Their livelihoods are predicated as being part of a complex economic web and having good geopolitical conditions. Norway used to be one of the poorest European countries, now it is one of the wealthiest thanks to large oil reserves.

It's interesting to me that oil is one of--if not primary--reasons societies are so rich and industrious. We're burning through hundreds of millions of years of carbon sequestration in a few centuries. It really looks like rocket fuel for civilization. What will it look like when oil isn't so plentiful?