The world we have created runs on oil but the oil supply will not last forever. Many experts predict that it will begin to run out sometime this century. We are now living in a world in which the gap between supply and demand is ever increasing. Will we find enough new cost-effective methods to extract the oil that remains and buy the time we need to develop alternative energy systems?

While some say technology will save us, others believe it is already too late. The best-case scenario is a worldwide depression, far worse than that of the 1930s. The worst-case scenario involves trying to imagine what will happen when our industry, our agriculture and our communications grind to a halt. What will ensue will be a deadly scramble for the basic necessities of life, neighbour against neighbour, nation against nation, as the struggle descends into outright warfare.