This latest jump in the liquid that fuels our lives - and our economy - has to be seen as a mixed curse. On the one hand, it's not just inconvenient; for many it's a real hardship. And we have to have the stuff. How else to get to the grocery? The child care? Our jobs?
On the other hand, why not look at it as yet another reminder that we really need to kick our petroleum habit. Will we ever get serious about that? Consider the consequences of that habit. Our atmosphere is warming up, in large part because of the vast quantities of carbon we put into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels; much of that burning takes place in our automobile engines. In addition, we have so besmirched our air that almost everybody has some kind of respiratory problem, at least occasionally.
And consider how and where we get the gasoline. We refine it in large plants that put everybody in their neighborhood at risk for more respiratory problems than normal, not to mention the risk of leaks and explosions; and then there are the residues which seep into the ground and into our waterways. To supply those refineries we spend millions, reaching into the most remote places on the planet and thoroughly disrupting - often violently snuffing - the lives of the inhabitants. Remember the three Americans that were executed in Colombia recently? They were there to help the indigenous folks of that jungle area hold off the oil drillers. And the Nigerians that Chevron sent troops in to murder because they were protesting the despoiling of their lands? And remember Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian literature Nobelist? Shell Oil had the Nigerian government hang him and several other environmental protesters. Also, they're talking about laying a p;ipeline to bring Caspian oil to the Mediterranean going right through - guess whereÑyou got it: Kosovo.
In the late '70s, President Jimmy Carter seemed to be moving cautiously toward seriously looking at alternatives. He even had some solar water heaters on the White House. His successor, that actor guy, did away with that. Republicans at the time - and some, though not as many, Democrats - were too awash in oil dollars to let that continue. Not only did the water heaters disappear; all the subsidies for alternative sources disappeared with them. Similarly, in California, Governor Moonbeam, now renamed Mayor Marine Corps, was pushing alternative energy; we even actually got some wind farms established and a lot of folks switched to solar water heating. All that went when the next governor - a Republican _ took office.
There are alternatives. Many are already functioning, but to become available on a mass basis, they need more research, more development. Do we see that happening? Not as long as the best source of funding is from our government, which subsidizes oil companies to the tune of millions of our dollars. And as long as big money - much of it from big oil - is able to continue to chart the course of energy policy in this country, we will continue to destroy cultures and peoples, maim and kill individuals, suffer serious health consequences and, while we're at it, enrich the big guys, the guys who control gas prices at the pump.
Yes, it's hard to break away from a habit this nasty; our entire society is based on it. But break away we must, or our entire society is down the tubes. Let's get over it. Let's go on to something better, healthier, less destructive and , yes, cheaper.
Boycott Day - April 30.
Don't Buy Gas!
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited