Gas Prices In Idaho Going To Ruin Family Vacations?
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Summer is coming on fast and gasoline prices are soaring. There is no question that the increased cost in gasoline will have extreme consequences in the future if prices soar. Some estimates predict gasoline going as high as $5.00 per gallon by the end of the summer, and $10.00, $15.00 or more per gallon in the not-so distant future.
The rise in gasoline prices has been blamed on many factors including:
Increased Demand In China
China is prospering. Their economy has been booming and more and more Chinese are starting to pick up on the luxuries that come with prosperity – that includes purchasing cars. What happens when you have a billion people buying cars who didn’t have them before? Demand goes through the roof – and they are all going to be filling their tanks to keep them running. Can you blame them?
Unstable Situation with Iraq.
Iraq is a factor, but not just oil produced there. 25% of the worlds oil passes right of the shore of Iran, and according to the national media, an unstable situation with Iran continue to drive prices higher.
Switch Over from MTBE to Ethanol
In years past, the Environmental Protection Agency have put more strict requirements on the percentage of oxygen required in gasoline. In the past gasoline companies used methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) to boost oxygen levels, but with concerns that MTBE may contaminate groundwater, more refineries are switching to Ethanol. But it is said there is not enough Ethanol available, and the shortage of Ethanol has caused some gas stations to run out of gasoline at times.
(I can’t help but wonder if there are other, yet bigger, factors happening behind the scenes? Price fixing? Planned limited supply? (remember Enron?) I’m not knowledgeable enough about the oil and gas industry to even speculate, but what I do know, is there is big money on the table, and sometimes the temptation is just too much for some people.)
With gas prices soaring, one news report said for the first time there is a notable decrease in how much Americans are driving. Many Americans are driving less, and some families are planning on cutting their summer travel this year due to increased gasoline prices.
We live in a fortunate situation, Southeast Idaho we have wonderful summer opportunities within just 2 or 3 hours drive - no need for 12-15 hr trek. Yellowstone National Park - Jackson Hole, Wyoming – Salt Lake City, Utah – all great destination locations with fun, excitement and adventure. And there’s likely dozens of other smart, fun, and inexpensive summer activities that you take advantage of right here.
For me, some of my fondest memories come from summers spent within 100 miles of here.
With so much available so close to home, will Idahoans be changing their summer plans?
Personally, I don’t think so, not this year. But if prices continue to rise and prices start to approach $15 - $20 per gallon, even that trip to Yellowstone may become something too expensive for the average family. Look out, because I think that day could be coming. And when it comes, oh how life will change.
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Comments
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0 I always wondered why the Shell station on the corner of 17th & Yellowstone is always out of fuel Monday & Tuesday of every week? Is this something they do on purpose or do the actually run out every single weekend. Their pumps always have black bags over the fuel nozzels every Monday and often times it lasts though most of Tuesday as well. What gives?
As for fuel prices ruining summer vacation plans….i don’t think so. Most people will just cut corners elsewhere. Their may be less people flying this year, but I think more people will take their vacations closer to home. One of the local news stations has a segment where they show how far you can travel to Idaho “hot spots” on a tank of gas. I missed last weeks segment, but I think that’s a great idea and I for one will be spending some long weekends on camping/fishing trips that are between 2-3 hours from home. That should only cost me a full tank of gas there and back.
I look foward to hearing others travel plans for this summer.
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0 0 In our case, I can pretty well define our summer travel radius: Challis, Clayton, Leadore, Monida & Bannock Passes, Henry’s Lake, Island Park, Big Springs, Warm River, Fall River, Grand Targhee, Jackson Lake, Jenny Lake, Craters of Moon, City of Rocks, Soda Springs, Montpelier. That’s about it.
We drive a 1994 Nissan 5-speed short bed P/U. Pretty good fuel economy. We took the bicycles to the Tetons on 4/28 and our RT gas cost was $40 for a day trip. So, we will most likely cut back on day trips and make them 2-3 day trips–then we can think in terms of “gas cost per day.” Then gas becomes a lesser percentage of the trip. Yeah, I know that’s a voodoo accounting mental trick. But, hey, whatever works.
