Call me a radical, but I actually think astronomically high gas prices are a good thing.
Why? Because it makes us oil-chugging Americans stop and think for a second about the resources we like to use with such wild abandon. It makes us take pause and think about what we’re doing…to the environment, to the world political situation, and to ourselves.
Yes, ourselves. Imagine if gas cost $10 a gallon. Do you think commuters would be willing to drive an hour to get to work? Hell no! Think about how much happier America would be if people weren’t expected to commute 20+ miles to work because it was prohibitively expensive? Companies would be more likely to allow telecommuting, people would get out of the suburbs, it would be urban renewal all over.
Ok, ok, so I haven’t thought this out very carefully, but I think high gas prices = Americans reconsidering their oil consumption = good thing. The only exception: “truckers going bankrupt because they can’t afford diesel”:http://www.redding.com/top_stories/local/20030224toplo038.shtml. Haven’t figured how that fits into my opinion, yet.
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12 Responses to “Gassy”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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scully
March 7th, 2003 at 10:35 am
It is an interesting thought. A Earth First! friend of mine once hypothesised that it would be better to waste as much oil-based fuels as possible. Get rid of them faster and force Americans (and others) to have to use alternative fuels.
I can think of a number of ramifications that could come about if this came to fruition, but it is fun to dream.
“You may say I’m a dreamer …”
Cameron
March 7th, 2003 at 12:25 pm
I wouldn’t worry too much about the trucker. It’ll affect all truckers roughly equally, so the cost of shipping will just go up to accomodate it. Some other things that you might consider to be disadvantages though:
1) An increase in the cost of all products that require transportation. Little things like food, clothes, housing, and pretty much anything with a low cost/weight ratio.
2) An increase in the cost of airfare. (Consider that a flight from New York to Paris is going to emit the equivalent C02 of 200 SUV’s driven regularly, for one year) Ok, so maybe increased airfare isn’t such a bad thing. Fewer non-business travellers will be travelling, and it is after all, totally unnecessary for an american to travel all over the world, when they could much more efficiently watch it on television.
3) An increase in the cost of heating oil will have a number of unfortunate effects. Sucks to be poor and old, especially if you live in the northern part of the US, or Canada.
4) An increase in the true cost of electricity, much of which is produced by burning oil. This cost probably won’t find its way to the consumer in the heavily regulated electricity market for some time, but it will show up eventually. Don’t buy that electric car just yet.
Sincy
March 7th, 2003 at 12:27 pm
The last time gas prices went up in Chicago CAB Drivers petitioned the City to raise their fares. When gas prices went back down, there was no reversal. Hey cabbie! What did you expect! Go service the southside for once!
Tumbleweed
March 7th, 2003 at 1:20 pm
Look, the problem with worrying about truckers diesel prices is one thing that has positioned ourselves into such a mess. Keeping diesel prices down by regulation has meant that only dirty, sulphur-ridden diesel is what’s sold in the U.S., unlike Europe, where much cleaner Diesel fuel is available. When you have cleaner diesel fuel, as in Europe, you can make much better diesel engines. Take a look at V.W. UK website for an understanding of what awesome diesel engines are available outside of the U.S. They’ve got some highpower, high fuel-efficiency engines available there that won’t work with our crappy diesel in the U.S., and it’s directly attributable to the trucking industry forcing the dirty-but-cheap diesel down our throats.
The real kicker is that diesel engines are more fuel efficient, more reliable due to power parts. They also last a lot longer.
If you then educate yourself about biodiesel, you’ll see what a massive crime is being committed on the world’s environment. Using biodiesel and existing infrastructure, we could end our dependence not just on foreign oil, but on fossil fuels entirely, and as a benefit, we’d wind up with cleaner air (biodiesel is cleaner in almost all respects to diesel and gasoline), and longer-lasting engines. Plus we’d get to have farmers growing crops for biodiesel sources instead of paying them to not grow things. A pretty nice benefit to our economy in addition to the environment.
Tumbleweed
March 7th, 2003 at 1:22 pm
“power parts”? Sorry, “fewer parts”. Not enough sleep.
Cameron
March 7th, 2003 at 1:34 pm
The diesel/gasoline argument is obviously a slightly different one, and I’ll admit I know very little about biodiesel (although the claims made by biodiesel manufacturers sound suspiciously like those of the gasohol advocates of the mid-late 80’s.)
The big problem with diesel is the fact that it produces a much higher level of particulate emissions than gasoline. Particulate emissions are the ones that kill you (as opposed to the ones that kill the Earth). In London, over 90% of diesel emissions come from less than 10% of the cars. (mostly the black cabs, which are all diesel). People pay extra for diesel cars in Europe, because they save on the taxes, but that’s not the desired effect of the tax break. It was supposed to allow them to tax gas, without hurting truckers, and it would appear that it didn’t work.
dave
March 7th, 2003 at 4:50 pm
If you’re talking about significantly curtailing the use of oil, you’d also need to consider the economic impact on the millions upon millions of people employed either directly by the oil and gas industry or by the thousands of businesses that support it. And the massive amount of tax revenue generated by the industry that would no longer be available to fund vital social programs.
Tony
March 7th, 2003 at 9:23 pm
Tumbleweed, I’d buy your diesel argument if it werent’ for the fact that the dirty diesel you speak of is more expensive than regular gas. Looked at the pumps lately?
Let’s not forget everything else that is Petrochemical based:
Plastics
Nylon
paints
coatings
Cutting down on car use is a start, but only a start. Oil is in use everywhere.
dani
March 8th, 2003 at 12:24 pm
bravo ariel! i agree. and regarding truckers, check out http://www.biodiesel.org … very promising. spread the word!
Nancy
March 9th, 2003 at 8:05 am
Hey, Ariel-
You should read The Geography of Nowhere by James Kunstler. Sounds like its right up your alley!
http://www.kunstler.com/
Nancy
March 9th, 2003 at 8:08 am
Oh, and there was a very interesting article about a trucker in the New Yorker, I think a week ago. I don’t think they have it on the website, but I still have the article (I think), so I could mail it to you, if you want (or if you can’t find it in LA!)
philippe
March 10th, 2003 at 1:14 am
Tumbleweed has a good point about modern diesel engines : a VW TDi engine, as available in Europe has an average mileage in urban traffic around 40mpg, and 50mpg on the highway. We’re talking of 2liters engine, up to 150HP and as much torque as the V8 of a Tahoe. It’s almost on par with a hybrid like a Prius. The greenhouse gas emission are also very low. All this in a roomy car (a passat). Every maker in europe offers such engines.
For the Particulate emissions, Cameron makes also a good point. This is a big controversial issue in Europe, where diesel is hghly successful (the fuel is cheaper to buy and it gives a better mileage). Makers like Peugeot or Mercedes now build special filters on their car, supposed to burn those particulates. So I guess the cure is on its way.