alt Hacker NewsWithout Oil is there is no modern civilization. I do not care about your politics.
Even if you replace Oil as source of energy the pervasive petrochemicals in the modern world are not easily replaceable.
America burns 12 calories of energy to transport 1 calorie of food. without Oil subsidies, everything will be expensive and especially food would take a large chunck of American household expenditure.
Quality of life is inversely proportional to the cost of food and energy. The lower the cost the better the life.
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Global warming also affects the feasible latitudes for food production.
The US throws away between 30–40% of its food supply.
The US has policies that are outright hostile to mass-transit.
The US has policies that produce some of the ugliest and grossly inefficient suburban environments that have ever existed.
Sure, oil is a critical part of modern civilization, but we could still have modern civilization, and a hell of a better one at that with better policies that end up using far less oil.
> the pervasive petrochemicals in the modern world are not easily replaceable
Then let's use the finite amount of oil for that, instead of burning it.