Crises Everywhere?

Today I received an email from a very good friend of mine in Virginia. He is worried:

I went to your Rio Grande Foundation Web site and read most of your articles. Interesting.
However in your article…”Why We Have a Water Crisis”…Point of View: March/April 2001… Published In: Intellectual Ammunition, you state: “There is no crisis in oil today, and there will be no crisis tomorrow.”
Do you still believe that?
Vivian and I not only believe in a forthcoming oil crises but also a worldwide environmental crisis due to global warming. We are trying to do our part by…our recent purchase and use of an electric lawn-mower; our recent purchase the 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Less fuel burned, less harm to the environment; and hopefully, help reduce the increasing demand for oil.

Here is my reply:
Jim, my first piece of advice is that you learn to love economics. Discover the joy of being a type C thinker. Stop worrying about the fear mongers (politicians and uninformed journalists).
Once you do that you will discover that we will never run out of oil and that there will never be an oil crisis (okay, I admit that government could get active and cause a crisis — but we would still have plenty of oil waiting once the government stopped its silliness).
As far as global warming goes the science is far from settled. And assuming there is warming caused by us humans, there is even more disagreement on whether it would be good or bad. You might want to check out Fred Singer’s website (one of the leading spokespersons for the skeptics). You can also subscribe to his weekly newsletter – I find it quite interesting. He is an authority on lots of stuff besides global warming (ozone, mercury and the like).
Also, you might be amazed (contrary to what journalists generally say) that the environment is getting better all the time.
Don’t you feel better now? You can be type C civil engineer and stop all that worrying.