Karlin:

 Well as far as slavery most people were committed to one form or another years ago; debt being just one common method...

 Second it would be better to use less oil; but we are not that near that stage yet!  No matter which President said it!  Plus going to Battery cars will not really change things as it only moves the pollution from your drive way to a coal belching power plant somewhere else...  BTW; Having worked with battery back up systems for over thirty years; lets help you understand the costs (now about $1K per KW of battery),  the electrical dangers, the chemical dangers,  the added weight to the cars,  the added pollution control in disposal, or the fact the one thing a battery hates is both "Heat & Motion" which are present in cars...  HUH!!  

Maybe you think this was just made up to scar you; check it out and if you can accept the truth, then maybe it will become clear to you!  I have only been working with this stuff for over thirty years, but what do I know?   

 As to TV or any other group being any role models; from the little  I see, they are just the front of a image that the world systems wants you (most people) to accept!

 Having worked on off shore oil rigs in the Gulf; and subscribing to Offshore Engineering; the real problem is not so much the use of equipment or the company {BTW: We were on Marathon Oil Rigs} rather it is more the fact that political restrictions have set up this house of cards...  Mainly the fact that they have restricted the closer in shore shallow drilling, which would be safer, and easy to control, plus cost less to extract the oil...

 But hey, who cares about making it safer and easy?  Not the Government?

 Good over view but short on the real facts...