Mariner
Active Member
I agree that we can't escape gasoline dependence instantly. On the other hand, the technology already exists (hybrid engines) to halve our use of gasoline for transportation. Some tax breaks and gov't investment in improved technology, and we could be sipping rather than guzzling the stuff. If every consumer product had a sticker on it indicating the amount of oil that went into its manufacture, I predict people would rapidly make choices that would vastly cut our use of oil. The geopolitical and environmental consequences of oil use are simply too crystal clear at this point.
The real problem is a nostalgic view that we have a "right" to practically free gasoline. It's fueled the development of sprawling suburbs and strip malls, endless places that can be accessed only by car, not even by bicycle or on foot.
Imagine if new subdivisions and shopping centers provided full access for foot and bicycle traffic--sidewalks, safe crossings, and video-monitored bicycle parking. Vast numbers of people would be willing to bike to work and the store if it were simply possible. And at 912 miles per gallon of Ben and Jerry's, there's no more efficient way to get around than the bicycle.
Other simple changes resisted by the Bush administration include going to low sulfur diesel faster, cleaning up the smokestacks of electricity companies, mandating cleaner standards for lawn mowers and marine engines, which produce outsized pollution for their size compared with cars (~100 times as much pollution per gallon).
Mariner
PS I put my money where my mouth is. My rarely used car runs on biodiesel, and I bike or skateboard to work, the gym, and much of my shopping. I'm also vegetarian, and eat locally grown foods when I can, which further decreases my oil personal oil dependence (beef requires unbelievable amounts of oil and water--even fishing requires vast oil, some fishing boats leaving the dock heavier with diesel than they return laden with fish). And we reinsulated our old house to minimize energy use for heating and cooling. Just because the world "is" a certain way doesn't mean it "should" be that way, and I believe too many Americans have bought the commercially inspired vision that we have a "right" to a mini-English estate in the suburbs with a sparkling chemically sterilized lawn and a giant SUV in the garage. It's not sustainable--and we should face that fact sooner rather than later, for our own good. But that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice hugely. An organic lawn might have a couple of weeds, but a hybrid car has no less power than a conventional one--sometimes more.
The real problem is a nostalgic view that we have a "right" to practically free gasoline. It's fueled the development of sprawling suburbs and strip malls, endless places that can be accessed only by car, not even by bicycle or on foot.
Imagine if new subdivisions and shopping centers provided full access for foot and bicycle traffic--sidewalks, safe crossings, and video-monitored bicycle parking. Vast numbers of people would be willing to bike to work and the store if it were simply possible. And at 912 miles per gallon of Ben and Jerry's, there's no more efficient way to get around than the bicycle.
Other simple changes resisted by the Bush administration include going to low sulfur diesel faster, cleaning up the smokestacks of electricity companies, mandating cleaner standards for lawn mowers and marine engines, which produce outsized pollution for their size compared with cars (~100 times as much pollution per gallon).
Mariner
PS I put my money where my mouth is. My rarely used car runs on biodiesel, and I bike or skateboard to work, the gym, and much of my shopping. I'm also vegetarian, and eat locally grown foods when I can, which further decreases my oil personal oil dependence (beef requires unbelievable amounts of oil and water--even fishing requires vast oil, some fishing boats leaving the dock heavier with diesel than they return laden with fish). And we reinsulated our old house to minimize energy use for heating and cooling. Just because the world "is" a certain way doesn't mean it "should" be that way, and I believe too many Americans have bought the commercially inspired vision that we have a "right" to a mini-English estate in the suburbs with a sparkling chemically sterilized lawn and a giant SUV in the garage. It's not sustainable--and we should face that fact sooner rather than later, for our own good. But that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice hugely. An organic lawn might have a couple of weeds, but a hybrid car has no less power than a conventional one--sometimes more.