Can anything good come out of high gas price?

The gas price in my area went from $2.82 before Hurricane Katrina to $3.34 the day after (for the 87 grade). Now it is over $3.50. As I have said before, high gas price hurt low-income people the most. It is equivalent of a regressive tax on poor people.

But can anything good come out of the bad? I think so:
1) People will walk more
I have noticed more people are walking to get their groceries. Parents are now asking their teenager kids to bike rather than drive. If the gas price remains this high, we may be on the way to solve the nation's obesity problem.

2) More people will use public transportation
There are so much impedement for people to use public transportation. The whole system is not set up in a way to encourage ridership. But now, depsite the same impedement, people are using public transportation more. I hope this trend can continue, so we can reduce green house gas and help the environment. Maybe this is the nature's way of teaching us a lesson.

3) Alternative renewable energy sources?
If the $70/barrel oil price is not an incentive for us to seek renewable energy sources, I don't know what can be.