Gasoline Ecology and the New Urban Home
16 November 2005

We were all impacted by Hurricane Katrina if not psychologically, then economically, as this disaster has caused the most recent raise in gasoline prices. Of course, our ongoing war in the Middle East hasn’t helped much either. The cost of oil has been rising steadily since occupation began.

And the more time passes, the more gas we use, the less there is, and no one knows for sure how much is really left. Ultimately, we will run out. We will need transit options that do not rely on gas. At all.

For now, we should conserve as much gas as we can. Obviously, reduced car traffic is good for the environment. It’s good for your health too: inhaling diesel smoke is as bad for you as you’d guess it is. And those nasty fires erupting all over an already ravaged Africa as a result of certain diesel companies are definitely destructive. There's nothing wrong with driving in and of itself, but perhaps the cost is no longer worth the convenience of driving.

But if this is not convincing enough, maybe you should think about how gas prices effect your necessary expenses. First, think of how much money you spend driving to and from, for example, the grocery store. And how else do you think food gets to the store if not for gas-guzzling semi-trucks? Your vegetables carry the cost of the gas it takes to get them from Venezuela to wherever you are. And everything else you consume, for that matter, is priced according to how much money is spent getting that product to the store. Expensive gas means higher prices for all consumer goods.

Your lifestyle can make a difference. You can drive a hybrid car, but better yet, if you live somewhere where walking is an option, then walk to the café for your morning coffee. Take the light rail or subway into the city and pay less than you would for gas while enjoying a relaxing commute reading the newspaper, instead of screaming at the idiot who cut you off. Enjoy lunch at a local diner and enjoy some fresh air in the process. After work, bike to the grocery store or your favorite restaurant and on the way home, pick up a DVD from the video store two blocks from your house, because supporting local industry can only better your city. These are all possible in your New Urban Home, positioned conveniently near your favorite amenities making your reality gasoline-free.

Addendum: read this brief from New Urbanism's New Urban News
NewUrbanism.org

Experts: Oil Will Run Out Soon. President Bush In Denial

Top oil experts confirm what petroleum geologists have been warning about for nearly a decade - that world oil is running out, and drilling in America’s last pristine wilderness and coastal areas will do very little to delay the inevitable. The latest high-profile warning comes from veteran oilman and Princeton geology professor Kenneth Deffeyes, whose new book "Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage" - gives ample cause for alarm. Unlike earlier warnings of imminent depletion however, the more recent ones have science and a century of experience on their side. The evidence is complex, but petroleum engineers have been warning for several years that global oil production will likely peak in this decade and began an inexorable decline.

Our political leaders are in denial. For the past two months, our leaders have been greeted by cheers and applause whenever they have stood before crowds and pledged to pursue "American energy independence," a phrase that generally has preceded promises of expanded subsidies, tax breaks and regulatory relief for the fossil-fuel industry. Since Sept. 11, this pledge has been repeated like a mantra by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and their fellow crude-oil champions in Washington, D.C. Dependence on foreign oil, they say, threatens national security and the remedy is to encourage increased domestic production by giving the energy industry whatever it wants.

Achieving independence - a legitimate national security objective in a troubled world - can logically be achieved by only one thing: reducing demand by increasing efficiency and developing alternatives. Our leaders are delusional thinking that we can continue to consume oil as frivolously as we do. With less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves and 5 percent of the planet's population, the United States accounts for more than 25 percent of global oil consumption. The majority of the US overuse of oil is due to our excessive daily driving habits, our sprawling communities, and the high number of gas-guzzling SUV’s on the roads.