How long could you survive if private gas sales ceased?

[taterguy]

Purely hypothectically, suppose every gas station in the country closed tomorrow and you didn't have access to gas, the way that spinach was yanked from the shelves during last year's e-coli crisis.

All the other power sources remain available and commercial / emergency vehicles can have gas. Don't ask me how it's a hypothetical.

How long could you go before it was a major inconvenience?

Edited due to comments in the thread

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I don't even have a car, so pretty far, I suppose.

It'd suck ass, with EVERYONE using public transport though.

[onenote]

how would public transport get gas?

The premise is that there was no gas for sale. And how far could you get if you needed to see a doctor or get to a hospital?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

21. Uhm, the electric rails don't use gas.

And I could get pretty close to a hospital, but if I REALLY was in trouble, well, I'd like die.

[sabbat hunter]

32. but public buses

do use diesel or gasoline in many cases. some are powered by natural gas or electric though.

[SallyMander]

15. It'd be like Kenmore after a Sox game

Yikes!

[WindRavenX]

2. I'd be ok because I walk to work and we are near a grocery store

My fiance commutes to work--both of us need to work fulltime until I get a better job.

[onenote]

8. and how would the grocery store get re-stocked?

and how would the employees of the grocery store get to work?

[WindRavenX]

38. lol didn't even think of that

<--more coffee before posting :hi:

[firefox_fan]

43. By hang gliders, of course :-)

[fishwax]

48. the grocery stores would get restocked because commercial vehicles could still buy gas

on edit: I see now that this was perhaps added to the scenario after your post :)

[spoony]

101. That'd be the killer.

We'd be pretty much screwn. Would there even be enough time to set up neighbourhood food growth co-ops?

[wildhorses]

10. how are they supposed to get food to the grocery store if there

is no gas to buy?

[fishwax]

49. commercial vehicles can still buy gas

on edit: I see now that this was perhaps added to the scenario after your post :)

[demnan]

3. I'd be fine until I was fired

then I'm not sure what I would do for money.

[taterguy]

6. What do gas sales have to do with your employment?

A little more detail would be nice

[sandnsea]

37. Tourism would affect everybody

If people couldn't travel for leisure, and even travel to shop at their leisure, our economy would be in the toilet in a week. You do not want to wish for no gas.

[EstimatedProphet]

72. In my case, I have a 30 mile commute

How am I supposed to get to work?

[libnnc]

82. According to Taterguy, anyone who can't

bike at least 45 miles a day is a weak stick. You can just bungee cord the kids to the handle bars and haul 20lbs of chow. It's easy! Oh, and if you're responsible for getting old mom and her wheel chair back and forth to the doctor--just push her old bones down Broad Street. She'll roll. She oughta be doing her part anyway, ya know.

[xmas74]

84. You've had similar conversations!

I believe I might be on ignore now, since I've pointed out time and again that I cannot work in my area w/o a vehicle-at least not at a job that can support a child.

[Blue-Jay]

95. Baahahahaha!

[xmas74]

83. The poster probably has to commute to work everyday.

That would be my guess.

Right now I'm on leave but if I were at work and private sales of gas completely stopped I'd be fired w/in the shift.

Oh, and if I can't get out to that group home you'd have three ladies of diminished mental capabilities trying to take care of themselves w/o a staff around. They can't prepare their own meals, cannot give themselves their own meds and so on. Someone could feasibly die, since one of them has seizures.

And no, their home is not on a bus route. There is no bus in my town, except for the school buses.

[NickB79]

97. The semi trucks at the factory I work at burn diesel

No fuel, no trucks, no product gets shipped, the plant closes.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Well gasoline is an essential part of my diet, so I would die within 24 hours.

[onenote]

5. no more than a day or two

At which time not only would I not be able to get to work, but I wouldn't be able to get mail, the stores would soon be out of food, people would be dying in the streets and their homes because ambulances couldn't get to them, etc etc.

[taterguy]

9. Ok, amend my little hypothetical to only ban retail sales to individuals

What does that change?

