Why Peak Oil is Real and What To Do About It

First, a definition from Wikipedia:

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. Peak oil may or may not be upon us this year. We don't know and we won't know until global petroleum extraction has declined for at least a few years. However, peak oil is a popular topic among bloggers and investors planning for the worst.

Here is a presentation from Jeremy Gilbert, the former BP chief petroleum engineer. He argues that peak oil is already here and that we must react immediately by transforming the sectors of our economy that depend upon oil, such as transportation, electricity generation and agriculture.

Here is another recent presentation making a strong case that we have reached peak oil by Robert Hirsch. Mr. Hirsch directed America's nuclear energy program in the 1970s.

Another link questioning the available supply of oil.

An article that claims peak oil occurred in 2006 according to the International Energy Agency.

Here is a presentation that offers many solutions to redesigning the transportation networks of the United States.

Whether we have already hit peak oil or not, one thing is for sure: things that are fine and do not last forever. Oil is finite. There is not an unlimited supply of oil on this planet; at some point production will decline and prices will rise to levels we have never seen: $200 per barrel of crude oil, $300, $400, $500. At what point will the American people stand up and realize that we are on an unsustainable path. Why wait until it is too late? Why wait until  the price of oil is so high that it consumes an enormous amount of our income? We know it's coming, sooner rather than later.

Update: Here's an article from the New York Times that has the other side of the story, that the era of cheap oil and gas is not yet over.