Maybe conservation will keep us from finding out. BusinessWeek Online reports various indicators that we are actually cutting back our gasoline consumption... a little:
- Palm Beach County, Florida, reports a decline in traffic: where the county normally sees an annual increase of 2% on its roads, the county saw an slight dip in traffic in 2007. So far this year, car counts for the county are down 7.5%.
- The Federal Highway Administration shows a 1.4% decrease in traffic nationwide last year.
- Auto sales fell 8% in Quarter 1 this year. Sales of SUVs and pickups (vital for automaker profits) dropped 27% and 14%.
- The American Public Transportation Association reports that public transit ridership hit a 50-year high in 2007, increasing 2.1% in 2007 to 10.3 billion trips.
[see Christopher Palmeri, "Not Guzzling Quite So Much Gas," BusinessWeek Online via Yahoo News, 2008.04.23].
...at least in America. China and India are catching up... which means even if we cut back, gas prices will keep going up. Looks like those "don't buy gas!" e-mails really are full of hooey.
I'd like to think conservation would make those numbers at BP spin back down. But the point of conservation isn't to drive prices down so we can go back to consuming more. The point of conservation is to make a real change in our habits so that there's more everything available for the people after us (kids, grandkids, historians who will judge our generation) to use.
The best solution to high gas prices is to quit paying them. Buy a scooter, buy a bike, buy a good pair of shoes, and use less gas.
This pickup-driving, aging Republican has indeed been driving a lot less.
ReplyDeleteI've been consolidating my trips, walking when distances are short, and sometimes just opting out for music or a book instead of a drive to the hardware store.
This modified behavior has benefits other than mere reduction in the amount of gasoline I have to buy. I spend less time driving. I'm lengthening the life of old "Number 8." And I'm reducing the probability that I will get into an accident (every mile driven is one mile closer to The Big One).
Unfortunately, I can't haul wood or heavy appliances on a scooter. But I have thought about getting an electric scooter and charging it with solar panels -- and using it on the 90 percent of occasions when I don't have to haul anything but myself.
After this winter, I also wonder if there are any electric snowmobiles out there ...?
No enviro-hair-shirt here! I'm not asking anyone to haul lumber or fridges home in their backpacks (though I did bring three bags of potting soil home in a kiddie trailer on the bike once!). Environmentalism is about being sensible, like Stan. And when you've got nothing but yourself to transport, using two wheels and no gas is plenty sensible.
ReplyDeleteElectric snowmobiles? How about pedal-powered snowmobiles? :-)
Your advice is great if you live in town or near to public transportation or one mile or so from work etc.
ReplyDeleteTo the people who live in rural areas of SD and miles from town, there is no option other than driving. And pickups unfortunately are the only option for hauling stuff when building fence (which my son and hubby are now doing on land 40 miles from here) and performing other farm related chores. And I have a daughter driving home from the Hills later today for a necssary reason. Even tho we consolidate trips and consider before we go somewhere, there is no way we in SD can get by without driving and using gas, whatever the cost. There is no other option most times.
Cory, do you support drilling for oil in ANWAR, or drilling in ND where supposedly oil has been found, or building more refineries (sorry, I know your opinion on this one).
We in the US do have our own supplies. This price increase does something other than make us think about cutting down; this also shows how dependent we are on other nations who could pull the plug at anytime and leave us high and dry. I agree that we need to develop more wind power, solar power, etc, but there is no reason why we can't also use the God-given resources we have in our own country. We have to access these, or we are at the mercy of the whims of other nations, which is never a good position to be in.
I am disgusted with the oil producing countries who are gouging everyone, the oil companies, the environmentalists who refuse to consider drilling in ANWAR or off our own coasts, those who feel the only answer to our present problem is to conserve. We can conserve all we want, but if other developing nations don't, it won't affect the price an iota.
BTW, we were in Alaska, and our tour guide said that while the pipeline there was loudly protested saying it would harm certain animals, the fact was that these same animals actually benefited from the pipeline and weren't harmed at all. It's time to look out for our own self interests.
God put these resources here for a reason, and that is for us to use them. It's time we do!
And when Gore et all quit flying around in their private jets and living in lavish mansions, what they are spouting about global warming, saving the environment, etc might have some credibility.
You're right, Anon -- the urban majority have a big advantage over us in transportation options. When Erin and I lived in Vancouver, we never used the van. We walked, biked, and bused everywhere. (I biked and bused 18 miles to work.) Same when I lived in Edmonton, Boston, and Moscow -- no car necessary. It was great!
ReplyDeleteBut when you've got fence to build and the lumberyard is 20 miles away, what do you do? No easy answer.
