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PAUL SMITHS - Standing in front of a projected images of downtown Las Vegas, author Jim Kunstler glanced back and forth between the screen and the crowd, repeating himself so the crowd would understand.

"I'm in favor of alternative energy," Kunstler said. "Just don't think you're going to run Las Vegas on it."

Kunstler, a Saratoga Springs resident, was talking to a mixed crowd of students and local residents at a special presentation at Paul Smith's College Monday evening. Kunstler is the author of several books. "The Geography of Nowhere," which included harsh criticism of U.S. suburbs, their strip malls and reliance on automobiles, was published about 15 years ago. His latest book, "The Long Emergency," published in 2005, "is about the challenges posed by the coming permanent global oil crisis, climate change and other 'converging catastrophes of the 21st Century.'"

For Kunstler, Las Vegas was the symbol of the American belief that you can get something for nothing, a metaphor for gambling. A place where the new religion is the "worship of unearned riches."

Las Vegas is also a city that thrives on oil consumption in the form of bright lights, oversized casinos and limousines.

These perks of a place like Las Vegas may be possible in a society with an unlimited supply of oil. But once the global demand for oil exceeds its supply and we hit "Peak Oil" - a stage we are in now, according to Kunstler - large cities and suburban communities will start to falter.

Societies with "imagined wealth" rely on growth to fuel their economies.

"Money and numbers have a certain metaphysical magic to them," Kunstler said.

But this magic - or technology, for that matter - won't be able to replace oil in running our cars, providing heat in our homes and transporting our food and goods great distances, according to Kunstler.

Kunstler talked about "complex systems" becoming "wobbly" and worsening on the other side of "Peak Oil" production. Trade and commerce, health care, job markets, education, food production and transportation are some of the main "complex systems," all of which are interconnected.

He sees the problem becoming much worse within 10 years, possibly within five.

Kunstler talked about how big-box stores such as Wal-Mart, which relies on a great deal of oil-based transportation because its cheap products are made in China, will begin to falter in the near future when oil makes transportation costs soar.

"We're going to have to rebuild Main Street economies," Kunstler said. "We're going to have to make a few things here in America."

The system of producing food on one coast and shipping it to the other will no longer be feasible once oil supplies diminish and costs rise.

"We're going to have to produce food closer to home," he said.

The wave of the future in transportation is in trains, not automobiles, according to Kunstler. Trains and ships are much more efficient than trucks for transporting large quantities of products. He said the automobile and airplane travel will become more of a privilege for the elite.

Here, in the Adirondacks, the tourism-based economy would be drastically affected by that.

"If you don't get the railroad running, you're not going to have tourism whatsoever," Kunstler said.

Kunstler said the railroad system should be improved nationwide.

"We have a railroad system that Bulgaria would be ashamed of," he said. "This should be our number-one priority."

Kunstler said that the big seven American oil-producing companies only account for 7 percent of the world's oil supply, and that Mexico's oil resources, our third leading supplier, are diminishing.

But finding energy resources from alternative energies, such as nuclear facilities and wind turbines, aren't the answer, he said. Kunstler said he supports those systems but believes they can't produce enough energy for our current demands.

Adjustments in our lifestyles will have to be made, including creating walkable communities and better public transportation systems. Those places built on large waterways are well positioned to survive because they can import and export goods, and those with rivers can produce energy.

"We've built a living arrangement in America with no future," Kunstler said. "We're stuck in the psychology of previous investment."

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Contact Mike Lynch at (518) 891-2600 ext. 28 or mlynch@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.

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(This article has been corrected.)