>Oil is so important (focused on), because without it, how do you fly a plane? How do you create the more than 200 byproducts (plastics, etc) without it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch_process
>The problem with the continental United States is that it is so spread out - it was created with the mindset that petroleum would always be cheap and abundant.
People live in remote locations because that is how they could afford the luxery of owning a big house. They may have to change their way of thinking.
Any denizen from New York or any bigger European city can tell you that it is perfectly possible to lead a happy live without owning a car.
>Then there is the issue of agriculture. Without massive fossil fuel inputs, it simply won't work.
Simple: Food with high energy requirements such as beef will get less affordable.
Currently 1% of the worlds energy supply is used for fertilizer production which sustains 40% of the worlds population, there is still plenty of margin.
>Oil is so important because without it, we don't eat.
We don't need oil, we need energy.