If we were to go camping at Jenny Lakethis is how it shakes out. I think they are charging $15 a night. OK, two nights=$30 + $50 est. fuel + $60 in food/bev = $140. Round it to $150 and that’s still a fairly economical trip @ $50 a day. The camping and food/bev. costs are roughly the same as last year when we culd get RT to the Tetons for $25. So the overall cost of the trip has only risen maybe 10%. If you look at it like that, that’s pretty reasonable. This line of logic probably doesn’t make any sense to anybody but me–but at least here it is for discussion.
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0 0 They won’t affect our travel plans, but a relative of mine just priced gas versus flying to and from a city for a wedding. She found the airline ticket was very comparable, not to mention faster, when looking at gas and one night of motel costs.
I suggest to families on the go, since more of your $ goes in the tank, eat out less. Bring a cooler, replenish it with ice, and pack sandwiches, chips, snacks, yogurt, cereal, milk, etc. Picnic at the parks or in the car. That’s what we did years ago.
Or better yet, explore and visit all the “local” attractions within a 100 mile radius, make it a day trip. It amazes me how many of us (me included) live here but have yet to see some of our local sight-seeing and tour book guide suggested places.
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0 0 The only problem is you have to fly out of SLC to get comparable pricing. And that IF to SLC drive is the longest and most boring 3 hour drive ever! No matter how awake and ready to go I am, as soon as I start on that drive I have the hardest time staying awake.
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0 0 True, but I have a solution. Let’s put my kids in the back of your car. Pop in a Wiggles video. Add a few snacks, laughs, cries, and bathroom breaks. Voila! You’ve arrived in SLC and hardly noticed the time pass. I’m brilliant! Meanwhile, I’ll be at the spa……
Gotta love traveling with kids. At least you don’t have the chance to get very sleepy.
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0 0 ditto; even the Wiggles CD would work: no chance of sleeping with the uber-peppy Wiggle guys belting out the tunes…
or get a book on cd from the library…….that works well and SLC is usually one book away 
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0 0 I was going to suggest weasels, but not in the back of the car….
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0 0 High gas prices can be fixed to a major degree by the same government that forced them up in the first place.
The government needs to understand the problems at the pump have by in large been perpetuated by rules and regulations that made the problem worse.
Washington should realize they need to eliminate these mistakes rather than repeat them.
We need fewer restrictions on domestic oil drilling. America is the only oil-producing nation on earth that has placed off-limits a substantial amount of energy reserves. This includes a few thousand acres of Alaska’s 20 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that are believed to contain 10 billion barrels of oil. This is equivalent to 16 years of imports from Saudi Arabia. More oil is in other restricted areas throughout Alaska, and even more oil can be found in the 85 percent of America’s territorial waters that are off limits — nearly everywhere but the western half of the Gulf of Mexico.
The only reason not to drill is the environmental concerns espoused by well meaning but misguided environmentalists. But improvements in drilling technology have greatly reduced the above-ground mark on the land and the risk of offshore spills. Any new drilling would be subject to the world’s strictest standards.
Yet, many in Congress still oppose more domestic oil exploration and drilling. Amazingly, some actually want to add to the list of off-limits areas even as pump prices head toward $4 per gallon!
We also need less regulatory red tape affecting refineries and gasoline supplies. Though the jump in oil prices is far and away the biggest culprit in the recent price rise, tight refinery capacity doesn’t help. It would be worthwhile to streamline the regulations that make it all but impossible to build a new refinery and more difficult and time-consuming to expand an existing one. We harm ourselves with abundant regulation in the nuclear field as well. A lack of nuclear reactors forces us to use more and more oil…more demand–the higher the price!
As pointed out in the article above, ethanol is a problem as our many other bio-fuels. Eliminating the federal requirements that dictate the recipe (actually a dozen different recipes) for fuel also would help. These requirements get more stringent in the late spring and summer and are one reason prices likely are to rise even more in the months ahead.
One of the worst federal requirements is the one requiring that corn-based ethanol be mixed into the gasoline supply. Not only does ethanol use raise the cost of driving, but diverting corn from food to fuel has raised food prices, as well.
We also need to understand the mistakes of past government officials and a desire not to repeat these mistakes of the 1970s and early 1980s. Among other mistakes from that period, the government increased the taxes levied on domestic oil producers, as if that would somehow help. Obama and Clinton want to repeat this again. The result, according to the Congressional Research Service, was “reduced domestic oil production from between 3 and 6 percent, and increased oil imports from between 8 and 16 percent.” The government also instituted price controls, which only served to create the notorious gas shortages of that era. Thankyou Jimmy Carter. Yes, price controls meant consumers could get cheaper gas — but only after waiting in long gas lines and only if stations didn’t run out first. So, CR67’s observation about the Shell station could be closed gas stations for more than Monday’s and Tuesdays….try 3-4 days out of the week with no gas.
