The end is nigh, I said to Bao.We're a million years overdue for a mass extinction. The earth's magnetic field has a crack in it. Yellowstone is getting ready to erupt. The glaciers are melting. Our solar system is entering a nasty bit of the galaxy, and our sun is acting crazy. And on top of everything else, we're running out of oil.

Tucson Professor Guy McPherson says world oil production reached its peak in 2005, at 85 million barrels per day. Demand is steadily increasing, but production is falling. By next year, daily production will be less than 78 million barrels. And in 2015, when world demand for oil will exceed 120 million barrels per day, only 65 million barrels per day will be produced. Oil will cost $400 per barrel, or more. Chaos will ensue. (Maybe I shouldn't have bought that stock)

Of course, the Mayan calendar says it's all going to end in December, 2012, so perhaps it won't matter. However, Professor McPherson thinks it will. He says that most experts who write upon this topic predict complete economic collapse within a decade, followed shortly thereafter by anarchy.

Assuming the Mayans are wrong, I could still be alive within a decade. I'll be an old lady. A sweltering, starving old lady. And you'll be an old dog, I told Bao. And there won't be any air conditioning. So listen up.

Professor McPherson says we need to learn skills for a post-carbon world. Like rubbing sticks together to make fire, and growing edible crops, and harvesting water.

Bao gave me a look, and went back to sleep.