[jdlh8894]

22. Go back to the 70's

That should answer the question.

[Javaman]

65. Oh god that's worse than no gas!!! please no bell bottoms or "leisure suits". nt

[susanna]

77. Or brown/yellow/orange plaid patterned shirts and ties.

I honestly believe that's why my eyes are hosed. Looking at some of the nastiest patterns on earth during my young, formative years.

Don't get me started on "Avocado" and "Goldenrod" colored appliances. I shudder just thinking about it.

[onenote]

26. assuming that such a distinction could work

I would still be unable to get to work once my current tank was empty, unless I was willing to pay for a taxi to/from the closest source of public transportation. (Biking is not an option for medical reasons). Of course, with everyone else needing access to cabs (and cabs being relatively rare out in the suburbs), that probably wouldn't work. I suppose I could paint my car to look like a cab so I could get gas.

[Buzz Clik]

7. Three mile bike ride to work, three blocks to the grocery store.

However,if gasoline sales stopped, I'm not why the hell I'd go to work and there certainly would be nothing to buy at the store.

[susanna]

78. 7-mile bike ride to work, two blocks to the grocery. n/t

[porphyrian]

11. We'd all go hungry in a week.

Without gas, groceries wouldn't get to most stores.

[Maddy McCall]

25. People who live a rural lifestyle wouldn't.

Down here, if you ride country roads, you'll see that everyone has a huge garden with lots of veggies. We can our veggies to last through the year.

I would hate to be in an urban area in the above scenario. I think those of us who live in rural areas would fare better, but it'd be no fun, for sure.

[porphyrian]

46. Oh, the urbanites would flee into rural areas and take your food during the next week.

EVERYONE should have a garden, though. If you live in the city, you can grow stuff in pots, inside and/or out. I've got bell peppers doing wonderfully myself and a few hot pepper plants of some unknown variety, all that I was able to grow from seed I pulled from stuff I ate.

[undergroundpanther]

54. LOL

Any urbanites that could manage to get OUT here, I'd feed them and I would teach them how to forage and eat in atypical ways. Shit in my days in Baltimore I found tons of stuff to eat.Shit-loads of mulberry trees,lots of plants people assume are weeds are edible and quite good too.. Lots of stuff to eat in the city if you know what to look for. And if you know how to cook it Squab/pigeon does not taste bad be careful of the bones tho. Rats/mice also believe it or not are edible and apparently according to Farley Mowat (never cry wolf) Don't taste all that bad..
When I lived in the city I taught a bunch of gutter punks how to forage off the plants and trees all over the city. They were very thankful I knew the stuff I did. Beats eating ptomaine chicken out of a fells point trashcan.

[porphyrian]

57. Heh, yeah, more good points.

I still remember a bunch from my Boy Scout days. I can't do yard work without pointing out (and likely irritating the people around me with) different plants and animals, most of which I've forgotten the names for, but not what you can do with them.

I think I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat a rat, but I guess that's the point. Squab I could see, as they're not that distantly related to doves, which hunters love around here. And, since I did some work at my neighbor's rabbit farm, I can skin just about any quadruped without too much difficulty, now that I think of it. It's weird how what seems trivial today may be a matter of survival tomorrow.

[nealmhughes]

60. Unfortunately, the SE is in the midst of a major drought right now, and those who are not watering

can kiss their gardens and hay crops along with wheat goodbye this year. There will be no crops, save for those who are irrigating. None. The wheat and corn are dead on the root. It has not rained in over a month in the Tennessee Valley, one of the richest farm areas in the SE.

Without electricity, I would have to haul water up the hill to the creek to keep our tomatoes alive, with power, we can use the well pump and a hose. When there was a power outage recently, my sister, mother, binlaw and I were carrying buckets of water up the hill to use in the toilets and water the tomatoes. Sad state of affairs here.

I do not know if the cattle have been sold early or not, but I have not heard a moo one this spring. And last year's 5 crops of hay will be one sparce one earlier this year.

