(no subject)

[electricland]

So I gather there's some asinine Don't Buy Gas Tomorrow campaign going around. Puhlease.

Break the Chain explores why these things don't work. (Via gristmill_rss, who alerted me to this in the first place. (Oh, and Snopes also has something to say.)

Gas prices aren't going anywhere until the market says so. Deal. Want to save money on gas? Carpool, drive less, take public transit, walk, bike, make sure your car's tuned up and its tires are properly inflated, don't speed, go easy on the braking and accelerating, and if you're buying a new car, make sure it's really fuel-efficient. Yes, some of these are only realistic if you live in a city, but a lot of them are available to anyone.

Drivers, I feel your pain. I do. But I'm also somewhat gleeful: we drive far too much in North America, and anything that'll help cut down on that is fine by me. Also my lungs.

Comments

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

I hate to say it, but high gas prices are probably good, in a way; people don't worry about conservation until it hits them where they live [or drive]. It hurts me, too, but if the ever steeper prices finally make people trade in those goddamned 2 mpg hogs and start worrying about fuel efficiency/conservation/alternatives, it'll be worth it.

Very true.

Also, it seems to me that the people this is going to hit hardest are the people who have more $$$ to begin with, since people struggling financially generally either don't have cars, or drive smaller, more practical vehicles.

Not to mention, you know... we are on the brink of actually RUNNING OUT of fossil fuel within the next handful of decades. Maybe this will be a wake-up call to everyone that oil lobby or not, we really do have to start looking to alternative sources of energy, particularly for transportation. Because at some point, it's not even going to be about money anymore, there just won't be any oil left, period.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

In a lot of cases, it appears, people bought more than they could afford, and are now trading in/losing vehicles. Call me unsympathetic, though, but if you bought a $40K SUV and can't handle the relative-to-price small increase in gas payments, you were way over your head anyway.

Yeah, I agree with the experts who've said that this is the way to "ease people into" the idea of oil running out; hopefully, this crunch will force some real progress on the non-fossil fuel front, because we're gonna need it. Things would (I hope not "will") get really ugly if nothing changed and the needle hit "zero" on the supply.

I'm willing to buy new again just to get a hybrid Camry (the car in my icon is ours, 14 months old, regular 4-cyl Camry, 35 mpg).

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky -- I live right downtown, have no kids, and although I now work nearly in Markham, I can still get to work well under an hour by TTC (subway then bus). I know this isn't an option for most people, but I am a HUGE proponent of using public transportation as much as possible.

As for those who need cars, I'm all about economical models now, and then the automotive industrying deigning to join us here in the 21st century, where fossil fuels are not just a finite resource, but one we're using up at an alarming rate, far faster than necessary.

I think I'm babbling now. I do feel bad for the people who DID purchase economically, who need their vehicles for family or work related reasons, and are just tight enough that the increase in prices is really pinching... but sadly, these things just can't be avoided, especially in extreme situations like this.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that really sucks for those people. I also don't know what could be done, though....

(At least we have no kids either, but public transportation in the city I work in is just horrendous, so that's not really an option, unfortunately.)