• "Austerity" as defined by the austerian economists means reducing government spending : generally this means lowering social security spending, degrading health and education, things like that. Things which are service-intensive, not resource-intensive. (If the Austerians were motivated by ecological concerns, it's unlikely they would choose this method!)
  
• I went back to look for the text by Jerome that you quote (without linking), and I find it hard to believe that you really think that he is advocating austerity when he says :

peak oil translates into higher prices, which eventually causes lower demand (in those countries which are price sensitive, i.e. mostly the Western world, as a large portion of the emerging economies subside fuels) - and this is accompanied by widespread pain, as people have to do with less, or with more expensive oil, and need to reduce their consumption of everything else as a consequence.

Sure, if I can't afford as much petrol, or food, as before because of price inflation, this can be called "austerity" I guess; but I find it really strange to bracket it with economic Austerianism.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}