"only 1/3 of our coal came from strip mining"
"the number of cars is only going to double in the next 15 years"

Your use of the word "only" is odd. By any stretch of the imagination these are bad things. Obviously you have a lot of faith in techno-fixes and government to get the USA out of its currrent predicament. I'm hoping (and quite confident) that you are wrong and this earth destroying juggernaut will run out of power and die. Looking at who's running the government and noting how technology always seems to create more problems than it solves, I'd say I've got history on my side. (Not to mention current events...)