Nothing Seems Right in Cars**

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`Global Warning` - May 14, 2006 - `Printable Version`
- Nothing Seems Right in Cars**
by Robin Buckallew

**Thanks, Gary Numan

            Well, America, you asked for it, and you got what you asked for, Dubya style. You demanded something be done to bring down the gas prices, and Dubya responded with his usual savoir faire. Last week, the White House announced the suspension of environmental regulations for oil companies, in hopes that gas prices will drop by a couple cents a gallon. Something Dubya has been dying to do from the day he entered the White House (some say since the day he entered the world, but it’s very difficult to get hard data to support that proposition), and America finally handed him just the opportunity he has been waiting for. The opportunity to do his industry buddies a big favor by relaxing the standards controlling how much toxic garbage they can belch into the vast life support system of our atmosphere. Way to go, America. Pat yourself on the back, but make sure your respirator is in reach. This is only a beginning.

             Throughout most of the 20th century, America has single-mindedly pursued a one-sided love affair with the automobile. Abandoning a thriving and healthy rail system for the illusory lure of the open road, America has been steadily carving up the wilderness, cutting through critical wildlife habitat, fouling the nation’s water supply, and guzzling the world’s reserves of fossil fuel for the better part of a century. We tear huge holes in the earth’s crust to mine the metals that make up the body of the car. The vast stretches of concrete highways slash giant wounds across the face of the nation, creating a lethal obstacle course for other species less familiar with the peculiar migratory habits of the human commuter. In addition, the concrete surfaces, impervious to rainwater, allow stormwater to run off without percolating into the earth, flowing into our local water bodies laden with the stew of hazardous, potentially lethal substances that our autos have left on the road surface. The large stretches of impervious surfaces also create potential risks to life and health with the flash flooding now common from the increased intensity of storm surges that cannot seep into the subterranean zone. All the while, our tailpipes continue to belch out the malodorous fumes that cause our eyes to water, our chests to tighten, and our heads to throb. Our love affair has clearly taken on an abusive nature, yet still we continue to plight our troth to our abuser, swearing our eternal love and loyalty.

             Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, our love affair is turning sour. The blindness of foolhardy passion has led (as it so often does) to impending disappointment. With the gray haze of our emissions hovering threateningly but unnoticed over our head, we wheel effortlessly to the nearest gas station proudly in our status-wagon, only to discover to our horror that the price of a fill up is roughly equal to the price of a fine meal in a four-star restaurant. Gallantly, we try to continue strutting our stuff as we swagger to the pump, determined to keep up with the Joneses, and keep the money-mobile running. Oh, the horror of it all! As soon as we get home, we rush to the computer to fire off a spate of angry e-mails to everyone we can think of - our Congressman, our President, our favorite chain-mail recipients. End this travesty, now! Nothing must interfere with our Constitutional (God-given) right to drive alone in a private car roughly the size of a small apartment. So, every day, several times a day, I find myself assaulted by a virtual barrage of e-mails, angry or pleading, cajoling or badgering, insisting I join with the sender(s) in some sort of cockamamie scheme designed to bring pressure to bear on our political leaders to subvert market forces and bring the price of gas down to the level we have come to expect. I can fairly feel the outrage vibrating over the cables and pulsating through my monitor as friends and foes join forces and lock hands in a desperate vigil, hoping the combined aura of their common purpose will somehow transcend physical reality and magically transport us back to the good old days when the oil glut dumped barrels of cheap fuel into our waiting gas tanks. Finally, an issue that can motivate the activists - greedy desire for cheap and plentiful petroleum. Such nobility of purpose nearly leaves me breathless. Of course, for breathlessness, nothing will match the sensation we’ll all feel when the oil producers begin taking advantage of the reduced environmental standards and cease bothering with even the current sham that passes for compliance with air quality standards.

             Now it’s time for the hard icy glare of reality. In less than a century, we have managed to consume nearly half the known reserves of readily accessible oil that can be pumped out of the ground practically and affordably. Demand has grown steadily, and continues to grow at a rate that exceeds the rate of our population growth. New fields are not being discovered at a rate that nearly keeps up with the increased demand. It has been estimated that we will reach peak production worldwide in 2010, at which time we will have consumed half the available fuel supply. While there will still be a great deal of oil available, the supply will be diminishing with every year, and production will no longer be able to be increased in response to increasing consumer demand. When you add into that equation the additional variables of India and China, the future indeed begins to look grim. India, at slightly over one billion people, has three times the population of the United States, and our Indian friends are beginning to desire and acquire cars. China, at one and a half billion people, has five times the population of the United States, and our Chinese friends are beginning to desire and acquire cars. As all those new drivers take to the roads, we will face severe competition for the remaining fuel. Bidding will become intense, and cheap gas will be history. This has already begun, and has gained enough momentum that it is unlikely to be stopped.

