I'm not sure where people (I mean, in our culture, generally speaking) are at with this. I don't know to what extent the people of my culture are awakening to reality.

Gas to Hit $7 a Gallon

By Marty Jerome

Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy.

Two recent studies “in separate journals over the past few weeks, suggest that both industrialized and developing nations must wean themselves off fossil fuels by as early as mid-century in order to prevent warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up sources of water worldwide… The world must bring carbon emissions down to near zero to keep temperatures from rising further.“

I've been thinking a lot about something that someone (Jay) said while commenting on my blog earlier last week.  I had been talking about my several new ventures growing food and other trees on our property up here in Washington.  Jay mentioned how important it would be to consider food for the coming future, due to food shortages that are coming up.  I hadn't really thought about this before, much.  I mean, I know I wanted to grow some food for added security for myself and my family - but I hadn't really considered anything imminent, like food shortages, providing impetus and value to this practice.

'Perfect storm' brewing for agriculture according to the Sustainable Development Commission
19/02/2008 14:30:00
FWi

Agriculture is entering a period of monumental change and investment in sound science will be essential if food security is to be achieved.

Americans have recently become aware of converging crises that can end life as we know it, though experts have been warning us for many years.

By: Louise StamperPosted: 11/30/07John Kaufmann of the Oregon Department of Ecology visited Gonzaga on Tuesday to discuss the nation's oil crisis.

"This is not a choice; this is the future," Kaufmann said at a lecture he gave called "A World Without Oil."

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this is from ran prieur's forum and it's really interesting... cuba went through it's peak oil period already inthe 90's and "bounced back" nicely. the link below will take you to the discussion which includes a couple of resources and video of this transition.

But surely the single most important event of the month was the revelation that arctic sea ice is melting faster than even the most dire forecasts had predicted. This is significant because it shows the power of reinforcing feedback loops: as sunlight-reflecting ice melts, it leaves dark water in its place - which absorbs more heat, causing more ice to melt, and so on. This year's minimum extent of ice was about one million square miles (as of September 16); the previous record low was 1.5 million in 2005. The rate of melting this year was 10 times the recent annual average. This month the Northwest Passage was ice-free for the first time in untold millennia. At this rate, the north polar region could be ice-free in summer by 2015.