(Oct. 7, 2010) -- The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas made a dire prediction today. The world has been extracting oil from the earth for just 150 years, but "peak oil," the point at which fuel production will begin to decrease while demand continues to increase, has finally come.

"We are at the point of no return," said Jim Baldauf, ASPO-USA president. "Without affordable energy to drive our economy, we can expect price spikes and economic crisis to be the new normal. The debate about peak oil is over; it is time for bold action. If we do not change our current approach, we will see tremendous global repercussions."

Predictions about peak oil are dispiriting, to say the least. The Hirsch Report, commissioned by the Department of Energy in 2005, said peak oil would be abrupt, soon and catastrophic for world economies, particularly the United States.

But, as environmental blog Treehugger points out, predictions of peak oil don't need to be portraits of famine and chaos. M. King Hubbert, the man who originally, and accurately, predicted that oil production would peak in the U.S. in 1965, didn't see peak oil as a necessary apocalypse, just the point when we would have to transition to more sustainable forms of energy, like solar.

And eco-animator Anita Sancha has an engaging little animated film that illustrates it. Watch below:

http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/peak-oil-is-here-now-says-aspo-usa/19665437?icid=main%7Caim%7Cdl1%7Csec4_lnk2%7C176096