The problem with the Western World (in particular, North America) is that we are too dependant on oil. Oil is a precious commodity that fuels our nations economy. Post WWII economic booms in North America fueled continued policies on reliance on petroleum. Our entire infrastructures are based on both the energy we can extract from petroleum, and the products (plastics/rubber) that we can make from refined crude oil.
Our cities are entirely devoted to the ideal that every individual has an internal-combustion powered vehicle to do *anything* in their lives, be it; work, play, travel, leisure, even getting kids to school or shopping for groceries. The amount of disposable products that are created, imposes an incredible drain on the petroleum industry. Not to mention all of the pollution that discarded packaging happens to create.
If we really want to stop political turmoil over these natural, UNRENEWABLE resources, we are going to have to ration or reduce our demand. This means cities designed with mass transit in mind, incentives for pedestrian transport, and fines and penalties for over-users. There will always be a need for oil, I do not contend that, but we cannot use it on the scale that we are doing so today. Space travel, military, essential services, etc should always have a supply or have 'first dibs;. What happens in X years when the supply runs out? We may find that our entire countries are so dependant on it for transport, etc, that we will grind to a shutdown, and less developed countries may overtake us. There will be a future shock when the supply runs our or is restricted for some reason (Middle East & WWIII), so why not prepare for the inebidable? In addition to reducing usage, we should invest more resources into finding alternate means of energy.
The scary thing is that many other countries in the world are striving to be like the developed nations. What happens when the largely urbanized countries like India, Nigeria, heck even China, with their large populations, want a car for every person? Shit is really going to hit the fan. If we can lessen the chokehold that countries like Saudi Arabia, and all of their OPEC cronies have over us, the better off we will be.....
my 2cents