No rational policymaker should want to repeat the mistakes of those days, yet several members of Congress are trying to do just that. There are new proposals to increase the effective tax rates on U.S. oil companies. There are also price-gouging measures, which act the same way as price controls do. Both try to make high prices illegal. Both discourage badly needed supply increases and, thus, end up doing more harm than good.
As my earlier article on Energy Independence pointed out, it’s not just coincidence that despite the 2005 energy bill and another big one in 2007, the price at the pump continues upward. Both measures did little to create oil and gasoline supplies or untangle the red tape afflicting existing supplies.
Congress needs to undo the damage it has done. Write your representatives and Senators and tell them to do three simple things:
1) Open up ANWAR in Alaska for domestic drilling.
2) Reduce regulation and rules for building new refineries and expanding existing facilities.
3) Have them google the Synthetic Fuel Corporation created in 1981–the SFC was a federal chartered corporation that had as it’s sole purpose to work with private industry to produce synthetic fuels. It scared the heck out of the Saudi’s and forced them to increase supply to cut the price of oil back to $60.00 a barrel. This act put the SFC out of a job (because ironically, it did it’s job too well).
If Congress can’t get it’s act together and tries more of the same get ready for $5.00 per gallon for gas by the end of the year.
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0 0 Mike,
It’s called mercantilism when governments attempt to manage the marketplace from the top down as is now the case with those seeking price controls (shades of Jimmy Carter). A bottom up approach where the market drives supply and demand is much more dynamic and balanced in a chaotic, fluctuating kind of way. Mercantilism enriches those who can contol those commodities most in demand, an example of which is ethanol from corn. It was ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) which lobbied congress to support the boondoggle idea that we could alleviate petroleum dependency by mandating production of ethanol from corn. Bob Dole fought hard to get ADM all the concessions and subsidies necessary to promote ethanol, and incidentally, upon leaving political office, he signed on as a lobbyist for ADM with a starting salary rumored at 2 million dollars. We are just becoming aware of how expensive and disasterous this ethanol scam has become for our nation.
The coming election will be a test of whether or not we will continue as an empire builder, a nation that could conceivably quarter troops in a foreign nation for the next 100 years (McCain) to insure a continued flow to this nation of our life blood, oil — remember, McCain slipped up the other day and admitted that oil was the reason for our presence in Iraq.
As ineffectual as Jimmy Carter was as president, he remembered the 1973 oil embargo and was at least aware of the impending difficulties this nation faced if it relied on imported oil to maintain a viable economy. He had solar collecting devices installed on the roof of the white house (mostly a symbolic gesture) to dramatize the urgency of needed solutions to our oil addiction and the pending energy crisis we faced. One of the first things Reagan did after taking office was to have the solar panels removed. This California cowboy figured if we needed oil we, as the most powerful country on the planet, would simply bully other nations into supplying our needs. Saudi Arabia, who supplies 25% of the world’s oil, came on board big time when Suddam Hussein was saber rattling and threatening the stability in the region but since Saddam’s demise the Saudis no longer feel the need for our protection and the price of oil has shown a steady increase ever since.
As I have written before, we are oil hogs…we are 5% of the world’s population using 25% of it’s oil. It’s high time we got over this oil addiction and developed alternate sources of energy to keep this great nation viable in a world competing for scarce energy resources.
General Motors just posted over a $3B loss, due mostly to the dismal sales figures for their gas guzzling trucks and SUV’s, yet Toyota (now #1) can’t produce it’s 60 mpg Prius hybrid fast enough for demand. Why are American manufacturers so far behind in estimating the marketplace? Could it be that we have lost our competetive edge? Have we grown so complacent with cheap oil (yes, we still pay less for it than the Europeans) that we no longer feel the urge to lead the world in this age of technological wonders or do we see ourselves as the big boy on the block who will simply use our military might to get our way in the world?
