This month’s installment of our 11 for '11 series of big picture conversations on the issues of our times. Today, it’s energy, specifially oil.  Oil is trading at 112-dollars a barrel, up from 86-dollars a year ago. Michael Klare says the era of easy oil is behind us. He’s made news for his concept of “extreme energy” – the pursuit of fossil fuels in increasingly difficult environments using expensive and sometimes dangerous methods. Klare’s most recent book, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet frames today’s political and social unrest as driven by growing competition for diminishing resources and predicts that the stakes will get higher in the future.