             The most amusing thing about the current hysteria over gas prices is the suggestion that we are actually paying high price for our gas. Across the ocean, our counterparts in Europe watch us whining and screaming, and shake their heads in wonder at the spectacle. You see, Europeans are accustomed to paying very high prices for their fuel. In Europe, fuel prices have exceeded $5 a gallon for forty years. The taxes on fuel are high there, and the many tax breaks and subsidies that are provided to the fuel consumer here are not available there. The price you pay at the pump is a fraction of the amount that it costs to keep you on the road, to get you from point A to point B in your own private car. Major incentives are given for oil exploration and development. Road building is undertaken by the government, and you are not asked to pay for your trip on the nation‚s freeways. I often hear complaints about the subsidies given to the nation’s railroads and buses, and the scare-word “communism” will often raise its ugly head in this context. But many subsidies are given to all the transportation systems, and those going to the most efficient, most environmentally sound methods of transportation are actually the lowest of all. For the individual purchasing a train ticket, the cost of the ticket reflects 80% of the total cost of the trip. For the individual riding an airplane, the cost of a ticket is about 35% of the total cost. For the private automobile, the driver pays only about 23% of the total cost of the trip. This is, however, somewhat misleading, as the costs stated don’t factor in the costs of pollution, global warming, or other environmental degradation arising from the use of the transportation. When these costs are factored in, the gap between the train/bus system and the other methods of transportation becomes a veritable chasm.

             Of course, if you suggest that high gas prices might be a good thing, sooner or later someone will bring in the final argument, the one that is believed by all concerned to be unable to be defeated: What about the poor? The poor need the gas prices low so they can get to and from work, so they won’t have to stay poor forever. Of all the arguments that are given for keeping gas prices low, this one is, in fact, the easiest to argue against. For years, the poor have been an excuse for inaction on many fronts, and for years, the poor have been sacrificed on the altar of middle class comfort. Most of the things we do “on behalf of the poor” are, when examined objectively and unemotionally, in fact detrimental to the poor, and good for the middle class. For centuries, the poor have been lied to, told they were socially inferior and must give goods and money to support the king, told they were genetically inferior, and must work in the factories cheaply. Many despots and tyrants have found out, to their dismay, that the poor are not stupid, and they can see through the lies. Many uprisings, many deposed kings, many chastised bosses later, the poor are still being lied to. And cheap gas is the cruelest lie of all. Cheap gas is, in fact, anything but cheap, and it is the poor that bear the brunt of the cost. As the middle class comfortably swims in the luxurious pools of cheap gas, the car culture becomes entrenched, and the car culture is much more abusive to the poor than to anyone else. Not only are many of the refineries and other foul factories belching petroleum fumes usually located in poor neighborhoods, but the concrete highway ribbons are usually run through poor neighborhoods, displacing the residents from the only housing that is in their price range, and leaving them to figure out where to go and how to get there. In addition, there is nothing that labels a person as poor quicker than their car. There are ways that the working poor can manage to find inexpensive used clothing, shoes, coats, and supplies that look practically new, and will enable them to hold up their heads walking around with the rest of us. An old rattletrap car, on the other hand, quickly lays the image to rest. Imagine this scenario: you are trying to impress the boss, you are dressed up nicely in a brand new dress you picked up at the local consignment shop, and you have a nice pair of well polished shoes on. But you arrive at work in an old rusty heap that has threadbare tires, springs coming through the upholstery, and spews black smoke out the tailpipe. You have just been marked as poor. Now imagine you live and work in a city with a good, affordable and reliable bus system. You go out to a garage sale, pick up an old Greenpeace button for five cents, stick it on the lapel of your jacket, and go to work on the bus. You just removed any stigma there could possibly be in not having a car, by implying it was simply by choice. Meanwhile, you had saved so much money on gas, tires, insurance and maintenance that you were able to rent a slightly better apartment. Cars are cruel and heartless punishment for the working poor.

Cheap gas keeps our nation entrenched in a car culture, apathetic and lazy, without a decent mass transportation system that would serve everyone equally and well. In addition, the mass transit option would use considerably less fuel, and emit considerably fewer toxic fumes. We could meet and exceed the carbon dioxide standards laid out in the Kyoto Protocol, begin to put the brakes on global warming, and thumb our collective noses at the oil barons and sheiks who currently enjoy rubbing those noses in the mess of our own making. Who will have the last laugh? Think about that the next time you start to hit that send button on your angry e-mail - you might be the butt of this particular joke.

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Global Warning - May 14, 2006 - Printable Version- Nothing Seems Right in Cars** by Robin Buckallew

`Global Warning` - May 14, 2006 - `Printable Version`
- Nothing Seems Right in Cars**
by Robin Buckallew