“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” (John Perkins) should be required reading for every high school senior in this country. It paints a picture of how we conduct ourselves as an empire building nation. It is not a picture we can be proud of. http://kineticreaction.blogspot.com/2007/10/confessions-of-economic-hitman.html
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0 0 Thanks for the imperialist nation building political science lesson. Have Professor Guest and Professor Meso been listening to Reverend Wright about how America’s policies are “coming home to roost”? Nothing in my post suggested government control of the market…in fact, my post was the exact opposite: Congress and other US Government agencies should come to appreciate how their tinkering has got us deeper into debt, reliance on foreign oil, and even the ridiculous ethanol matter that has done nothing to improve gasoline price and supply and has done much to drive up food prices while Dole and ADM get pretty darn rich!
So, I say once again, there are many facets we can all agree on….what we don’t need to do is engage in imperialistic sermons about how the United States is a bad country for throwing it’s collective weight around. It misses the mark and is exactly the kind of debate politicians would love to see the people to get into in order to distract us from the real problem…..which is the politicians themselves!
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0 0 I believe Meso is correct in saying “we’ve lost our competitive edge” as a world superpower. And we did this by “outsourcing” everything to other countries in order to save a buck. All because of the almighty dollar, which I might add….happens to be worth squat these days, and by thinking we no longer need to manufacture everything from electronics to bedspreads. This country dug it’s own grave, and we’re going to have one hell of a time digging ourselves out. Because whether we want to believe it or not, our “military might” will not bail us out this time.
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0 0 Prey tell….what does militanism and imperialism have to do with high gas prices right now…let alone how to fix the problem? Our competitive edge has been suffering for some time now. China and India have been making more demands on oil reserves driving up the price. Now, that certainly is a result of outsourcing….but think about it….who outsourced and why? American companies took business off shore to avoid unions, high litigation costs, taxes, and wanted cheap labor….and American consumers (as well as 401k and stock holders loved all the dividends and profits pouring in).
So while I can see how it might be fashionable to lambaste American foreign policy it does not “dig us out of the grave we dug”. Americans love to save money and buy at Walmart. Mom & Pop business’ are being driven out. American citizens with their unending binge spending on credit cards and excessive mortgages are a reflection of their own government aren’t they? So, we can lambaste Bush and Clinton….but isn’t it really true that the imperalists Meso speaks of are really us? So, what about gas prices…food prices…and the like. How do we go about reigning these problems in–short and longer term?
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0 0 I think that we should tax every American company, that moved off this soil since NAFTA’s been in effect, on any goods that they are importing back us.
Mike was absolutly correct “401k and stock holders loved all the dividends and profits pouring in”
It’s all about greedy corporate America, and that is a reflection of our government, it’s just another coporation.
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0 0 Mike, I will lambaste American foreign policy, especially when that policy has foreign leaders assassinated when they won’t play ball with American corporatocracy. Some examples of which are the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende — Jacobo Arbenz, the elected president of Guatemala, who defied the U.S. control of Guatemala (United Fruit) and was assassinated in a CIA orchestrated coup. Panama’s Omar Torrijos who was assassinated for considering a Japanese company to widen the Panama Canal instead of the American company, Bechtel, and who was ultimately replaced by an American supported stooge, Noriega — and the list goes on.
Yes, Mike, history has proven that we are an imperialist nation. Past exploitaions of resourse rich nations have left us a pariah in the eyes of the world and it will become increasingly more difficult to carry on business as usual in an informed world. Gunboat diplomacy is dead. We will simply have to compete with other nations, in the same marketplace, for those dwindling supplies of resourses and save our military might for it’s intended use, defense.
The money we have spent in Iraq would have gone a long way towards building the infrastructure necessary to wean us off foreign oil. Drilling in ANWAR, constructing nuclear power plants, adding to our refinery capacity and utilizing a miriad of renewable energy sources have to be more affordable and certainly more justifiable than sending our young men and women off to war simply to maintain our status quo as a nation of oil gluttons.
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0 0 If you’re not familiar with headwatersnews.org, you ought to be. Last summer, Courtney White, Executive Director of New Mexico’s Quivira Coalition, wrote a great opinion piece of the impact of $7 gas on the West. I urge you to read this article:
http://www.headwatersnews.org/White.next.energy.html
The key “take-away” from this article is the concept of “relocalization” and for us what relocalization might mean specifically for Idaho Falls. In other words, are there things we can do besides point fingers at gubmints and oil companies that will create a sustainable future IN SPITE of $7 gasoline?
Perhaps it’s time for Idaho Falls pundits to stop sending salvos of sarcasm toward mythic icons and focus their wits and wisdom on what we can do right here in River City to prepare to prosper in the face of even much higher fuel prices.
White’s article is very genealistic but his ideas definitely deserve consideration. Here’s a summary of what he sees are consequences of $7 gas:
1) Don’t Bet the House on Recreation Anymore.
2) The Juggernaut of Urban & Exurban Development Will Falter.
3) Water Will Become More Expensive.
4) Economic Hardship Will Spread Upward.
5) Expect More Oil & Gas Development – Perhaps a Lot More.
Here are the keys to relocalization as this author see it:
The Development of Local Food and Energy Sources.
Farm and Ranch Land Will Become Important Again.
County Governments Will Rise In Influence.
Co-Management of Public Lands Will Evolve Into the Norm.
The history of the West if a saga of people who have learned to adapt and survive all manner of improbable hardships. The history books are filled with examples of people who have risen out of adversity to prosper in wealth and power. It might be possible that this whole paradigm shift in energy prices offers a corresponding level of opportunity for those savvy enough to recognize the economic benefits lying in wait in the emergence of relocalization.
We can cry over spilt milk (and oil) all we want, but it won’t do any good. Our challenge is to determine how to survive and prosper IN SPITE of astronomical gas costs. As the future unfolds, I too believe the biggest rewards await those who understand and capitalize on relocalization.
The Volunteer
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0 0 Excellent post volunteer. That is a breath of fresh aire from the bash America opinion. I like the idea of localized response to gas prices and other conundrums we are currently facing.
Idaho Falls has been very fortunate to have it’s own ability to generate electricity for both use and sale of the excess. This has helped us more than if we were solely dependent upon buying from the Bonneville Power Administration.
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0 0 Thanks, Mike, IF Power is one of the reasons we moved here. Even though the megawatts generated falls far short of total load, it’s enough to supply an emergency baseload. Also, one thing most people don’t realize is that IF has a “standalone” internal grid that can function independent of the WAPA/BPA grid. So, if the whole western grid fails, IF can still distribute its own power internally through the city grid. It would take a “sky is falling” circumstance to need to use that nifty little feature, but, it’s comforting to know it’s possible under certain scenarios. The other cool thing about IF is that most of the city is within theoretical walking distance of most of the rest of the city. Granted, some Points A-B are LONG walks but they are nonetheless DOABLE walks, especially if gas is unavailable or rationed.
Not a lot of Intermountain Western cities can make the same claim. There’s a lot of other real nifty aspects to IF’s relocalization potential–those are just two of them. Maybe it would be a good topic to get rolling in a separate article. Have a great day, The Volunteer.
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0 0 Hey, the crowd that is labeled as the “Bash America” crowd is saying that we messed up, that in our hubris we caused most of our own problems currently…and that the only way to fix it is to own up and move forward and get on with it.
I happen to agree with that philosophy. I think we did mess up, and it’s time to regroup and adjust our priorities and make things right.
If you’re saying that kind of thinking puts me in company with Reverend Wright, you will not see me being embarrassed about it, no matter how much derision you can muster. It’s an honest opinion and it’s where I’m at for the moment. My opinions have been subject to change as I learn more and more…that’s one of my best features, my open mind.
Because the truth is, sometimes I’ve even agreed with YOU. And I’m not embarrassed by that association, either.
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0 0 How does one form an honest opinion vs. a dishonest opinion? How do we really know the difference? Just thinking and curious about the assertion above…….
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0 0 ?2.99 gas and diesel on new chryslers for 3 years
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0 0 What?
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0 0 yeah I heard that too. But isn’t the limit 700 dollars worth though? Or was it 700 gallons.
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0 0 35 years ago somebody told me about opinions. They said that opinions are like (——s) In that blank would be the word for a bodily orifice from which personal solid waste emerges into the sewer system. (How do you like that for something the bad Word Filters can’t catch?)
In any event, this person told me, “Opinions are like (—–s), every has one, but some just smell a lot worse than others!”
As the decades have passed since then, my friend’s observation seems to ring more true with each passing year!
Happy Opinionating! The Volunteer
PS–I tried to spellcheck “opinionating.” No luck. SO I don’t have no ‘pinion on whether the wurd is speled rite or not!
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0 0 So I guess that means we shouldn’t bother listening to yours? Or has there been some other volunteer at work here?
