ABSTRACT
While Hubbert’s core prediction has been vindicated, he could not have anticipated the growth in global demand for oil and oil-based products driven by developments such the rapid growth of ‘emerging economies’ in countries such as China and India and the global explosion in the use of electronic devices that use a host of oil-based components. Declining efficiency in the use of energy makes the problem of oil dependency even greater, but it also raises serious questions about the benefits of being locked into a spiral of increasing energy use. Connected to the cherished idea of progress is the largely unchallenged belief in unlimited economic growth, conventionally measured as GDP growth. Historically, food production and energy use have been closely connected with each other and this link has, in turn, played a big role in determining forms of social organisation. The effects of changing relationships between industry and agriculture on social, class and family structures have been immense.
