This is mainly for North Americans, and you probably partly see what I'm getting at already: pricey gas = less driving = more physical activity (hopefully) = less obesity = less diabetes and heart disease. We've seen some immediate effect--more cycling, walking and public transit--and it's likely we'll see substantial reordering of culture and infrastructure to accomodate and rely on human power.

Increased fuel costs could undercut another root of American obesity, too: high fructose corn syrup. Between added production costs and new non-food demand for industrial corn crops (e.g. ethanol), we may see America's favorite opiate go the way of the Hummer. Add in the growing impracticality of shipping New York's groceries from California, much less China, and current fuel cost correction may refigure and rehabilitate our food systems as well as transportation and urban planning.

The transition, like all big culture shifts, is going to suck. Just be grateful us hippies started getting ready for it forty years ago