Back to the Old Days

From what we have learned in this class the future of ours and other nations is one of forced restrictions of energy and consumer goods. With the coming events nearly inevitable due to peak oil as well as global warming it is necessary for us to rethink the way we conduct our lives. In my opinion, the biggest obstacle to this is peoples expectations of what their lives should be. Many people who belong to the upper and middle classes have been blinded by consumption and now are unable to see the illogical nature of their behavior. The evidence for this is the fact that while the evidence of our future crises is clear many seem oblivious to reality. People continue to consume energy at an accelerated rate irrespective of the present need to conserve. I personally know a handful of people who would be unable to cope with a situation similar to that of Cuba as we saw in the movie. I believe that this is because many people have lost touch with our primitive roots and are now unable to deal with a life closer to the earth. I would hope that even though we may not react before a crisis occurs, we may be able to react fast enough once it has happened to overt disaster. The fear I have is that the people who are disconnected now may be thrown into denial when the crisis occurs and may damage our chances of having an effective reaction. After this stage of denial I believe that these people will panic and once again damage our ability to react effectively.