when the oil goes, then what?

The other day, I was thumbing through Rolling Stone and happened upon an article by James Howard Kunstler. I read one of his books, The Geography Of Nowhere, in a class on urban planning. Kunstler has long argued against the rise of suburbia, has rallied for the small town, the local business, and healthy urban areas that are built on a human scale.

His latest book, The Long Emergency, addresses the impending social, political and economic changes that will occur when commodities we take for granted – especially inexpensive and abundant oil and natural gas – begin to disappear. His is a sobering tale, to say the least, and the Rolling Stone article (an excerpt from the book) is a good wake-up call. Let’s hope that the target demographic for RS takes the message to heart and starts to live a life that will adapt to a less consumptive future.

I know that I need to change the way I live, and this article just makes me more driven to do it.

UPDATE: There is a thread at Boing Boing that discusses this article, as well as others that discuss the “oil peak” issue. Good reading.