Wasn’t that a party? The world was our playground and we wanted for nothing.  We built enormous homes with multiple cars in multiple garages.  We ate exotic foods which somehow found a way to our lavish supermarkets, and we took holidays to where those foods were common.  We bought frivolously and thought we always could..  We sent our children to universities on the other side of the continent where they married and settled, but family separation didn’t worry because we could be together in a matter of hours by airplane.  
All the while, however, we were nagged by nostalgia for the “Good Old Days” when we stopped at Grandma’s on our way home from school for a hot biscuit smeared with home-churned butter that was to die for …, and when we knew how to supply basic needs even when the power went out.  

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If the newsmakers are right, climate change, soaring fuel costs, resource depletion, food shortages and 9/11 are fast bringing our party to an end.  
Over-populated and super-heated by changing climate, the Okanagan cannot sustain current levels of water consumption.  We must give up daily showers and learn to live with dusty cars.   A dishpan in the sink can catch grey water for  plants and toilet flushing.  Drain downspouts into rain barrels.   Xeriscape — use desert plants for landscaping and mulch grass clippings to both retain water and enhance the soil.    
We’ll need good soil for vegetable gardens to supplement family supplies when the bounty dwindles because we paved the farmland and diverted crops to ethanol production.  Compost parings for fertilizer and pray for predictable weather.   Say farewell to exotics like pomegranates, papayas, kiwis, mangos and out-of-season produce because transport will be too costly.  Go on the “100 Mile Diet” — cook from scratch using local foods.  Fill the winter larder with home-canning.  Green-leafy vegetables will come from a spinach can for most of the year.  Fruit is dried.   Restaurants will be for special occasions only.
Say good-bye to distance holidays and visits because flying is already an increasingly pricey ordeal with long security waits, no meals, stingy luggage allowances and no guarantee of getting to your destination in a timely manner.  At the anticipated $5.00 per gallon of gasoline, cars won’t go far either.  We’ll walk, bike and take public transportation.  Snow birds will freeze their wings and permanently park their RVs.  
Loved ones must live nearby.  Multi-generational house-sharing can work to cut heating costs.  Courtesy and respect helps us get along when we can’t get away from each other.  
Throw out former throw-away practices.  Use it up, wear it out, make it do, and do without.  Make use of those Do-It-Yourself manuals.  Share and take care of what you have.   Get used to cold nights under warm comforters that were pieced from old clothing.   Air-dry the sheets.  Darn socks.

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These measures may seem draconian, but they were the norm during the “Good Old Days.”  The party’s over.  That may be a good thing!  

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