Look, there is a shit-ton of coal in the ground. There is a process for converting coal into oil. The Germans used it during WWII. Not exactly cutting edge t

Look, there is a shit-ton of coal in the ground. There is a process for converting coal into oil. The Germans used it during WWII. Not exactly cutting edge technology. If you are going to predict doom and gloom, you could at least give me a plausible scenario, like a supervirus or nuclear war. Running out of energy is just not going to happen any time soon. If you wanted to stretch your horizons beyond the 1940s (hard, I know)... you could predict that soon enough we'll be able to synthesize oil using yeast and some energy input. There are ways to replenish topsoil. Or even not to use it at all. Look up hydroponics-- another not-particularly-new technology. People are pretty good at dealing with gradual change, especially when there are huge economic incentives to do so.