The GAO Sounds the Alarm on "Peak Oil"

"Life in the USA will have to become much more local, and virtually all the activities of everyday life will have to be rescaled," wrote Kunstler. "If you can find a way to do something practical and useful on a smaller scale than it is currently being done, you are likely to have food in your cupboard and people who esteem you."

This means local agriculture, local businesses, local manufacturing, local innovation, human-scaled communities and strong social connections. This means reviving lost skills and lost social traditions that were discarded in the rush toward modernity.

It's difficult to picture seeing the world we live in now utterly and totally changed because we're running out of oil, but that's what we are likely to face in the coming years. The end of cheap oil need not be a disaster, but it will be if we ignore the warning signs and continue to behave as if nothing going to change. The nation has plenty of work to do, but with hard work, creativity and fresh thinking, maybe we can survive.

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