Originally Posted by genec
Interesting doomsday read... however, what will be the negative for cyclists? Tires will become quite expensive, and one should perhaps expect to ride on poor roads, but the cottage industry is very similar to what bike shops are now. In the economic and power downturn that is mentioned, it sounds like personal transportation will either be horses or bikes. It may not be pretty out there, but those folks with a good stock of ready ridable bikes and the parts to maintain them may fair pretty well.
in terms of transportation, you're right. in terms of just generally getting along and surviving, good luck if you live somewhere further than 20 miles from where your food is grown and raised. i predict the wholesale destruction of suburban tract housing in an effort to get at all that farmland we thought was not neccesary in close roximity to cities and big towns.
ironically, failing cities like syracuse and to a lesser extent, buffalo might be the best places to be headed right now...on major bodies of water, not plagued by excessive sprawl and with home prices low enough and markets depressed enough that you could probably put together several lots near downtown and supplement the food you purchase with an acre or two of whatever you fancy growing.