Maybe something much worse than the recent Christchurch earthquake in our near future:

A few leaked studies and rumours suggest that the world is reaching “peak oil” and oil supply is about to begin to decline with catastrophic consequences for world economies.

Of course, 15 years could be 30 or 50 years.

I guess there are 3 possibilities:

1. New reserves are found and with minimal planning we survive until new energy sources are available.
2. Planning now forces technology change that allows oil to be phased out without causing a problem.
3. Little is done and as oil runs out, prices rise crippling economies and countries. Back to sailing ships, wood fired steam and woolen underwear.

In My Opinion:

1 is most likely and mostly good luck. 2 and 3 are 50/50 possibility. 2 unfortunately requires planning and common sense that is probably not possible with corporations and politicians running the world.

What to do:

Maybe it’s time to think about putting a wind generator on the roof of every home. Probably council by-laws prevent this; but you can have as large a TV antenna and satellite dish as you like; because they feed the home with rugby, adverts and entertainment to dumb down the population.

Other than the wind generator, as individuals there’s little we can do. Governments will make rules that cost more than they achieve, companies and a few individuals will make obscene profits.

So make sure you have the big screen TV and SUV for grocery shopping. You may only have 15 years left to enjoy the important things; HD game shows at 60 frames per second and an air-conditioned trip to the local shops.