Like all of you out there, I’ve noticed a huge jump in gas prices over the last months and weeks and especially the last couple of days. Gas here has gone from between $1.89-$1.97 per gallon for regular unleaded three days ago, which was bad enough, to between $2.15 and $2.20 today.
We all know that this is ridiculous; is there really any need for gas prices to be this high? No. We have more than enough of our own oil, which we could be using for ourselves and telling the Arabs to go piss up a rope. We could be looking for another dealer, as well, to give us the hook-up and sell us this black drug our civilization craves so much, at cheaper rates. Why don’t we? Well, like they say in “The Godfather”, “it’s just business”. And, like the mafiosi portrayed in that classic movie, extortion is a big part of what they do.
There is another way we could be coping, however, one which I never hear anyone mention, despite all the moaning and complaining about the high prices.
Does anyone recall the 1970s? The energy crisis? Gas lines that stretched for blocks? More to the point, does anyone remember “car pooling”?
Yes, car pooling…an ancient practice whereby several people went to work or to other activities by sharing the ride in a single vehicle, the owner and driver of which rotated on a daily or other regular basis. Everyone chipped in a previously agreed upon sum of money, kind of like bus fare, I suppose you could say, for the ride.
Also, when I was a kid during the time of the energy crisis, I often, in good weather, saw people in suits and ties or nice dresses or pantsuits carrying a briefcase, or in work clothes and carrying a lunchbox, riding bikes to work.
Why couldn’t we use these practices today, as a weapon against the high prices of oil and gas?
Have we become so lazy and self-centered a people that we can’t even imagine putting ourselves out and inconveniencing ourselves in such a fashion, taking the time and making the effort to drive around to pick up coworkers, or even sharing the ride at all?
Think of how much oil---and money---could be saved, not to mention wear and tear on our vehicles, if we were to take up these practices once again. I mean, how many people can sit in an average-sized SUV?
A friend of ours, for example, owns a Durango, and that hulking thing can seat seven comfortably, ten if you squeeze a little. That’s a lot of vehicles off the road, a lot of gas saved, and a lot of wear and tear. That all adds up a lot of money saved by everyone. I think this should be looked into.
The anti-Bush people are all over the president because he comes from a background in the oil business, and so, of course, they see the high prices as an effort by him and his to make more money.
Well, then, if that’s how you believe, by all means, start flipping the bird at him by setting up a car-pooling or ride-sharing list in your office or school, bowling league or scrapbooking club.
We need to do this, and make it a regular, common thing once more. It’s a simple question of supply and demand, just like anything else. More cars left sitting in garages and driveways means more gas and oil left sitting in the tanks means an eventual drop in overall prices. If we all start carpooling and riding bikes again, it might just, given time, force prices back down to a tolerable level. That works for us all.
http://www.sustain.canterbury.ac.nz/transport/carpool_tipsFAQ.shtml