The world's unofficial government, the G8, has just been meeting in Japan. Behind a small army of riot cops, these world leaders make decisions for everyone, not only their own people (kept out of the secret meetings entirely) but also for the rest of the world, entire continents of which are not represented at this meeting of the "biggest economies". Confused at why Canada, with one half of one percent of the world's population should occupy a position that's more important than China, India or all of Africa or South America? You should be.

Out of these meetings comes two important conclusions: first, we're going to fight climate change by reducing emissions to half of current levels by 2050. Secondly, they'd very much like oil-rich nations such as Saudi Arabia to pump more oil to bring down fuel prices. Confused? You should be.

The first item is virtual nonsense. After a long history of not living up to their high-minded proclamations, like the ones about fighting African debt (remember Live 8?), they're pushing back the deadline for tackling emissions by decades, as well as setting current emmission levels (rather than 1990 levels, which had been the benchmark in all former talks) as a baseline. Rather than setting targets in the near future (such as Kyoto's 200-2012) or the European Union's recent agreement to cut rates by 2020, we're putting it off well into the future, so far that it may well be entirely meaningless.

The second point is terrifying. Not only does it show how shallow the first promise is, but it flies in the face of all reason. If oil prices of $60, $80 or $100 per barrel haven't generated more production, it's unlikely demands from the G8 will. These kind of demands show that even now, in the face of oil around the $140/barrel mark, the world is not yet ready to embrace alternatives, unless of course they're coal or oil (two more non-renewable fossil fuels).

The G8 nations represent the biggest, most gluttonous users of energy in history. To suggest that we can't cut back on gas or electricity is simply and plainly wrong. If human beings can't live full and healthy lives without our current rates of consumption, then how do the vast majority of the world's population survive, and how did we ever make it up to this point?

Our "leaders" are not going to get us out of this mess. They got us into it. It is our planet too, and it's our descendent's who will have to live with the legacy of our times. It is our job to do something about this. WE need to stop buying houses, groceries and getting jobs in the middle of nowhere, and locating our lives in such ways that will never be walkable, bike-able or bussable. WE need to stop buying food produced thousands of miles away. And WE need to transform our homes into spaces which can survive without massive inputs of electricity, natural gas and heating oil. At the moment prices are going up, and it's hurting the poorest among us, but this is only the beginning. As anyone who's seen the infamous Hubbert Peak graph knows, oil production will only drop faster from here on in. Following peak oil, we're facing shortages of natural gas, copper, fish, lumber and farmland, along with many other resources upon which our lives depend. If we, as a society, want to survive this, we must transform, and if we, as citizens, want that to happen, we're going to have to make it happen ourselves.