We are living in an unprecedented time of change, when our society is faced by a convergence of three crises that will change our lives forever — climate change, peak oil, and global economic instability. Each one of these crises stems primarily from the global economy’s reliance on cheap fossil fuels.
Any one of these problems alone would pose a major challenge to business as usual in the global economy. Together, peak oil, climate change, and economic instability are a perfect storm that will cause all nations to move beyond fossil fuels, embrace conservation, and get more of their goods and services locally.
Our central survival task for the decades ahead, as individuals and as a species, must be to make a transition away from the use of fossil fuels – and to do this as peacefully, equitably, and intelligently as possible.
– Richard Heinberg, author of nine books, including The Party’s Over and Peak Everything
