a limited natural resource, won't last forever

Oil prices were up above 71 dollars a barrel today. That shouldn't be a surprise to most, but what may surprise you is that just a little over a year ago, (3/05) the price per barrel was twenty dollars cheaper. Our power bills are higher, gas bill are higher, and groceries are more expensive. The same thirty dollar stop at the local Shop-Rite gets us less than the same thirty bux did last year, (but pay no attention to the talk of inflation). The squeeze is on America, and its caused by oil, we are literally driving ourselves around in circles, spewing oil.

We are the worlds biggest oil user (/abuser), yet we somehow are able to pay less for it at the pump than other countries around the world. Parts of Germany, Italy, and the UK, all pay over five bux a gallon. Oil is a natural resource, a limited resource, one that we are wasting on driving back and forth around town.. The suburbs have been mapped out around this resource, giving most Americans a lengthy car ride to and from work and making it impossible to walk anywhere. It seems virtually impossible to live our lives without oil. It is a valuable commodity that you pump from your local BP at about three bucks a gallon, I think it sounds like a bargain.

The house of representatives has taken a fifth stab at opening up drilling ANWR, a bill that is likely to fall on deaf Senate ears. An Energy Department analysis said that ANWR's oil would have a small change on gas prices, maybe a penny a gallon, and It would only reduce our dependence on foreign oil by a couple of percentage points. Not to mention, it would take ten years from the start of drilling before we see the first barrel. These facts haven't stopped Rep. Don Young, "We should be drilling offshore, we should be drilling in the Rockies and most of all we should be drilling in the Arctic refuge." That's a bold statement from a Republican representative from Alaska, the one state that will benefit handsomely form the drilling.

The idea they are selling is, to open up drilling to reduce our dependence on imported oil, and that is a farce. There is a bigger problem here, lets try to fix that, instead of urging our government to get cheaper oil, plenty of it, at any cost to anything, or anyone, besides "me". Instead, there needs to be a push for Americans to work together to rid ourselves of the dependence on HUGE cars. Throughout the past few years everyone has been in "vehicle buying mode", and with encouragement from all directions, including our great president, who (ill say it again, because its worth never forgetting) told us all to shop after 911. All this buying, and driving has led Exxon-Mobil to record breaking profits, and now everybody is pissed off. If you own an SUV, you deserve to be paying more than four dollars a gallon, I think you deserve to pay double, c'mon high roller you can afford it. Plus you were naive if you thought that it shouldn't matter, or that its your right, or privilege to hog up the road in your monster truck, and it would be naive to think, that attitude wouldn't come with consequences. Such as ploughing through Earths natural resources, (Earth, not just America) causing a supply and demand issue.

How about some regulations placed on the use of cars in certain cities, like NYC where cars aren't necessary, and pose large health risks to their residents, many of whom, don't even own cars. Using NYC as a model, (minus all the commuters, driving alone into the city, on the phone), it would be nice to see a smaller city in America become a prototype for an alternative lifestyle, with fewer cars, boosted public transportation, and sidewalks. I understand that in the suburbs its a near impossibility, but we have to start somewhere, and more drilling and more oil, will not hold our gas prices down for very long. I believe that its time to raise gas prices, tax people more at the pump, anything to discourage these mindless parking lot circles, looking for a closer space to the entrance by the food court. Driving is out of control, you know some places dont even bother making sidewalks anymore!

The media causes the panic, they tell us gas is on the rise, then its time to freak out. What exactly is the price difference to fill the tank one week to the next (for those of you driving a car that doesn't qualify for "gas guzzler status" )? I don't know because, I do not own a car, just a bike. Unfortunately, its time to get prepared for the gas price panic, because hurricane season is upon us, and that's an easy way to pump up the hysteria.