one of those things that seems sweeter when you realize you won't be able to do it anymore.

When I was 20 (long time ago), I drove from Alberta to Cape Cod, Mass., just 'cause I thought it would be a neat place to see (loved it). Of course, that was before oil supplies were a worry, and the gas was cheap in my '76 Dodge Colt.

[Pablo2079]

With the ability we have to see the sights of the world and get information almost immediately, it makes one wonder if people from 100 years ago or more would wonder why we'd want to travel at all. I know it's not a substitute for travelling to a location, but at least one has the ability to get a sense of what different locales and cultures are like in far off lands.

[MD]

Americans currently motor about the highway system with confidence and ease. Day trips of hundreds of miles are launched with hardly a plan or a care simply due to our supreme confidence that everything we could possibly need is out there ready to serve.

This will change as we move forward, due to multiple pressures on the system. The change should occur slowly, with "confidence and ease" moving towards "tension and difficulty" over the course of the next dozen years or so.

You can choose whatever pressures you like, the list is long enough, each applying a different stressor to the decision to travel.

The radius limit for "easy trips" will contract. Trips will be cancelled or consolodated with increasing frequency, for various reasons.

Americans transplant themselves with ease today, partly influenced by the knowledge that going back home is just as easy as the decision to leave. As the old travel difficulties (safety, fuel, food, logistics in general) take hold again, and the return paths become less certain, many will choose to return home while they can.

The phenomenon may grow to significance, if the rate of decline is gentle.