"..On a serious note, if we were to have an extended rough...

"..On a serious note, if we were to have an extended rough economic trot, we should probably aim on a political level to sure up our future water, food and energy supplies. Any positive ideas as to how the government(s) can do this?"

ill tell you what not to do...

attack the coal industry.
use food to produce oil...
listen to greens and build less dams..
fail to utilise natural gas..
let supermarkets screw farmers, till farmers walk off the land..
ignore nuke power..