Comment: Hi Skeexix:  "... Had no idea that oil was a metal ..."  It isn't, of course, but it is a nonrenewable - and you did profess a Great Angst about when we "...  plow through *all* the non-renewables ..."   It wasn't clear that you meant only hydrocarbons.

"I am very familiar with Mr. McKibben's work ..."   Indeed?  Is he the Messiah?   Or should we wait for another?  ;-)  And, has he ever actually *done* any real work?

"... He also is not so self-satisfied and short-sighted as to be only concerned with his own safety in this lifetime ..."  Well ... if his biggest worry in this life is what happens to Greenland's ice cap in 300 years, he is one pretty damn coddled and pampered individual.

"...  the coming societal decay ..."   True, history teaches us that wealthy Republics do not last.  They start going down the tubes when the People learn that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

Thank you for sharing.