What our past energy use says about our future.

Below is a graph of per capita primary energy usage in Kg. of oil. What is instructive is to note the brief US dip after the '73 oil embargo and again after the '79 oil crisis. What you should also take from this is the relative lack of decrease per capita in almost any country, pointing out that energy is a very hard thing to ween away from. So what does this mean?

This means that the only way the human species is going to change is through force. That force can be many things from lack of available resources through over use, war or natural disaster or being forced to confront the cliff off which we as a species are insisting on hurling ourselves.

In my humble opinion, that latter won't happen, it is against the human tendency for selfishness and short sighted gratification, so that leaves the former. Where does that leave you and I. All I can say is be prepared to adapt and cope. Start transitioning now to lessen the shock later.