[porphyrian]

104. We need to change the way we farm in America.

Part of the problem is that agribusiness has set the standard, which requires tons of chemicals each year (most also products of Monsanto). But farmers are kept so close to total bankruptcy that they seldom dare try anything else. I'm not sure exactly what the answer is, but I know that if these guys can grow crops in a desert, there has to be a way to help the SE:

http://permaculture.org.au/2007/03/01/greening-the-desert-now-on-youtube/

[susanna]

79. Well, now, I'd ask you to consider this...

I'm urban, but I plant most of my teeny backyard (approximately 250 sq. ft) using intensive gardening methods, and get back impressive yields of vegetables. I can or freeze what I can't use immediately, and I'm still eating canned produce from last summer right now (to finish it up in prep for this years' harvest). My neighbors get some of the extras, too.

I'm not alone, either; a growing number of my urban friends are doing square foot and other intensive, small-space and container gardening and are able to put up a lot of their own food these days. It is not necessarily for fuel reasons, but because they want to control the chemical/pesticide content of the foods they eat. I think the trend is just getting started actually. I've been doing it for ten years, and every year I meet a few newbies. We've started a club. :-)

[Maddy McCall]

80. I think that's awesome, susanna.

Thanks for educating me on this. Seriously, I'm impressed.

:thumbsup:

[susanna]

122. Glad to share it with you!

There are some great books starting to come out about urban and suburban subsistence gardening. It's amazing what you can do with even a teensy yard and/or balconies and containers. I really encourage folks to try it (but have to warn them it's addictive).

For example, with square foot gardening, I can crop one square foot through two - three plants a growing season (I'm in Zone 5b), depending on type of plant/length to harvest. One example would be to start a square foot of peas (earliest spring), then pull it post-harvest to replace with tomatoes (early summer), then back to something like lettuce after the tomato harvest (fall). Not a bad use of one square foot, huh? :-)

[xmas74]

85. We'd survive but we'd be stuck in one spot.

I've pointed that out to the OP before-in rural areas you need a vehicle just to commute to work, since few small towns have many places to work nowadays.

I'd live but I'd lose my job w/in one shift of calling in w/ the excuse of no gas for my car.

[Maddy McCall]

89. Good point.

Unless you've got a couple of mules on the farm. :)

My job is over 80 miles away, so I'd certainly be screwed, unless I could "telecommute."

Something tells me, though, if gas suddenly became unavailable, all other socioeconomic structures would crumble. :scared:

[xmas74]

90. I believe you are correct.

It would quickly become chaos from the get-go. (Right there you can tell I'm a bit country-city folk wouldn't say "get-go".) People would be stuck in one area and the lines of communication would break down. Come on-even the newspersonnel could not report to work so we wouldn't necessarily know what's going on by turning on a television since they are not public safety. Same goes w/ telephones-if they break down there would be no one to repair them. Same w/ cable, satellite, etc-no repairs because there is no private gasoline sales.

I think it's the breakdown in communication that would screw us. If you have a hard time making contact w/ the "outside" world you'll feel uneasy at the very least. I think that areas would be flooded w/ refugees-mostly rural areas w/ city folk finding ways in thinking that there will be more resources to survive.

And what about natural disasters? Most of the immediate assistance after one is offered by local Red Cross volunteers but they wouldn't be able to assist since some drive personal vehicles. And what about the National Guard? Mobilization would take at least three times longer. Remember, they are voluntary and would initially report via POV. No gas, no way for them to report for duty-until someone picks them up.

What this thread is really about is how the OP bikes everywhere in existence and how we should wish to be as cool as him, since this would never affect him. I think I've proven how this will affect him since communication problems and emergency volunteer aides would also be a problem in a city environment. If New York doesn't know what LA is doing there will be panic.

[trashcanistanista]

121. I'ld walk to the hardware store

and stock up on seeds.

[Maddy McCall]

12. Does this include losing power to my house?

I made it for three weeks after Katrina without power. We did have gas for the generator, though. That was just to run the freezer and to watch enough TV to keep up with what was going on in NOLA and on the MS Gulf Coast.

