Ah, gas prices. Oil consumption! The American way. I've quoted loads for this post, so I do apologize if my overall post lacks some coherence...
:why:
Get real! The big pickup truck is as American as baseball, apple pie & Chevy!
Are you freaking kidding me?
[...]
We're a nation of people who prefer diversity of choice, get over it!
Sadly, America is a nation of people who prefer excessive waste and overabundance in pretty much all facets of life.
America is much less densely populated than the European countries and as a consequence people generally have much greater distance to travel between home and office. 32 to 50 km distance in each direction are not in the least bit unusual . . . . do you
still hate us?
I can't really blame individuals for getting themselves into situations where they have to go that far to get to work, as that's been the mindset for generations. Billions and billions of dollars have been pumped into this idea over decades. Much like I have sympathy for people who died from lung cancer before smoking was known to cause it.
That said, it's a very close parallel. This whole idea of suburbia and living far from work - it's not sustainable. Let me repeat:
suburbia is not sustainable. People with any kind of mobility today should be well aware of this, and plan accordingly.
The real solution isn't drill baby drill! It's moving us off fossil fuels, and the technology of the early 20th century......and moving to new fuel sources (not bio-fuels either.....they drive up the costs of food products....such as corn), and new technologies for the 21st century! The US needs to stop being spoiled.....we have been too long, and we need to stop living in the past! Why is it that high speed rail is very successful in Europe and Asia, yet we have barely even made any inroads in the area? Is it a coincidence that big oil (and even the car companies even) actually have been lobbying against public transportation initiatives in the United States for years? They want us all to each drive our own car (to Hell with carpooling too) and burning as much gas as possible!!! Guess that is to be expected in a land where they even stopped building sidewalks until recently! We need to stop allowing ourselves to be slaves to big oil.......and that doesn't mean we should become slaves to something else, such as big corn, either!!!
Walk. Ride a bike. Use public transit. It might help the seppos lose some weight for once.
@ Andrew39:
My wife and I both have a car otherwise we can't get to work but when we're @ home we seldom use them, we do almost everything by bike. It doesn't cost a thing and we stay in shape
And ultimately, here's what it comes down to: while it's possible that some miracle technology will allow us to maintain our consumption, the best solution is simply to
use less. Drive less, breed less, eat closer to home, use less energy in the home. The western way of life is almost entirely based on overabundance affordable only because of cheap oil - and even should a new technology arise that allows the same level of consumption, I highly doubt it'll be anywhere near as cheap.
While America takes a lot of flak for being the nation of drivers, I should be fair in saying that Europe is the nations of flyers; I've never seen such heavily subsidized airfare travel, and as such people fly everywhere all the time. Hell, from one side of the UK to the other (and the country just isn't big enough to justify that). Flying is incredibly wasteful.
Of course, in saying this, I know society at large will not change until there is no choice. So enjoy the ride.