There is mounting evidence that the "Hard Truths" about peak oil, global warming, and population is being taken ever more seriously in official circles. The July 18 Draft Report from the US National Petroleum Council, Facing Hard Truths About Energy: A comprehensive view to 2030 of global oil and natural gas, finally gives legitimacy to the concept of peak oil, while Roscoe Bartlett rightly accuses the report of pulling its punch.

Bartlett, along with Al Gore, is one of the leaders who long ago got over denial about global warming and peak oil. It didn't show much if they spent much time being angry, or with bargaining in the magical thought that we could find an easier, softer way out og our addiction to oil. And they didn't act depressed, at least in public. They found that blessed final stage of dealing with catastrophic news that is called acceptance. For it is only in that state that solutions and best-possible coping strategies can be found.

Of course, there is probably a similar clarity somewhere in the inner recesses of power and control. They have the financial and power resources to get, and then conceal, the best possible estimates of the "State of the World". I'm sure that some are saying theat the public can't handle a clear picture of where we're headimg. I'm also sure that the leaders of certain industries, the likes of which met with Vice President Cheyney not too long ago, would like to continue a disasterous policy of business as usual. There are many billions riding on the public believing the spin they impart.

After reading the National Petroleum Council's Executive Summary and the "five core strategies to assist markets in meeting the energy challenges to 2030 and beyond", several important statements stand out.

First they say, "All five strategies are essential, there is no simple, easy solution to the multiple challenges we face." And, first among them is, "Moderate growing demand for energy by increasing efficiency of transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial uses."

They document the growing disparity between global supplies and demand. They raise concerns about atmospheric carbon loading and call for carbon constraints through a system of direct regulation, cap-and-trade regulation, and carbon taxes or fees. Finally they address peak oil with a clarity and candor that has been rare in published, public reports.

Yet this report, together with the UN IPCC 4th Assessment Reports, the Stern Report, the announcement that in the near future the United Nations will likely be unable to provide food to regions where mass starvation is immenent due to rising food costs, continuing news about accelerating ice melt in world glaciers and the two poles, sea level rise uncertainties, Katrina and Rita, and other inconvenient truths about the lack of real recovery in the US Gulf coast from one season of mega-storms, the global crash of fishing industries, are among a series of dots that, when connected, describe an ominous potential for a historic global catastrophe for the human race.

There are other dots that the well-informed among us know, and they all seem to suggest a reasonably clear pattern. The one piece of news that few have noticed, the lack of an announcement of crash programs to address these and other realated issues, spell a probable trajectory that seems headed over a waterfall for some and over the cliff for the rest of us.

I would like to see a rapid "coming together" of all of our organizations to choose to focus on, and propose a few "first steps" solutions similar to those proposed in a recent Energy Bulletin. First among these is for a global crash program for energy efficiency and conservation. It is not THE solution but a fairly reasonable first step to end waste (always a noble thing to do), become fiscally responsible with energy and our money (which might provide funds fom the energy savings for next steps), and finally to buy the world some time to come to grips with the gravity of our collective situation.

Energy efficiency and conservation is a strategy of hope. It is something for all of us to do, which is far more productive than complaining or trying to convince someone else to start solving these problems. And an exponential grass roots movement can take hold and spark a rapidly building movement that leapfrogs the efforts of our feckless leaders and the world's power brokers. It is all a matter of choice, and acceptance.

One thing is certain, if we do our best will have few regrets no matter how this all turns out. And since population, especially an aging one, has been a huge part of the problem, those of us who are not actively making a difference during these historic days will become the most expendable in the eyes of those who will have to live most of their lives with the devil-may-care recklessness of those of us who've enjoyed the last days of the golden age of oil.