A former BP geologist says that we have reached Peak Oil, and that the rate of oil extraction will decline from now on.

Whether this is a bad thing depends on how humanity reacts to it. The high price of oil reduces demand: Americans drive less, nowadays, than they did when oil was cheaper. The high price of oil encourages investment in other energy sources — some renewable (solar, wind, geothermal) and some polluting (coal, fracking, nuclear).

If only our governments pushed for renewable energy rather than polluting energy.

We could use a lot less energy for heating and for transport if we pushed harder to achieve that. Amory Lovins showed years ago that a small fraction of what we now use could do the job. And mass transit uses a lot less energy than travel by car.

The extent of economic inequality in the US is so great that our main need is not increased production of things, but rather a way for everyone to get a share. If the US produced only half as much, we would get along ok if the poor got a bigger share.