I'll make a few contrarian points:
1. Gas is still relatively cheap. I travel to Europe all the time, and it's around $9 a gallon there. And think about what's required to pump, transport, refine and market gas. Milk, for example, is far easier to produce yet more expensive, but we don't complain about it with the same sense of outrage and entitlement.
2. Exxon/Mobile and etc. are making huge profits because they're huge companies. On a return-on-investment basis, they're making much less than many companies. If you think their profits are "obscene", why aren't you buying their stock and getting rich?
3. People won't voluntarily conserve unless it's economically painful to do otherwise. We're notoriously wasteful. How many people do you know who drive SUV's to health clubs so they can walk on treadmills? Without even seeing the irony? There is no more "easy" petroleum in all the world. We'll be drilling deeper and deeper in more and more remote locations from now on. It's past time to stop wasting it.
Bottom line: We're getting a peek at the future, so get used to it. Petroleum's going nowhere but up in the long term.
On the bright side, expensive petroleum is the ONLY way to make people take the environmental damage we're doing seriously.
So... drive an economical car, ride a bike, walk, combine trips, buy less plastic junk from China that you don't need anyway, plant a garden, and keep a few hens.
un