I have a big garden and a shotgun, lots of surplus wood on my property, and a ton of MREs left over from Katrina. My family could eat, for sure.

I could last awhile. Months probably. And by the time months had passed, I'd probably have adjusted to living off the land.

[Johonny]

13. well I could bike

I could bike to work, but would work be able to function without gas... would there be food in the stores without trucks to ship it?

[Warpy]

14. Until the grocery shelves got bare and I'd used the last of

my stash of beans and grains. That's assuming the water dept. was still pumping water throughout the city.

If we had electricity, I'd still be riding my electric moped everywhere. I have hauled an amazing amount of stuff on that thing: two huge full canvas grocery bags plus a couple of cases of soda---and I had room for more.

[liberal N proud]

16. Pandemonium

Supplies for everything from Aspirin to Zucchini would be stopped and starvation would start soon after.
Unlike the undeveloped nations, the United States would not have localized growing centers that food could be carried by horse drawn cart or by hand.
The US relies on vehicles for every facet of life, even those who don't own a car would be stranded and in dire need of supplies in a few short days.

[SteelPenguin]

17. Based on your later ammendment

Given only a ban on individual retail sales, and it wouldn't affect food distrubtion or emergency services or public transporation, etc.

Just not having a personal vehicle.

My family could survive indefinately. It'd be a pain occasionally, but we could do it with some lifestyle adjustments.

[NeedleCast]

18. Big Picture

Some of the people who have answered this question are not considering the big picture. If every gas station in the country closed tomorrow things would, in the very short term, grind to a complete halt. It wouldn't matter if you lived next to a grocery store unless it was a local farmers market where farmers could deliver their goods via horse drawn cart because the trucks that deliver food to said store would stop running.

Planes would stop flying. Essensial services (cops, fire department, emergency medical) would stop functioning except at a bare bones level.

I'd say it would be a major inconvenience pretty much immediatly.

[Sapere aude]

29. Not only that, but the shortages would cause inflation that no one could take.

Barter and thievery would become the currency of the day.

[Speck Tater]

19. What about the deeper implications?

Sure, I'm within easy bicycling distance from work, but does this also mean that trucks could not get fuel and that the grocery store shelves would no longer be stocked? Most people would start facing starvation within days or weeks. I have enough bulk dry items such as beans, rice, flour, oats, barley, etc., to last me many months, but after that I'd start facing hunger as well.

[watercolors]

20. I ride my bike all the time now

I may be 72, but love to ride my bike to the near bye stores. Have a nice large basket attached.

[Lance_Boyle]

23. indefinitely

I burn waste-grease biodiesel. However, the people who pay me probably burn gasoline, and I am not sure how long I could continue to get paid if I could make it to work and they couldn't. Those last few weeks on the job would be heaven, though.

[KansDem]

24. Good question...

With school out for summer, getting the kids around is not a problem. I could pull out my old bike and ride the 16 miles roundtrip to work and back. My wife's place of employment is much further away, so she would have a bigger problem getting to and from work.

My yard would start to look rather ragged soon since I didn't mow this past weekend. Could we wait until after the next weekend before the stations closed?

[candice]

27. I could bike without being killed by a car or gasping from the fumes!

[Norquist Nemesis]

28. It's not the "inconvenience" though.

It's the distribution of life essentials, food and medicine for example. Could we do without a car? I suppose if we HAD to, yes. But we can't do without food or medicine. Living in a suburban area, there aren't too many farms, and the stores would be empty of food within 3-4 days max. Medications would be unavailable, not to mention unattainable without robbing a bank.

It would hit the economy so hard that the Depression would look like a tea party.

[Mojorabbit]

30. I could last a year

I have a years supply of staples, a big garden, and a bicycle. I also have a solar freezer.
Hubby would have a long trek to work on his bicycle to his office to see patients if there
are any able to get to his office.
Other than needing my thyroid meds, and the fact that I might lose my house to foreclosure if no income was coming in, I'd be ok. Maybe....

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

31. How Long Could You Survive If Our Water Supply Ceased?

Purely hypothetical, suppose global warming increased enough tonight that after tomorrow all of our water dried up and went away. How long could you go?

