The End of Suburbia & Oil Depletion
I just finished watching the movie "The End of Suburbia". I consider myself well informed on the subject of conservation and environmental awareness. The film shows that alternative fuels are not going to save us and that oil production has peaked and as we go into a decline we will see more of those scary high prices for fuel at the pumps. What would you do if gasoline cost three times it's current cost -permanently?I would like to share with you some dialogue between myself & a friend. The letter forwarded to me is of the typical "chain letter" type but people will try anything when they are frustrated:
Hi Ken,I just always delete any e-mail that I don't think is business. I
even delete some of those. I think this is worth a try since it cost me $71.00
to fill up the car the other day. I am not going to buy from Petro or Shell.
Please read:It is rumoured that we are going to hit close to a $1.42 a Litre by
the winter. Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take someintelligent,
united action. Someone offered this good idea:This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than
the don't buy gas on a certain day campaign that was going around last April or
May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't
continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an
inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, this is a plan that can
really work. Please read it and join.We all know that we're being controlled by
the oil companies. Does everyone remember how they drove up the prices and got
the gasprices to where they wanted them, claiming there was a shortage of
oil.Well, there isn't any shortage now, and the oil is more abundant than itwas
35 years ago when the price of a gallon of gas was 29 cents!!!
Now that the
oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us tothink that the cost of
a litre of gas is CHEAP at $0.78-$0.85, we need to take aggressive action to
teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace....not sellers. With the price of
gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.. The only way
we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the
pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting
ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars we cant just stop buying gas.. But
we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price
war.
Here's the idea:
PAY
ATTENTION HERE
For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from
the two biggest companies (which now are one), PETRO CANADA, SHELL. If they are
not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they
reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have
an impact, we need to reach literally millions of PETRO CANADA and SHELL buyers.
Its really simple to do! ! Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...keep
reading and Ill explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am
sending this note to at least thirty people. If each of you send it to at least
ten more (30 x 10 = 300) . and those 300 send it to at least tenmore (300 x 10 =
3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of
people, we will have reached over THREE MILLIONconsumers! If those three million
get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will
have been contacted! If it goesone level further, you guessed it..... THREE
HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all You have to do is send this to 10
people. That's all.How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email
out to tenmore people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people
couldconceivably be cont acted within the next 8 days!!! Ill bet you I
didn'tthink you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we
canmake a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message
on.PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $0.64 OR LESS RANGEAND
KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK!!!!!!
(I read the above sent to me and I chuckle, but I send off a reply to my friend)
I was In the auto business for 17 years so of course I have a different opinion here. In the last 10 years the thirst for SUVs and trucks has created this market. How many people own a van for those family trips they take a couple times each year, then the rest of the year they are the only driver going to work work in it, with 6 empty seats behind you? How many drive the largest SUV money can buy or a luxury car? Then there is the pickup truck people. I swear these males buy the largest pickup trucks as some kind of phallic symbol. A pickup truck with leather interior makes zero sense. Period. If you work on a farm or in construction you need a pick up truck, otherwise you don't need a pick up truck.
We were in Niagara Falls this past weekend and on the way down I drove my usual 90-100kph and the rest of the QEW went the usual 120kph. Increasing the speed uses more gas then keeping a steady pace (never mind the speeding tickets) The fastest drivers I saw drove large gas guzzling vehicles at speeds that would make you sick to think of the energy that was being expended to push this "large box on wheels" down the highway.. I even saw vehicles in poor repair with black smoke belching out the back (that's unburned gasoline). Once we arrived at the hotel I couldn't help but notice (on one of my many trips to the car to retrieve luggage) that all the large expensive gas guzzling vehicles in the parking lot were Americans! I saw a big yellow Hummer, a 4 x 4 Suburban and I even saw a Cadillac truck with 4 doors and buttery cream coloured leather interior and gold emblems with a "Handicapped sign" in the window parked at the front. I saw the owner...a little old man. What was he thinking? He could barely climb into this vehicle. I wanted to suggest he get a anchor installed for his battleship but I bit my tongue.
We drive a 2.2L Subaru Wagon that gets very good gas mileage. It only has 135 HP so don't try to race me on Sun---I will lose. Sure....we would love to have a large extended wheel base van with individual captain seats for the last few trips, but then what do I do the rest of the year with it, commute to work in it? Bottom line is: we squeeze in and the kids complain a little but I know that it makes more sense all year round for the majority of what we use a car for. You want to hurt the oil industry? Purchase & drive more efficient vehicles! The industry has developed ways to run vehicles on alternative fuels. Do some self education. Read up on fuel cells, Ceramic Engines etc...consider that a diesel engine could be configured to run on vegetable oil and then consider the environment, & global warming. You have a bigger responsibility here then your wallet.
(My friend replies.........but misses my point, I think)
Ken, Thanks for the input. You are correct but why do you want to pay so much
for the fuel you do have to buy?
To answer your question: "Why do I want to pay so much for fuel that I do have to buy...?" No one wants to pay more, but I am doing my part. I can't save any more fuel and enjoy the lifestyle we have come to expect. Example: Road trips, driving kids to friends and sports. Quick trips daily to the store. Morning coffee. People have become complacent. They afford it without thought of the real cost (monetarily and environmentally). I am glad that these prices give us a glimpse of what the industry can do to us in a single weekend. If you drive a large vehicle that gets 20mpg---you are going to feel it (when gas prices go up) We all wish we could make our own fuel when prices are like this. Gasoline like any other commodity is market driven. Supply & demand. The hurricane was to blame in part. Prices were going to go up since some of the oil rigs were down in the Gulf. Hearing this demand increased further. This was a long weekend. Demand went up, prices went up more. News reports prices going up even further, demand hits record highs, prices go up even further. Some gas stations in T.O. posted $2.00L prices and some stations sold out at prices of $1.45L. If you own a business selling gasoline, you cleaned up this past week. How to fight back: Avoid filling up at the high prices. Cancel unnecessary road trips. Operate fuel efficient vehicles. Drive at lower speeds in highest possible gears with a steady foot. Keep the vehicle tuned, tire pressures at correct settings. What about electricity? Have you looked at your electric bill lately? It's huge! This is even a harder one to combat but even from my chair here in a small computer business I am building new desktop computers with processors that slow down and use less energy when they are idle. I want to do my part to educate my customers. I am glad that you want to do something about the energy costs but you need to hurt the energy people where it makes a difference. Reduce demand over a year & that will work better. A weekend rally does nothing. In the end.....I would like to see us move away from fossil fuel anyways so we need this price thing to stimulate investment in alternative fuels for our health, & our children's future.
posted by kshipper at 2:36 PM
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