Brad’s Take

Dating may well change, in post-peak America. With people working closer to home, less money for leisure activities, and more awareness that a mate is needed to make a family, to support each other – casual dating will be less common.

Arranged marriages, where social and economic considerations, and family genetics, may be considered before the happy couple begin to see each other, socially.

I expect to see not a ‘class’ society emerge, but a return to cliques and communities, and snap judgments based on family and reputation that a person is ‘not our sort’.

The benefits of living a sober, work-centric life, a reputation for respect and discipline, will again influence choices about dating, marriage, and careers. Especially in the transition years, people once referred to as ‘pillars of the community’, ’salt of the earth’, will guide and center the groups and families most likely to survive intact.

Gasoline past $1 a gallon years ago. When will you begin planning for post-Peak Oil America?