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May 27, 2008

gas, gas, gas


I’ve kinda gone on rants about introverts not being anti-social, about the Midwest not being a wasteland and today I will be on another one about none other than: gasoline. Tomorrow should be a happier note as I blog about my Memorial Day camping trip that, yes, I had to use gas to get to. Ironically enough, the extra money I had to spend on gas this past weekend to go to Wisconsin can be made up simply by not going to a couple of opening day movies such as Indian Jones and instead going to see the movies later in the theatre or waiting to see them on DVD.
I can’t go through a day now without hearing someone on the news, at work, or elsewhere talk about the outrageously high cost of gasoline. It is high! I paid $4.11.9 today for gas. In a world of globalization, in a capitalist country that is run on the idea of supply and demand, with an oil-tycoon President, Halliburton gun-shooting vice president, and the ideal that anyone can do whatever they want because we are a country of freedom are we at all surprised that gas is this low?

Trains ruled this country in the later half of the ninetieth century. They would probably be everywhere if the car was never invented and if Henry Ford had never decided to make the car affordable for everyone. The car became the way of travel, the way to the grocery store, to church, to work. It became a lifestyle. Americans became dependent on the car to go anywhere. Roads were paved, freeways dissected America and split cities, and gas stations were to be open 24/7. We’re dependent on the automobile. As far as supply and demand goes, the sky’s the limit because in a society that has to have it we will pay anything to have it.

There is no denying it – we are a NASCAR lovin’, Hummer gas-guzzling country. As a country we have said that maybe we don’t like the gas prices but we still love the fast cars, the big cars, and the big engines.

Over the past few years there are always rumors and hype about “don’t buy gas” days, or don’t buy gas from certain companies, and the latest: driving slower1. I have my doubts about all these ways of stopping gas companies. None of these ideas have addressed the issue of oil companies and the price of oil which continues to rise. None of these ideas have addressed laws or the globalization of oil around the world. These ideas address individuals in an un-organized nation.

I do think the oil dependency can be lightened. Although it can’t be done with bombs and broken promises and it can’t be done by bad business or greed. It has to come with peace and good socially responsible businesses. It comes with an idea to make fuel-efficient cars and ways of transportation that are not dependent on gasoline. These ideas are already being explored by companies that recognize the urgency for fuel-efficiency. There are now even initiatives to make a car that has 100 mpg. These are only ideas in the automotive industry.

I am sure there are many more ideas about transportation, alternative lifestyles, government policy, and globalization of gasoline out there, but I just do not know them. What I do know is that gasoline is not the end-all-be-all of life. As a society that depends on gasoline so much maybe it is a good thing that we are finding alternatives and ways of life that are better for everyone in the world.

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