(God I hate unrealistic hypotheticals LOL)

[taterguy]

59. I could survive for a long time thank you very much

Who the fuck needs water?

[spoony]

102. Depends on if these dowsing rods work...lol

[Marblehead]

33. there would be

allot of uncut lawns, I would turn my lawn into a garden...

[sandnsea]

34. My clients would be destroyed

Since they're all travel related. So I'd be bankrupt in 3 months I suppose. I'd be personally fine, I don't need to drive anywhere really. I just wouldn't have any income, and neither would my town.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. Oh, about six months, provided that commercial vehicles had enough.

If all gas sales ended then there would be problems after a few weeks.

[lapislzi]

36. Long enough to buy a bicycle

I could cycle to the train station, although it's a good few miles each way, and then a good walk to my place of employment. It would be a hardship, but I'd manage. It would suck in the winter or bad weather. Of course, not being employed would be a greater hardship!

It would be worse for my SO. To reach the school where he teaches he would have to cycle + train + bus + walk. Not an impossibility, but a time-consuming series of inconveniences.

[Deb]

39. No problem, I'd start a local delivery business

Is that cheating? :-)

[taterguy]

56. It's not cheating if you become a bike courier

One good snark deserves another :)

[SheilaT]

40. The country would come to a complete

standstill almost immediately. Almost no one would be able to go to work, groceries would run out of food within a day or so, and there'd probably be serious rioting within about twenty-four hours. Envision a nuclear war, without the destruction and radiation.

"Major inconvenience" does not adequately express what it would be like.

[sinkingfeeling]

41. That depends. If I didn't change any of my habits, I could go about 30 days without

purchasing gasoline. I just put 9.3 gallons in my car a noon. The last purchase I had made was on May 11, when I bought 9.4 gallons.

If I eliminated taking my car to work, I could probably survive 3 to 4 months.

[jdlh8894]

42. Forever

My great grand-parents and grand-parents lived w/o gasoline . I think I can do the same.

[Javaman]

66. You're never going to die? what's your secret? nt

[LeftHander]

44. It wouldn't take long before....coal fired steam vechicles

To move large amounts of goods hit the roads....

Bio-Diesel and steam engines could move locomotives so food can still move.

Hundreds of steam locomotives would be pressed into service, taken from museums, reverse engineered and re-manufactured.

Horse drawn wagons would come back very as well.

If challenged America still has ways of moving goods and people around.

The first few years would be tough but by a decade we would be moving around all kinds of ways...

Solar, bio-fuels, bio-mass, horses, oxen...people power....

[Tactical Progressive]

45. It's a fun but shallow question

Perfectly suited to the average American's understanding of our dependence on cheap oil.

A gas crisis isn't about putting gas in your car. It's about an entire society intricately dependent in not one or a few, but tens of thousands of subtle ways on cheap, plentiful energy. Insofar as most people would not and could not comprehend anything beyond the initial shock, it might go something like this:

Everyone would fill their tanks in preparation for the day. That would give us all a few months of transportation because you would see car pooling like never before. A grocery store trip would involve four to six people in each vehicle, with groceries on their laps, once every ten days. A group like that could probably shop for an entire summer on just one tank per person. Working commuters would be similarly pooled, put on part time, and given multi-day shifts, so that one commute with four other people, for instance, would support an entire 3-day work-week. That would be twenty-five times as gas-efficient - instead of 5-cars times 5-days it would be one car trip for an entire shortened work-week for five people. Work-from-home would skyrocket where feasible. America would last the summer in terms of existing resource utilization.

But that's not it AT ALL. The economy would collapse. A populace rightly fearful of their very economic viability would simply stop buying almost everything. Every industry making a non-essential would collapse. Half the country would be put out of work. Most of the stock market would collapse as the companies wouldn't be able to sell off even their existing inventories.

And it would be years before anyone could make enough electric cars to change even a little bit of it, if that's what you're thinking. And of course the transportation-energy-only-shortage aspect of your question is only a contrivance anyway. The reality is that electicity and all energy costs would go through the roof at the same time. People would be lucky to keep their current electricity bills if the only thing they ran was their refrigerator.

