Can we live without oil?

Car tires, fuel and asphalt - our reliance on oil.

There are millions of different things in our daily lives that are made from oil. Chances are you are holding something right now that is made from oil. It is a fact that eventually we will run out of the gooey gold, but the real immediate concern is production. When major natural disasters occur in areas rich in oil or in areas that consume large amounts of oil (such as Japan), almost everything stops in terms of oil production/refinement and consumption. We are so dependent on oil that if we were to have an immediate  and immense enough shortage it would be all round chaos. Almost everything in our day to day lives would be greatly effected. Most things that we use today come from oil, with a major shortage all of these things would become much more expensive. Should we be so reliant on just one substance for so much in our lives?