It's about time people start realizing that all the massive growth our civilization experienced in the 20th century is mainly thanks to cheap and abundant fossil fuels. Energy is still abundant, in fact it's more abundant thanks to renewable energies, but it's far from cheap. Energy is getting more expensive all the time because energy demand is growing higher and at the same time energy sources with high EROEI are becoming more and more scarce.

Coal is the only energy source that's truly competitive with oil and it happens to be the most polluting energy source available. Honestly I have to laugh at any arguments that support an overall growth scenario for this decade. The whole decade is a time of fundamental decline. Perhaps next decade things will truly look brighter, maybe slightly earlier if we start an accelerating change in our energy production and consumption patterns.