The country might last a year. In pain and fear.

[Locrian]

110. 100% correct

Well said.

Its the same with people thinking that if they have a farm, gold, etc that they would be ok while everyone else starves to death or whatever. Thats only if civilization is still relatively intact.

If not? If access to energy goes bye-bye and people start to starve? You will have roving gangs that make mad max look tame. There is no "survive-able" scenario if the planet decides we have 4x the population that it can support at our current rate of energy / resource use. The strong/lucky/well armed will take whatever and the rest will die. Simple as that.

[chaska]

47. My bike gets nearly 1000 miles per gallon ... of ass lard.

[BadgerKid]

53. Lots o' peddlin'

Figure 35 to 50 Calories per mile, depending on body weight, for easy riding (10-12 mph).
3500 Calories per pound of fat.

Ergo, 70-100 miles per pound of fat.

[chaska]

61. Hmm, well, I guess I was pretty close to accurate if we're talking about...

a gallon of melted ass lard.

:)

You're a regular math whiz. Better than bein' a cheese whiz, I suppose.

[shanti]

50. i'd be ok

since i take pub trans to work and stores are close by.

thank god.

[undergroundpanther]

51. I'd be fine

I don't have a car.I walk most everywhere already I know how to forage, bow hunt and stuff. You'd be surprised how little people know about indigenous plants in their area,I lived off wild stuff I foraged it when I was a kid when I was trying to avoid my asshole father.I lived in the woods basically..
Won't bother me all that much. I'll build some water gathering cones and sand type water filters and set up my food dryer that is not electric,Get my solar cooker out,it uses the sun. And I would start making even closer ties with my neighbors, teach them to plant with a planting stick,(the way I was taught to do it)It makes a nice garden with no gas no tiller and mulching,I got a bunch of heritage seeds I've been saving/collecting.Plus alot of seeds from wild and medicinal plants I've kept around.I'd share them.Make up some seed balls,and I'd share any other skills they might not know and encourage them to share what they know.Teach people how to use my treadle sewing machine. Flint finding and knapping,Teach them how to build a kiln, throw an atlatl..and such if need be.
In many ways things for me will stay the same.

[ComerPerro]

52. Oh fucking fantastic, yet another "I don't use any gas, ever" thread

pathetic

[undergroundpanther]

55. I use gas

But I do not drive myself because I can't pass the eye test to get a license. So I walk and walk. Cabs are too fucking expensive. There is a bus but it is crappy and limited.I use the medical assistance transport for therapy..It's a pain to walk out here because I live in Sprawl land which means everything is too far from everything else..it is tiresome to live this way but I don't have alot of options.
So I walk.Alot.
My life would be impacted, I'd never see my mom again.
I would never see my family in Virginia /North Carolina.
I would never get to the city again to see my friends there.
The Isolation I deal with now would get worse.

[taterguy]

69. I'm guessing your answer would be "Not very long"

But I could be wrong

[undergroundpanther]

75. Depends

I could go back to living as I did when I was younger or bemoan what is gone.
I'll cope how well I cannot say.But I think I could get used to it and maybe finally I won't be the only one walking around this sprawl..If you think about it after people get over the no gas thing it may very well be the thing that saves our ass as a species.

[xmas74]

86. You're tired of them too?

I feel like a broken record every single time I post in one.

The people who start these threads have usually never lived in a rural area.

[ComerPerro]

93. Seems like someone always shows up boasting about how they don't have a car and therefore use no gas

because, after all, if they need anything, they either have it delivered (in a gas powered vehicle) or pick it up in a store that they walk to (although it was no doubt delivered in a vehicle that uses gasoline) or take a cab to (duh, gas, lol)

[xmas74]

99. Thank you.

I've made that argument before too but I'm usually ignored or treated like the dumbest person on the face of the earth.

Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, built your own house only w/ materials found on the land right there (that includes the tools), grow and harvest all of your own food only from plants that grow naturally in that area, etc, you'll use gasoline somehow.

