Tuesday, October 30, 2007

USA 2034: A Look Back at the 25th Anniversary Year

Alan Drake presented a great piece, at this year's ASPO Conference in Houston Texas, of optimistic fiction about the US, 25 years from now, and how we managed to do the right things. Alan's story was also posted on one of my favorite sites, The Oil Drum.

Here is an excerpt from this post, along with a link to the post itself on The Oil Drum. Here is a brief excerpt from his story. I hope this whets your interest enough to read the whole thing.
After an extended period of bewildering, painful and rewarding transition, the people of the USA finally feel that they have found their feet underneath them, with a clear and hopeful path to the future. Oil consumption is down to 6.6 million barrels/day, 30% of our 2007 peak oil use, and CO2 emissions are 26% of their 2011 peak, a matter of pride for most Americans.
As we close this year of 2034, for the first time in a quarter century, we can now say that next year looks to be better than this last year. Our problems are not solved, but we know the solution and we are confident of our ability to work and sweat towards sustainable, workable solutions !
Go read the whole story. It is the most credible and optimistic scenario I've yet seen.