Has the first domino fallen?

So this is the thing that worries me. I'm talking to em yesterday and she mentioned that she was a bit upset after talking to her friend. After inquiring as to why, she said, "Oh, you know like this is the beginning of the end kind of stuff, the Peak oil scenario." I asked further questions and now I'm worried. Especially reading today that gas is anticipated to rise to $5 per gallon. Doubling in price again, much like the housing prices in many parts of the country have in the past few years. But this price rise is going to have some very serious repercussions, because it isn't likely to go down. While oil extraction and refining are running at capacity and there is likely less oil to be found in the future, prices will only continue to rise.

And here's the problem: shipping goods is going to become drastically more expensive. Consequently, everything is going to increase in price. Which means that suddenly everyone is a whole lot poorer, their purchasing power drastically reduced. And then nobody can afford to buy your house, because they have to eat first, so the real estate prices will crash. This is wholly different from the Internet crash, because this oil problem is not based on speculation, the quantity of oil is limited on Earth even as we guzzle it up in ever increasing annual quantities. Obviously, this can't be sustained, and so I'm worried, this could be bad, this period of adjustment to other energy sources and the possibility of descending into a depression-like era.
Normally, I'm pollyanna, "Oh, why worry about that, nothing you can do to stop it, so why choose unhappiness" etc. I guess it's because I want to somehow prepare for it, before it's too late. But how?