After the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) stopped shipping petroleum to all nations who supported Israel (namely, the United States, Western Europe, and Japan). Gasoline prices jumped, people waited in long lines for fill-ups, and the West became painfully aware of its "energy dependence."

That was over a generation ago—nearly 35 years. Ever since then, Americans and their leaders have spoken lip-service about gaining energy independence. The country has considered higher mileage standards for automobiles, alternative fuel sources (like wind, solar, and biofuels), and conservation efforts.

Too litlle, too late. Of course, it's hard to break the nasty oil habit when clever oil folks sneak into the White House to plot strategy, like the secret Cheney Energy Task Force. Some day, though, the flow of liquid golden will stop.

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• Kevin Danaher, et al., Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots (Polipoint Press, 2007).
  
  
• S. David Freeman, Winning Our Energy Independence (Gibbs Smith, 2007).
  
  
• Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce (Collins, 1994).
  
  
• Paul Hawken, et al., Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (Back Bay Books, 2000).
  
  
• Jay Inslee, Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy (Island Press, 2007).
  
  
• Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity (Collins, 2007).
  
  
• David Sandalow, Freedom From Oil: How the Next President Can End the United States' Oil Addiction (McGraw-Hill, 2007).


• Vijay Vaitheeswaran and Iain Carson, ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future (Twelve, 2007).
  
  

• Who Killed the Electric Car?, by Chris Paine, with Martin Sheen (Sony, 2006).