In the 1970’s the colonization of space seemed within our grasp. Now that vision is slipping away, and in it’s place we see a future of the eons long decay of human culture on an exhausted and ravaged planet. A future of millennia after millennia of tribal warfare over ever-diminishing resources. A future of superstition and ignorance. The gift of abundant fossil fuels, a precious bootstrap to sustainability, will be wasted; and an industrial base adequate to support a technical civilization made impossible. The human footprints on the moon will slowly fade to legend, and then vanish.