I listened to a great give-and-take on the upside and changes that go along with having really high oil prices -- a world where oil costs $200 a barrel. Such a spike, if permanent, could have far-reaching changes for societal organization. Some of the more interesting long-term changes that we might expect, according to the experts:

• Civil unrest, especially in oil-producing nations.
• Increased protectionism and a drawback from globalization.
• Market winners in cleaner energy industries.
• An increase in public transit use and demand, which will expand systems. An interesting effect of expanded systems is that it leads to economic growth in the expanded areas, so cities will grow faster than they are.
• Exurbs will decline in population and value because their designs around automobile use will no longer be feasible for many.
• Walkable urban areas could see a huge increase.
• Telecommuting will expand in a big way, which will allow people to choose where they live based more on personal preferences than work factors.
• Greater percentages of people living in urban places, with numbers possibly as high as 70% in the coming decades.

I had a couple reactions here. The first is to the decline of a place like Palm Desert, where I grew up. It's really a kind of strange to think that all of the growth over the past couple of decades there could be erased just as fast if oil prices stay high and a reasonable fuel alternative for automobiles doesn't pop up.

A second is the cultural and political changes that come with having 70 percent of the country living in urban areas. Hello, progress.