Quote: "Let us accept the current challenge – the next great energy transition – as an opportunity ......Does this mean that the transition before us will be pain-free ......the age of cheap energy is ending before our eyes, caught between the rock of climate change and hard place of Peak Oil...."

Actually, the real energy cost problem is already presently caused by "blood and suffering" and the floor price for crude oil has effectively doubled. That could quickly double again if there is conflict around the Straits of Hormuz.

What has that to do with a pleasant future lifestyle in Britain? Well, everything, because Britain has already tied itself to serving Saudi Arabia through its armaments factories. Thus a "decentralised" society or even a "more equitable" one is a fantasy.

We are all more dependent on each others' welfare around the globe than ever before. It is only when we realise that mutual co-operation and actively helping each other will produce better results than imperialist-colonialist exploitation that things will ever change for the better.

That "transition" has now become all the more urgent with the acceleration of global warming and climate change. Finding ways of re-ordering the global financial system so that such co-operation is rewarded is the new challenge. The more basic minds still need their incentives to participate effectively.

A "a lower carbon lifestyle" definitely has its upsides but they have to be factored into the "transition" from the kind of economy we have at present. That will take some doing as long as we adhere to a "me first" methodology and the selfish aquisition of material wealth.

Cathal Copeland shows we have hard work ahead to realize the good news from Jonathan Dawson. Perhaps it may not be too hard, though, to persuade testosterone-crazed Cherubino from gallantly marching off to battle towards joyfully making like a Bonobo. I speak from experiencing the release I exercised on quitting a boys' military school for the rigors of an American co-ed highschool. After a year my parents stuffed me in what they hoped might prove a more demanding environment , but I was permanently "damaged".

Very naive piece. Conversion to a subsistence agrarian lifestyle is not possible with the huge population on this planet. Oil is the fundamental support of our entire economy.

A comment in reply to Cathal Copeland. You may be right, Cathal, that the 'simple life' may hold few attractions to most people. However, I am not convinced that this will always be the case. Ever spoken to folk who have been caught up in crises and 'catastrophes' like the recent floods or the great power-cuts in the eastern United States for example? Something I hear time and again from folk who have is how great it was to have to cooperate, pull together, get to know neighbours, slow down to the pace that was permitted by whatever the breakdown in question was.

The truth is, none of us knows how the coming crises will play out. However, as energy becomes scarcer and our machines becomes ever more expensive to operate, we will have no choice but greater cooperation with others and more hard work - in, for example, food production - as the global supply lines break down. (Richard Heinberg, for example, estimates that the US will need 50 million farmers if it is to be able to feed itself after oil price rises bring the food economy back home.)

I refuse to believe that all these things necessarily involve a reduction in the quality of life. This will be especially true if we can shift our political structures to match the more decentralised and localised world that we are moving into.

I recommend you watch the movie 'Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil' to get a flavour of how the transition might just play out.

Jonathan

Give me telly any day

An excelelnt Blog article. There is hope for the future after all: "The terrifying prospect of a post-oil future: no more ready meals, traffic jams or lonely nights in front of television."

We might start behaving as "families and communities" should.