have oil as their cause.

I think the heating and transportation are the big things. If we could eliminate oil from those areas, what was left for computers and cell phones would not be the global scourge that oil production is now.

We're hooked, and looks like we're gonna die with a needle in our arm. (Metaphorically speaking.)

fragranced products, most cleaning products except soda and vinegar, driving is down to 4,000 mi a year. Wish I could let the grass g and not mow but homeowners would come after me. If we could all give up on the crazy lawn care just think of the oil that could be saved.

Soon alternatives will be far more economical energy sources than petroleum and it'll be easier. Until then, do what you can.

Either Peak Oil theory will hold true and resource depletion will take hold, or catastrophic climate change in the next few decades will cripple the global economy, destroy crop yields, flood shipping ports and turn a billion humans into climate refugees.

Either way, we've passed the point where we actually have the ability to choose what we give up. The scale of our dependence on oil is so massive it boggles the mind, and it will take decades of building renewables at breakneck speed to wean off of it. Decades we no longer have, BTW.
Nature will simply take it from us, no matter how loudly we protest, because She doesn't give a fuck about our comfort.

Political and commercial forward thinking leadership, we have just the opposite.

Or so my petrochemical engineer stepfather told me. Of course, he was a Rush-listening, Kool-Aid drinking, climate science denialist.

Denied all harmful effects of petrochemicals until he got cancer. Dead a month later.

Plastics aren't causing climate change. It's a different kind of pollution, and probably needs to be dealt with differently. I can't imagine that making plastic is worse than burning it, though. It's petroleum for energy production that's more harmful, immediately, IMO.

The political devastation over petrochemicals though... Holy shit. The amount of killing and death and poisoning and destruction and tyranny and evil caused by our mad quest for this substance over the last hundred years or so. It's almost literally inconceivable.

hate to see all those who say there is no point in changing lifestyle or trying to minimize our dependence.

I can't help but think of all the people who would just go away if we stopped using oil and gas the way we do. Putin would become nothing. All of the elements of American society that we hate the most would be ruined. All the people who are ruining us would have no more power to do so.

I wish this had become a thread of tips on what people are doing to reduce their oil and gas consumption...

For myself, I have a high efficiency car (not a hybrid, though. That's next) and I moved to where I am within a short distance from my work. I live in a town where I can walk to most necessities - groceries, doctors, etc. If I need to take a long trip, I try to drive rather than fly unless it crosses an ocean. I have been working on getting my apartment building to reduce the amount of heating we provide in the winter, but there I am working with people who don't see this as important as I do. I am having more success with the idea of putting solar panels on our roof. I think I have some agreement for that once we put some money aside.

As far as the plastic, as one poster said that is a different issue but it is also crucial and happily, I am finding that easier to drastically reduce. I don't use water bottles ever, instead I have a stainless travel mug. I make my own soda with a seltzer maker so there are no bottles. I carry my own bags for groceries and for garbage (because everyone says, "Oh, I use those grocery bags for garbage," to which my insides scream, "WELL STOP!" ) I use paper bags tied closed with twine. The biggest adjustment I've made is no more take-out, because the packaging is just too ridiculous. I only buy clothing made of natural fibers. And I keep looking for places where plastic is seeping into my life...

Good OP. Wish it had caught on like wildfire.