[leftjab]

the "protest"  has come around and around again, because it isn't really 
true, although it's been so widely disseminated by now that maybe some 
people will do a one day "boycott":

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/nogas.asp

snopes.com is a good resource for these sort of internet/e-mail rumors, and 
echoes many of Kate's points in her earlier e-mail -- the answer is 
sustained reduced demand for energy (by both less usage and more efficient 
usage), and increased use of renewables.  the irony is that both are more 
likely to happen with more expensive gasoline and electricity, while most 
American protests will just focus on complaining that the prices are too 
high (though not in comparison with most of the rest of the world, 
particularly for gasoline) in some hope that complaining will bring down 
prices, so that we can return to our gluttonous habits.  there has been a 
lot of press recently about how the world may have passed the peak of oil & 
gas production -- i know from my experience as a natural gas regulator that 
this is happening in North American gas production now -- meaning that 
energy is going to start to be more expensive to find and refine, in 
increasingly lower amounts than earlier.  while from an environmental point 
of view this is a positive, given the world's addictive behavior towards 
energy and the economy's dependence on relatively cheap energy, it will 
have negative economic impacts that will fall disproportionately on the 
poor.  and so it goes.

so much money in the ground for the people who don't deserve it, no

Jonathan