Oops-chances are you used gas of some sort just to get yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere. And I can guess they don't live in the middle of nowhere since they have the internet access to post here.

[TommyO]

58. It would immediately be a major invconvenience, but I would survive

I work 38 miles from my house, but can perform every single function of my job remotely, and do it several times a week already. There are several convenience stores within a few blocks of my house, with a grocery store two miles away, and a better store three miles away. You can bet I would be biking to these places, and even farther as needed.

What would suffer is my connection with my family which is scattered through NJ (Mom, brothers, nieces and nephews) and PA (me).

[yardwork]

62. My entire community would essentially shut down

Most people would have a lot of trouble getting to work. In a pinch, technically, I could walk (it's about five miles) but I doubt many other people would be there. If there was work at work, I'd move in with a friend that lives close by.

But what about food, medicine, supplies? It wouldn't take more than a couple of days for the supermarket shelves to clear.

We'd be screwn.

[taterguy]

67. Are you insane? No one has ever walked five miles and lived to tell the tale

[yardwork]

70. LOL! I see that you live in my neck of the woods.

[undergroundpanther]

76. LOL I walk five miles easy

I just get a pace going and I find it helps me clear my head.Roadkill upsets me tho.I will try to get the carcass off the road if I can using sticks to pick it up or scoot it into the grass. I do it out of respect ya know.Sometimes it all makes me cry.If it's a cat I will cry alot.The amount of carnage on roads would shock you if you walked around more.

I have walked ten miles before stopped to rest and get something cold to drink at the five mile point before going home..I walk who knows how many miles on cool summer nights in the silvery moonlight lost in my thoughts well after midnight,I am a nocturnal kitty after all.

[yardwork]

109. So do I - I regularly walk five miles or more at a time

I don't think that I would care to do so to and from work every weekday, though. It would be less fun to walk five miles to work in order to arrive by 8:30 am or so, knowing that I would have to walk the same distance back, after dark in the spring, fall, and winter. I'm not saying it would be impossible, I'm saying that it would be a bit inconvenient.

Yes, it would be healthier. Especially with no car fumes along the highway I'd have to walk.

[Javaman]

63. I would die immediately upon hearing there was no gas...nt

[MistressOverdone]

64. Good question

I guess I would either have to transfer to a closer school or move. Or (and I have actually thought of this) my school would be a great place to live..just put a bed there in the office. Need to build a shower, though. But you can't beat the technology! I think we teachers and spouses/partners would have a whole lot of fun every night there in the media center!

[rucky]

68. I work at home. We can walk to the supermarket.

Wife would have to close up shop after about a week or so - unless we use our fuel to make a short drive to Amish country to buy a horse & buggy.

On the subject of getting by without, click this link:

http://www.lehmans.com/

[Lorien]

74. I love Lehmans!

My grandparents were Mennonite and had many Amish friends. I spent many happy afternoons in Kidron as a child, petting the horses parked outside and poking through all the useful items there. I still often stop by when I visit Ohio.

[Lorien]

71. A long time. I work at home and live downtown.

our public transportation system is piss poor, but with a bicycle I could get to pretty much everything I needed. And because I live in Florida I could do so year round.

[lonestarnot]

73. I could go on for a loooooooooooong time, but wouldn't because I would have to give away all my food

to the teenager.

[libnnc]

81. How many pats on the back do you need on this subject?

You win.

You can bike 50 miles with 25lbs in groceries, three toddlers, an 80 year old handicapped lady and her wheelchair--all perched on your back. You are SUPERMAN on TWO WHEELS. I bow down to your peddling greatness. The rest of us are mere selfish, lazy, spoiled petrol guzzling mortals.

Well done, you! Here's your star! * :applause:

[The Inquisitive]

87. My life takes place within 3 square miles more or less

so probably for a long time. Ugh... small liberal arts campuses... need to get to a major University in the city.

