True, but the environment in Western Europe is very different from that of the rest of the world, and it's not clear that we can scale up the conditions of West

True, but the environment in Western Europe is very different from that of the rest of the world, and it's not clear that we can scale up the conditions of Western Europe to 6 billion people, at least with present tech, and especially if we're nearing peak oil. If peak oil is true, I would predict quite the opposite.