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April 25, 2006
GAS - Need I say more?!
As a graduating student living in San Francisco, I am aware of the love/ hate relationship we are developing with our vehicles and the gas pump. While having a car is a necessity, how much is too much? How much money are we prepared to fork out? I am going to continue to avoid buying a car in the near future. But for people who have to commute long distances or want to go on a vacation, how many sacrifices can one make? Chris Lopez's Weblog has more info:
We have this ongoing discussion on gasoline prices, the forum generated from a commentary this morning by features writer Joan Morris who brings some levity to the situation. On my family's recent car trip to Colorado, we hit gas prices ranging from $2.29 in Nevada to $2.89 in my hometown of Alamosa, CO. At some point, you have make a personal decision of how you're going to get around and what you're willing to pay and put up with when it comes to gas prices. You have to re-examine your personal budget and make decisions on what you can cut out of your life so you can keep driving.
Of course in America, we are paying less than the rest of the world for gas and use more than the average country. But with increasing bridge tolls, going up to $5, parking, maintenance etc... It certainly makes one less inclined towards a motor vehicle. We need to focus on sustainable development in all areas of energy dependence. The last thing we need to do is destroy our protected lands in Alaska and continue to ruin other countries land and destory people's homes. As President Bush said, "Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world."
--President George W. Bush, 2006 State of the Union Address
This is not a solution.
Posted by Sophie at April 25, 2006 03:46 PM
Comments
Cars are not a necessity.
You too can learn how to live Car Free!
http://carfreeusa.blogspot.com/
You will save lots of money and enjoy life more.
Posted by: Bob at April 25, 2006 05:22 PM
It's difficult to live car free when you live in this suburban sprawl, where the nearest grocery store is miles and miles away.
Everyone would agree that the best use of a car would be to go on a trip, not stuck in a commute between home and work. But we shouldn't have cities this way.
So we need to design an attractive urban area that middle-class people would prefer to live in, which probably needs the abolishing of Proposition 13, an unlucky number if ever there was one.
Posted by: Alan at April 27, 2006 10:38 PM
Yep, living in SF means you can sell your car and take mass transportation (as I did)...
Posted by: denisdekat at April 28, 2006 03:54 PM
Gas Prices are sure increase as much as they are right now.
Posted by: Benjamin at April 28, 2006 04:54 PM
It's not a solution, but it's a start.
About 75% of Americans live in places that require cars. How long would it take to flip that number? And mass transit requires energy, too, as do agriculture, industry, cargo transport, airlines. We tend to focus on suburban sprawl because it's the most obvious use of oil in our day-to-day, but it's just a piece of the problem, and also perhaps the one that's least realistically reversible.
At this point, the realistic solution is not to scold people for driving, it's to find ways to reduce oil consumption when they do. And it's to find ways of reducing oil consumption by business and government.
Posted by: seamus at April 30, 2006 09:50 AM
If 5 milliion illegals can muster up a great protest, why can't the rest of us get up and protest the gas prices. How about organizing rolling boycott of a different major oil company each week.. That way the rules of suppl;y and demand would strat to go into effect causing price wars on the street corners of American cities. What do you think?
Posted by: Len Floyd at May 2, 2006 09:26 PM
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