see, i keep hearing all these calls for gas prices to go down. the method behind it always seems to be some sort of dump of our nat'l reserves or some other scheme.
i say no. keep the gas prices high.
do i like paying $3 a gallon? of course not. but it makes me rethink how i live and drive everytime i do. it makes me glad i got rid of my jeep even though i loved having that thing. i still want one. but it doesn't make any sense to drive something like that even when gas was only $2 a gallon.
back in the day, around the time of my birth, there was this little thing called the oil embargo. the u.s. was screwed and gas was short in supply and high in demand. what was the response then? conserve. and not just conserve gas. turn off lights you're not using. drive slower. carpool. take less frequent trips. now, we have low watt lightbulbs that no one uses. there still is no sort of pressure to use solar panels in construction. bush isn't going on tv telling us specifics, just, "hey, everyone needs to conserve a bit." great idea, but how? why not lower the speed limit back to 55? that'll save gas. why not force the car manufacturers to live up to their gas claims? shoot, why not speed up the process of more efficient suv's? most don't have to get better than 22mpg until like 2011! way to force their hand.
so, i say leave the reserves untouched. leave the price of gas high. yes, this will cause inflation. but, it will also make us be more responsible in how we use gas. or, if we stop buying so much, those who control the supplies will have to lower prices to entice us back into our wasteful ways.
shoot, willie nelson is pushing a biodiesel mix on his current u.s. tour. he's targeting truckers, trying to help them make ends meet. diesels were meant to run off vegetable oil, not petroleum oil. there is no reason why u.s. farmers can't be producing a viable product for our shipping/trucking needs. but it's not going to happen if the gov't doesn't step up, help out, get the ball rolling. we give subsidies to farmers, why not encourage those subsidy receipients to make crops for biodiesel use?
again, keep prices high. you will either drive less or reorient your life to afford your consumption. you make the choice.
(i sold my car, and now only have a bycycle. i'm giving friends gas money when they take me places out of the way. that and i'm setting my life up as much as possible to walk when i get out.)
2 comments:
Willie- The bomba shite. I saw the CBs sunday morning thingy abot his business. I trust Willie more than I trust McCain, and that's saying a lot. ...That's my ticket for 2008-- Watch me: McCain-Nelson 2008!!! Dont stop thinking about revolution!!!
2) Keep the gas prices high. It's simple capitalism. High prices will drive invention towards realistic and widespread sustainable fuel.
3) Cars that get better mileage for ging 55 only get that because that's where they're geared at. They could be (and are) geared to get better mileage at 75 if that were where the common traveling speed were set.
4) Good job on selling your car. I aspire to live in a place where that's more possible. On the other hand, too bad that you've quit the 4x4 club. poosh.
5) I had something else, but it has been washed away by the champagne of beers, hoodee hoo! when you see cops, throw the money in the treetops, etc.
When we moved to Florida, we only brought one car. I'm amazed by how easy it is to simply plan who needs to be where (and that's with one in school and Tom's crazy schedule). I really thought it was going to be miserable, but the savings in car insurance, upkeep and gas (which admittedly is cheaper here) has been worth the small amount of effort. Which just goes to show that all those annoying women in Clovis don't need an H2 simply because they have a child or two.
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