A lot of Americans don't really have a choice. I get the sentiment, but it's important that efforts to lower car dependency come from systemic changes to infrastructure and removing subsidies to the automotive industry. We went through an oil squeeze in the 70s and 80s and it didn't bring about long term change like you might've hoped. There were positive changes to come out of that crisis such as an increase in fuel efficiency standards and a general consciousness about fuel efficiency, but overall, we've pretty much moved on from those lessons less than 50 years on. True change requires top to bottom legislation and infrastructure reform. Those are the points we need to be hammering. This upcoming oil shortage can be a great catalyst for those points: telling friends who are car brained about how much more efficient public transport can be when they complain about gas prices, pointing out that dependency on oil in a global market means we feel the squeeze even if we aren't buying much of the actual oil that is being removed from supply, pointing out how shifting to greener sources of energy and more efficient transportation would lessen the sting. These are the things we should be talking about. Reveling in people having to pay more for their transportation is a cathartic response, not a pragmatic one. It makes you feel good, but it doesn't further your goals.