[recoveringrepublican]

88. well right now it wouldn't be so bad work wise

I was laid off from my long commute job last Feb. Hubby now works 2 miles from home. It would suck since food prices would probably be crazy high though. Don't know how to garden so I would be SOL. My kids don't go to the local school though, so hopefully I could get them into the neighborhood school or I would have to homeschool them.

[sakabatou]

91. I'm biking and taking public trans

So I dunno...

[Jed Dilligan]

92. I would bike if others weren't driving

It's too unhealthy to bike in a cloud of exhaust.

However, I do depend a great deal on gas-powered transportation to get produce to my biking-distance stores.

[Marr]

94. I'd be fine. I'd have to bike a couple extra days each week to work, and I'd be

grousy about that- but I'd be fine.

[Blue-Jay]

96. I would ride my bike.

And then I'd be smug about riding my bike to everyone else.

[xmas74]

100. dingdingding!

We have the winning answer!:toast:

[MrSlayer]

98. Indefinitely.

I don't own a car. And the subway system here is quite good. I'd have no problem getting to work.

[Raskolnik]

103. What is your point?

Did you just now realize that we're dependent on gasoline?

[taterguy]

106. The point was just to get people thinking about and discussing transportation options

Nothing more
Nothing less

[Raskolnik]

108. Let's cut to the chase then.

People that live and work in an urban setting could get by.

People that don't live and work in an urban setting could not.

If you can get by without using gasoline personally, its *only* by virtue of being subsidized by others' use of gasoline.

[taterguy]

111. I honestly don't think it's that simple

People in similar areas make different choices about lifestyle and I sincerely think that's a good thing because the world would be a very boring place if everyone thought and acted alike.

I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say that people who don't use gas are subsidized by people who do. Automobile usage is heavily subsidized in this country which is the subject of another flame-war altogether :)

[Raskolnik]

112. Of course you're subsidized by people using gasoline.

Just look at the modifications you had to make to your OP.

Even if you are lucky enough to be in an urban setting with sufficient public transportation and a climate amenable to bicycle use, your lifestyle is ONLY possible because there are thousands of other people using gasoline. Your food, your clothes, your medicine, your tools, and your services are almost universally reliant on people using petroleum products in their production and delivery.

If you choose to refrain from using a car for your personal use, good for you. However, to pretend you're even close to being off the petroleum grid is just ludicrous.

[taterguy]

114. Thanks for the clarification

When you said subsidize I thought you were referring to financial issues. I don't claim to be a purist and I am well aware of how much of my lifestyle is supported by petroleum. However, I think gasoline is just like many other things I enjoy: something that I should be careful about how much I use. I enjoy beer. That doesn't mean I should consume two gallons a day.

I don't see the harm in encouraging others to stop and think if the liquids they're consuming are doing more harm than good.

[bleedingheart]

105. My husband and I could continue to work and we live close enough

to grocery stores that we could walk a few miles to them.....however if private gas sales ceased...the trucks to the stores would stop coming...and we would all starve I guess eventually....

[bunkerbuster1]

107. I'd telecommute more, and I'd bike three miles to a bus...

that'd take me into the heart of the city so I could ride a train back out of the city and be at the office in, oh, 2½ hours (it takes me about 45 minutes to drive, typically)

So I could manage, but it'd suck. The "major inconvenience" you write of would begin pretty much immediately... say, two or three days.

And once school was back in session, I'm not sure how I'd get my kid there. We'd probably have to move.

[maxsolomon]

113. "survive"? i could survive indefinitely

but i'd need a new way to heat my house. do you like the smell of wood smoke?

[tammywammy]

115. Since I'd lose my job pretty quickly

It would be tough

[Nimrod2005]

116. Forever...I hope it happens for real...........nt

[Raskolnik]

120. What do you think would happen? n/t

[ThatsMyBarack]

117. I'd go nuts!

:crazy: :grr:

[oldhippie]

118. No problem. My truck burns diesel, not gas.................

So I don't care about gas sales. And most big delivery trucks, and buses, run on diesel.

[glowing]

119. We have emergency stock of oil in this country. I would assume

we would use that first and work really hard, overtime, to come up with something fast.