...but rcently economic factors actually seem to be helpin' the environment, for once.

The recent "crisis" has halted or slowed many new subdivisons, high gas prices have cut consumption and purchasing of gas-guzzlers, and high construction costs are limitin' new coal and gas plants.

Meanwhile, economic incentives are creatin' a frenzy of new renwable energy construction.

amazing resiliency is going to lead to mass transit.

None of these mainstream media articles dare to mention that the supply of oil may be peaking and about to go down.  They still have their heads planted firmly in the oil sands (which hopefully amazingly resilient capitalism will not amazingly develop).  Daniel Yergin is consistently wrong about his oil price predictions, and yet whenever he says that the supply of oil is no problem, the mainstream press just does their stenographer thang.

Oil from tar sands becomes profitable not because of new technologies and processes, but because $100+/bbl makes these expensive resources profitable. That's a direct corollary to peak oil.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, I've seen a big increase in the number of people riding Caltrain every day. I'm also used to seeing bike ridership drop to almost nothing during the winter -- it dropped some this past winter, but not nearly as much as in the past.

Regarding more efficient cars  -- don't forget about Jevon's Paradox! The more efficiently we can use a resource, the more available it becomes to a wider population and the faster we'll use it up.

...as a mass means of travel, and when prices for tickets become exorbitant, then there may be a serious push to build a serious high-speed rail network (why the airlines don't push for car fuel economy and railroadization of freight in order to preserve oil is beyond me, but there it is).

Here's a quote from a yahoo.com business article that appeared today:

Meanwhile, demand for gasoline is falling, and several forecasters have cut their oil demand growth predictions for this year.

"There are some very disturbing things in this report on the demand side," said Andrew Lebow, senior vice president at MF Global Inc. in New York.

Wow.  Did you catch that?  The fall in demand for oil this year is "very disturbing" to the Big Boyz on Wall Street.  

In the long run, of course, it's good for the rest of us.  The Wall Street powers that be just can't imagine a world with a reduction in consumption.  Which makes me want to call up Mr. Andrew Lebow and suggest he get a job in the real world ... maybe ferrying people around downtown in one of those bicycle-driven cab things that are fashionable these days in touristy neighborhoods.  

Mr. Lebow would probably look good in a red polyester vest.