The cost of excess
All the talk about tyrant du jour Saddam Hussein
notwithstanding, at least part of the reason we may be about to go
to war is to stabilize the supply of petroleum.
The cost of excess
All the talk about tyrant du jour Saddam Hussein notwithstanding, at least part of the reason we may be about to go to war is to stabilize the supply of petroleum.
That, and the recent breakup and sinking of a tanker with 20 million gallons of petroleum aboard, make this an opportune time to consider something I’ve been putting off writing about for some time now.
It’s the holiday season, and I’ll just get people upset and blah blah blah. But last week, someone reminded me again that newspaper columns are sometimes supposed to get people upset. Complacency is a warm, dark, comfortable place for all of us. It’s when we get upset that we are inclined to examine the status quo.
So, if you’re still reveling in the turkey-induced stupor of a week ago and you’re just not ready to feel uncomfortable, stop reading now. When it comes to America’s mainline addiction to petroleum, the status quo is broken.
In the matter of cars, our family is average – four people and two motor vehicles. There’s a car for every two people in California. I have a daily round-trip commute of just over 50 miles. So right up front, mea culpa. You can confiscate my AAA card.
But let’s consider a few facts before delving into the minefield of opinion.
– Energy – that is to say oil – reserves are not distributed equally around the globe.
– Places where there is the greatest demand for petroleum are not located adjacent to the largest reserves.
– The fastest growing segment of the new car industry is in sports utility vehicles – large, expensive to maintain, unstable, hard to park, gas guzzling sports utility vehicles.
– The world’s supply of petroleum is finite. By some estimates, global production will peak no later than 2010, at which time more serious shortages will emerge and grow.
As we connect the dots, is a picture starting to emerge? We’re on a disastrous course.
What’s to be done? We cannot easily change society and I suspect few would want to. Our government has invested enormous resources into a highway network designed for private vehicles. Whole tax structures and bureaucracies depend on our vehicles. Millions of people – even birdwatchers chasing some rarity on the other side of the state – use vehicles for recreation. Heck, some of us even define ourselves in part by what we drive.
There’s one profoundly effective thing we all can do – think! Call it eco-economics, but the money we spend has profound power.
The admonition to think can by paralyzing. Take it from me. I pore over all the information I can obtain before making almost any purchase more significant than a new pair of jeans.
Thinking means that you will certainly face some tough decisions. You may have to decide that you’re going to buy something you don’t really need, that’s not really environmentally responsible, but that you want very much.
We all have a lot of things, but as we acquire things, how often do we stop to consider if we’re really happier for having acquired them? Sometimes the answer will be that we are. I owe the thug who stole my binoculars last summer a debt of gratitude, because I like my new ones much better, and I intend to use and enjoy them daily, probably for the rest of my life.
But there are purchases we make that are worth thinking about in terms of their environmental costs, and the purchases that we pour gasoline into are at the top of that list. We may not go to war this time, but as the world’s oil can runs low, wars will be fought for petroleum.
Then there’s the real cost of each vehicle to consider, spread out over not just car payments, but tax payments for highways and clean air bureaucracies. Then there’s the cost of dealing with a vehicle’s waste, its used oil, bald tires, and, eventually, its worn out corpse. Many costs are not borne directly by the consumer, and many costs are deferred. Most worrisome, we’re borrowing against our future by allowing continued production of greenhouse gases.
Our nation’s relatively stringent clean air and water laws make it easy for us to wag our fingers at countries with dirty industries. But those countries are often producing goods we demand, doing our dirty work for us. Americans are far and away the world’s leading energy consumers, and our monster truck versions of the family station wagon are rolling advertisements for our profligate ways.
As I said, it’s going to be hard, but the next time a glossy brochure, or a televised vision of shiny perfection begins to seduce you, ask yourself how much car you need, how much car you want, and how much environmental damage you’re willing to demand to bridge the gap.
There’s a lot of steel in a 7,000 pound car, so if you do stop to think before signing on the dotted line for the all-new, all-wheel-drive Prairie Pounder that you’ve had your eye on, you’d better be prepared not to complain about the strip mines and steel mills that helped build your dream.