In case your new to IFz.com, 99.9% of every post on this site consists of someones opinion and/or view on a particular topic.
So sorry you have to spend your precious time with so many of us —s’s. But you’re more than welcome to hang out and patronize us. We’re not too picky of the company we keep.
Have a great evening!
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0 0 Mike, that’s a good observation on a trite phrase, ‘honest opinion’. I guess no one wants to own up to having a ‘dishonest opinion’!!!
I think folks can publicly state opinions that are currently popular but not really the actual opinion they hold. In the past I have been guilty of that in a group setting (usually at work), where I’m just not quite convinced but will ride with the flow rather than hold up the process and possibly create discontent with my unpopular opinion. I no longer do that because I’m a cranky old battleaxe and I tell it like I see it, now. But I used to be a bit more timid.
On this site, I think there are some who are eager to be “liked” (as much as anyone can be “liked” on an anonymous level) and will join in the majority even if they are also not quite convinced.
On the other hand, there are also plenty who give their unpopular opinion and get pounced upon by the rest of us, as due to our anonymous nature we tend to be less civil in our responses.
It’s been mentioned many times that some folks stop commenting here because they are tired of receiving that kind of reaction, it can be taken personally and be very wearying.
I guess my mindset, when I wrote that stupid phrase “honest opinion” was that I wanted to convince you, somehow, that even though you may not agree with me, I’m a good person and that was my true opinion and not some politically expedient thing I was just being a mouthpiece for.
Silly things we do sometimes, I guess. But it was a good catch, because upon further reflection, that phrase seems really lame.
I always appreciate your input. 
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0 0 Looks like less people will be flying this summer. The Today show this morning reported that due to the rise in jet fuel prices, ticket costs will go up by 120 dollars per ticket. (in most cases) Ouch!
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0 0 What I’ve found on this website is that it is mostly a place for people to pontificate, or expound or rip into someone else or make accusations or just generally vent their spleens. Even some of the regular posters spend roughly half their time defending their opinions or ripping into someone who ripped their opinions. Sometimes, people take a break and offer up very valuable insights and information about Idaho Falls. But that’s almost the exception that proves the rule.
I dunno, I guess if that’s what people really want, then this is the place to go. It’s the old adage, “Whatever floats your boat” in action. But it just seems to me that people here waste a lot of time being rude, borderline rude or outright rude to each other. I am glad this website exists for everyone who needs it since they apparently have no other place to vent. It serves a real useful purpose in that regard. I just continue to wish that it would “lighten up” and spend time discussing relevant “quality of life” stuff instead of all of the rest of the negative issues that seem to consume this site.
Good Luck, Joe Eagle, you paid a handsome sum to take this Motley Crue onto your hands! May they serve you well!
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0 0 I agree with Guest of a guest #25. Why do you continue to post here if you’re so unhappy with this site and the people who post here? Seems like over half of your posts are talking about how everyone is so opinionated and rude on this site. I don’t see anybody being rude, at least not in quite awhile? Would you mind giving us an example or two? Seems to me you’re the only one making a big deal over it. Are you really that sensitive to peoples opinions? And if you don’t agree with somebody’s opinion or you think their being rude to you, why bother responding to them? or even post about their actions? What you don’t understand is this (peoples opinions and views) is part of everyday life, NOT just on this blog. And if you don’t see that every single day, than obviously you don’t get out much.
I guess I just don’t understand why you complain about this site so much and the people who post here yet you come back day after day.
Just so you know, I’m not trying to be rude to you. just making an observation. (hopefully that wont offend you.)
Now, like you always say, can we get back to the discussion at hand?
Smile volunteer…lifes to short to be so bitter.
have a great weekend!
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0 0 Homeskillet, if we all leave, you guys won’t have anyone to beat up except each other!
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0 0 we’ll have to start leaving a disclaimer before each of our comments like 007 did a few posts back. That way the sensitive folk won’t get their feelings hurt. Lord knows how some of you survive in the real world each day!
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0 0 There has been some great discussion taking place on this topic (and others). As noted on another post, that is one of the things I have always loved about this site is the opportunity for people to get their thoughts heard.
As a group, lets try to agree to continue to attack the topics and NOT the individual. Especially when someone new is coming by. Sometimes when someone comes by to comment with a new or different view, it feels like the machine guns come out blazing.
