HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
June 21, 2008 Woe is us in America. Lo we may be paying through the nose for a gallon of gas but is it really the fault of the oil companies? It may not be so clear cut. People bemoan automobiles that get horrible gas efficiency. It is a form of hating the guy next to you, blaming them for the use of our "shared" oil supply. Some of us drive hybrids or efficient vehicles, acting smug and pretending that it isn't our fault that oil prices are skyrocketing. But the truth is more complex and the blame is shifted in the wrong direction. Oil isn't the culprit. Sure, it is expensive now but, for the longest time, automakers got away with not having to make efficient vehicles. They could just make whatever they wanted. Innovations, it seems, came with adding luxury features, not more efficient engines. Need more cup holders? What about a GPS? These things seem trivial, considering that most everything else in our world has become far better without draining our bank accounts. Cars have been getting decent gas mileage for years. Trucks just got bigger and heavier and, while slightly more efficient, the manufacturers either ran out of engineering tricks or just didn't care. Now that we are seeing the end of purchasing these bigger vehicles, we are stuck in the middle of a crisis where we are being priced out of transportation ease. Another culprit is the attitude that many of us in the world, not just America, have been taking for granted. With the ability to travel long distances was once the luxury of the wealthy or the determined, we moved out of the cities and traveled freely as the costs went down. Soon industries followed and tourism boomed. We could travel across a state in a few hours and stay at lodges and play golf or go out to eat by our cabins. We could go overseas and stay in the city which we chose to visit. People began making money on the ability for us to get places and have the proximity to our destinations. But the supply of oil has always been a finite thing. All along we knew that it wouldn't last. There was no need to innovate right away because people could make money on it and those who could afford it could use it. Today is forcing the hand of people because, while the prices increase or our travel decreases, the incomes tend to lose out. Gone will be the trips to the cabin or driving around town. Gone will be the long commuting to work. Soon it will be the closing of businesses that just can't keep up with the price to transport goods. Forcing the hand of the vehicle manufacturers to actually make better cars is only the beginning. Forcing us to make life changes to be able to survive will take time. We have learned to become dependent on what is not sustainable and now it is biting us in the behind. We will have to make our lives, not just our cars more efficient. This seems almost impossible because, well, we are stubborn, as a whole, and don't want to make the real changes necessary to have a better world, eventhough we have it within our abilities. So let us all make some corrections, work toward making our lives less complex and more efficient. Sure, it may cost us some in the beginning but, in the long run, we will make a better world. Peace. ------------ About the author: Nicholas Olson is an aspiring playwright and former journalist. He spent parts of his high school, college and professional life as a journalist, serving as a military journalist from 2000-06. Mr. Olson is an avid writer and enjoys political opinion. His views are not that of any particular party or of the country he once served: They are his own. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
