It is sad. But it's difficult for me to blame the oil companies. First, their earnings are in line with their budgets/sales...roughly 10%. That's about average for your typical large corporation. Secondly, do you know who owns them? Mom and pop do. Sure, there are million/billionaires that invest heavily into the Big 5 oil stocks, but by far the greatest portion of stockholders are Mr. and Mrs. AverageAmerican, through their retirement fund investments. You might even own large amounts of stock in Chevron, Exxon, BP, and so on, without even knowing it.
I fear our hope lies with this mysterious Bakken Formation in North Dakota that no one in politics or the media seems to want to talk about. (It supposedly contains oil in equivalent amounts to Saudi Arabia!!) Then there is the real solution, and that is some form of alternative energy such as solar, tidal, hydrogen, nuclear, etc.