Now don't take this the wrong way: I love country living. My wife and I are five miles out of town, and I don't want to give up my patch of ground any more than you do. But sometimes I wonder just how sustainable the rural lifestyle is, or the Sioux Falls commuter lifestyle. Imagine the oil ran out -- how would the hundreds (thousands?) of people in Lake, Moody, McCook, and Lincoln counties (and farther) who commute to Sioux Falls each day get to work? How would farmers who depend on big machines, fuel, and petro-fertilizer get the job done? It might be that there are ways we live and work today that will be simply impossible in the future. Maybe we aren't meant to live in such small, far-flung settlements that are still so dependent on the global market and long-distance transport.
Drill in ANWAR? Build more refineries? If China's going to gobble it up anyway, will it help? I might rather focus on finding ways to generate energy we can use right here -- solar, wind, biofuel, geothermal... maybe even a nuclear reactor?
I'll admit, I am very lucky. I live in a small town where I can walk to nearly everything (no bike riding here -- too accident prone). My livelihood also lets me do most of my work from home.
ReplyDeleteI just had Old Number 8 switched out from the studded tires, wheels aligned, new rear brake pads, etc. It was in the shop for two days. Did just fine without it -- for two days.
And now the prospect looms of getting snowed in, again, for a day or two.
Nevertheless, I was a little taken aback when I went to the pump today. I die hard; I use premium gas and paid $3.76 a gallon for the stuff. Told the attendant, as I pointed to the Jack Daniels on the shelf, "Pretty soon it'll be cheaper to fill up on that." She agreed, and mentioned biodiesel. Take that old cooking grease and ... yeah, yeah.
Ultimately, I think, the solution is hydrogen-powered cars and trucks. Getting the hydrogen, transporting it, and storing it are the big challenges. But I think we can meet them.
Cory, you doubtless know: If gas prices soar high enough between now and November, it will do a lot to propel a Democrat into the White House. I suspect the oil companies are aware of this, and they know that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would be a lot harder on them than John McCain would likely be. For that reason, I doubt that oil company greed has much to do with the current surge in prices. It's a case of demand-pull inflation on steroids right now, I think.
A nuclear reactor? Here? In South Dakota? Now there's a topic that's sure to generate a lot of comments!
This whole gas and now electric thing is scary. I am going to be a Madison to Sioux Falls commuter and I am hoping (and praying, very hard) that we get some relief soon. Now, I am not stupid and think we will see $1.85 again, but even $2.85 is better than what is going on now. Argh..
ReplyDeleteI think we should use the resources available in our country for fuel. That includes oil (drilling and refining), nuclear (lots of protests on this one too), wind, solar, and any new idea that people have. And what we produce in this country should be consumed in this country.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that people will end up living only in huge metropoli (plural of metropolis?!) just because of the price of oil/gas. We need to find alternative sources and to use those resources we have now but are prevented from using because of overhyped Green Peace types. And no, I don't advocate hurting the environment or the planet, but we are capable of coexisting with wise use of available resources and it's time to acknowledge this.
What a dismal thought: Ninety-nine percent of the world's people living in urban cubbyholes like bees in a hive, while the wide-open countryside is farmed and mined by huge robots and criss-crossed with multi-megavolt electric power lines, fuel pipelines, and bullet trains carrying nuclear fuel and toxic waste.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that any tendency toward megalopolization of the population will be brought to a violent and sudden halt by The Inevitable Attack.
I hope this doesn't spoil anyone's day, but are we not deluding ourselves if we think that this event will never occur? It is not a question of "if," but only of "when."
When it does, rural property values will skyrocket, in my humble opinion. The fact will be brought home with savage force: Decentralization makes our society more defensible, and centralization makes it more vulnerable.
"A nuclear reactor? Here? In South Dakota? Now there's a topic that's sure to generate a lot of comments!
ReplyDelete"
Already had one :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinder_Nuclear_Generating_Station
Everyone crowded in cities -- dismal, indeed, Stan! That very unpleasant vision was one of the scenarios The Meadowlark Project discussed when it came through town last summer.
ReplyDeleteI agree: decentralization and local self-sufficiency would make us a safer, healthier society. Depending on more oil from Arabia, Russia, or ANWAR will never be as good a solution as locally produced biofuels, wind power, and whatever other ingenious ideas we could come up with to power our own communities. Telecommuting can be a great part of the solution as well.
I love small-town life. It's much better for building a sense of community. But small towns that depend on residents driving 50 or 100 miles every day for work may find their lifestyle and continued growth unsustainable. Buy local -- live local.
Biofuels? Call the ethanol plant and ask how many homes could be heated by the natural gas they burn. At least corn is not the best ingredient we could possibly use. They're researching other possibilities as I write.
ReplyDeleteLet's drill for our own oil.