We all need to start realizing where we are as a society, and how every one of us has responsibility in the mess we've made. I think that's probably started, but we're early on in the stages of grief relating to our energy abuse. It's mostly the blame of others state - politicians, oil companies, oil countries, the news media - and not of ourselves, not of our lack of thought and vision into how the world was and is expanding, how wasteful we have been of relatively cheap energy. ALL OF US. I'm a sinner as well as you, perhaps more than you, in the scope of this point. But it is not too late for us, and particularly, it is not too late for the next generation.
We have to get past the grief of the passing of cheap energy for an unprioritized lifestyle. This will take some leadership. The institutions that provide that leadership - that reteach Americans how to create a life they consider wealthy regardless of the cost of gasoline - will be the institutions of tomorrow. There are opportunities for the institutions of today for that leadership. Clearly, science and educational institutions are part of that. But there are opportunities for local government, for community organizations, for churches, for neighborhoods, in the retrenchment of our values.
But we must get past the grief.