With the price of a barrel of crude oil going up by the day and the amount of vehicles, and to some extent even the types of vehicles owned, not to mention the use of petroleum based products for heating and recreation, Will there ever be a way to decrease our reliance on petroleum based products?
We better learn how to decrease our reliance because we will run short on the supply of oil at some point. I don't see as how there is a choice in this matter. Not to mention the harm it's doing to the planet and her atmosphere.
There will come a time when we can and will reduce our reliance on petroleum-there will have to be because there will come a time when there is no more oil.
Solar, wind, geothermal, hydro-all these come from the sun and are where the future is.
I don't understand why solar, wind and hydro energies are not used more. Other than the initial costs of setting up systems to harness these energies, there really aren't additional costs like other energy sources. Even if these didn't completely replace petroleum products, it would certainly reduce it by many times.
Actually, a lot of renewable energy farms take a lot of upkeep. Have you ever been to South Point, in Hawaii. There is a huge windfarm there, many of the generators in disrepair. Without demand, companies don't see it as cost effective.
Besides using petrol as a fuel, we need to get it out of our cosmetics, and our food chain (fertilizers are often made from petrol), stop buying plastic...
With the price of a barrel of crude oil going up by the day and the amount of vehicles, and to some extent even the types of vehicles owned, not to mention the use of petroleum based products for heating and recreation, Will there ever be a way to decrease our reliance on petroleum based products? 
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