I think we have a diverse group of viewpoints and backgrounds that have come to respectfully disagree with one another in great debate. Lets try to be respectful of others ideas. Disagree on the topics without chopping down others. And have fun sharing ideas.
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0 0 Perhaps it’s time for folks to quit worrying about who’s being too sensitive and who’s being too rude on this thread. Let’s get together to solve this energy crisis, whether that means driving a mo-ped or a bicycle to work or just switching off the lights in a vacant room. We had better understand we are at the end of our cheap energy era and are now fighting for our very survival in a highly competetive world. Let’s be pro-active about this dilema we face and quit squabbling about whether or not somebody is bashing this country by exposing past foibles. Heaven knows most Americans (myself included) are guilty of oil gluttony and energy wasting. Let’s work together to get ourselves out of this mess especially if that means understanding that we are addicted to imported oil and to the internal conbustion engines that propels us to and fro.
As Volunteer said in post #16, life is about to change very dramatically in a very short time. Relocalization will most likely become a reality to most of us, certainly those of us on fixed incomes and those of us working for wages.
Edwin Black, in his book, “Internal Combustion” details how, a century ago, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were working on electric cars that were proving to be viable transportaion, especially in urban settings. Electric taxis, trains and trolleys were abundant in many of our large cities until General Motors, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum, Firestone and Mack Truck conspired to take over these urban transportation systems and replace them with smoke and pollution belching internal combustion engine conveyances, not only in those large metropolitan cities from coast to coast but also in some of the country’s smallest cities such as Decatur, Illinois and Beaumont, Texas. That criminal conspiracy changed urban transportaion forever. The feds prosecuted this corporate cabal in 1947 and found them guilty of conspiracy and yet GM continued in it’s monopolistic entrenchment in urban transit long after the scandal faded from the nations collective conscience. The feds resurrected conspiracy hearings again in 1974, after the Arab-imposed 1973 oil shock. GM was again accused of contributing to the nation’s petroleum woes by deliberately conspiring against scores of local mass transit systems.
If 78% of our driving is urban in nature and totalling about 40 miles or less in any given day, we should double our efforts to find new ways to move in and about our cities without burning fossil fuels. Plug in hybrids are certainly getting the attention of many folks concerned about this country’s future. One wonders how far ahead of the game we would be had we opted to concentrate our efforts on alternatives to combustion engine vehicles instead of spending the $12 billion a month in Iraq to insure the continued flow of Middle-eastern oil to our shores.
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0 0 Personally I don’t think “life is about to change dramatically”. But that’s just my opinion. Sure we rely too much on “foreign oil”, but people were saying the exact same thing back in the early 70’s. I don’t recall who but someone here mentioned something about a carpooling plan at their place of employment and for the past few weeks nobody has signed up yet. Our HR dept also came up with that idea a couple months ago and nobody is interested where I work either. The fact of the matter is, people love their cars and I just don’t see anyone giving them up as its just too much of an inconvienence, no matter what the cost. Coming from S.Fl they had a number of locations (parking lots) set up along the freeway and the turnpike where people could meet to car pool with each other. These parking lots had very few cars in them each day as nobody wanted to use them either. Same for the HOV lanes on I-95. Rush hour traffic was terrible in the other three lanes, but the carpool lane was always empty. At one point they had actually considered doing away with the HOV lane altogether in order to ease congestion during the daily commute. So even in large metropolitan areas people are not willing to compromise when it comes to their vehicles. Even the Tri Rail system down there is losing money because people would rather drive to work each day.
I do believe we need to do more in regards to alternative means in regards to transportation, such as electric hybrid vehicles, hydrogen power or what have you. But until the auto makers start getting serious and offering more affordable and a larger variety of vehicles, I just dont see it happening. The general public pretty much have their hands tied in regards to transportation.
As for other areas in our lives, I believe most of us ARE doing what we can, such as turning off lights, unplugging appliances, etc. etc. But that’s only a small part of the overall problem.
Again it comes down to money. Big business, such as the automakers, oil companies, etc are just too greedy and they’d rather line their pockets than help with the energy issue. (I won’t call it a “crisis” because I think that’s more of a fear-mongering tactic by the media than anything else. Kinda like the whole “global warming” so called crisis.)
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I must say, one of the best places to spend the summertime is Island Park. They have several outfits with great cabins there that give the perfect chance to just “get away”.
Then again, I love a trip to the SLC Zoo as well. So take it for what it’s worth.