Two words: Plastic Flatware.
I believe I covered this in another post, but it's still worth elaborating on again. Ditto for plastic bags.
Your points only underscore the need for each individual to not only quit squandering such a valuable resource but moreso to take accountability for personal energy consumption and voting in politicians that will assist via tax breaks and credits to fund and acquire alternative sources of fuel. There are numerous alternatives - its just that the pockets of most are lined with petroleum and a mindset that resists change.
Most of the things that you listed here could be powered with solar and/or nuclear energy. Which would foster independence and virtually costless power (over the long term) as well as a cleaner and more stable environment. So I disagree completely that we are so imminently screwed by the lack of petroleum but rather by our shortsighted and lackadaisical mindset which has not yet demanded change and a severing of dependence on fossil fuels, which are by no means, an indefinite resource.
Not to mention the fact that the war in Iraq was never publically waged on the basis of oil, but weapons of mass destruction; and so that to argue whether it is worth fighting for at all is to concede to being blatantly lied to by the officials we trust most, but that of course is for another post.
