Meanwhile, in the 20th century we have developed lifestyles firmly rooted in the promise of an endless, cheap supply. David Goodstein explains the underlying scientific principles of the inevitable fossil fuel shortage we face and our most urgent environmental policy decisions. He outlines the drastic effects a fossil fuel shortage will bring down on us and shows us that there is an important silver lining to the need to switch to other sources of energy, for when we have burned up all the available oil, the earth's climate will have moved toward a truly life-threatening state.

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