Question for those who blame gasoline consumers for Gulf Disaster

[Scuba]

Besides politicking for better government and regulations, what do you think those of us who burn gas should be doing?

Moving near where we work? Unfortunately, the current employment culture in America means you'll likely be in a new job every few years. Are we supposed to move every time?

Bicycle to work? Same problem. Many of us commute thousands of miles to work, not because we want to, but because we have to. At one poing in my career I had to fly 1,200 miles back and forth each week for two years, consuming vast quantities of jet fuel that wouldn't have been used had my seat on the plane been empty, like the one next to me sometimes was. :sarcasm:

Change careers? Pretty hard to do without burning down everything you've worked for and starting over.

Change lifestyle? Do we live better than the average European? Some of us, a little, in terms of home and PERHAPS fuel-consumption history. But the graphs showing how Amerians use more than their fair share of fuels don't show splits between military, corporate and private gasoline consumption. (Can anyone provide this breakdown? Thanks.) I suspect the average consumer may look pretty innocent with that data at hand.

Retire? Hah. I'm not in the top 20% of Americans who own 93% of American wealth. Like most of us, I have just been scraping by, saving for retirement, and then seeing it vanish when the casino my 401K's played in turned out to be fixed.

Meanwhile, note this taken from http://www.observer.com/2009/o2/yacht-update regarding Paul Allen's fishing boat. "The yacht, which houses a crew of 60, two helicopters, seven boats, a submarine, and a remote controlled vehicle that crawls the ocean floor, costs the billionaire $20 million a year (or $384,000 a week) to keep up. Maybe he can cut his fuel consumption. Maybe he could scrape by with just one of his two helicoptors.


Anyway, I want to help. Please suggest some alternatives on how I can change the world by not buying $30 bucks worth of gas a week. Thanks

[KharmaTrain]

1. How About A Rebuild Public Transportation System...

The answer is multifold when it comes to energy...different sources for different uses. I've long felt that devoting money and resources to a "Manhattan project" of energy independence could create millions of new jobs and rejuvenate the American economy and spirit. I for one will dance (and I don't do that often) the day I buy my last tank of gas.

That said, a century ago, this country has a far better transportation infrastructure. You could get from any small town to a large city and most of the major cities had public transit systems that kept expanding with the population. For the past 60 years we've lived in an auto-centric world where a car is considered a right...and many areas are solely dependent on cars to do the most simplest chores. In my suburbs, the closest supermarket is 3 miles away. I'd love to be able to find alternatives...light rail and electric busses that would get many cars off the road.

The world is changing...computers have let more people work from at home, travel less using teleconferencing and even eliminates many shopping trips. It's encouraging through tax breaks and government subsidies using alternative fuels and modes of transportation, power and power. Sadly, for over 35 years I've seen many great ideas get stomped by those who make too much money with the status quo...and I don't see anyone ready to really change. Might have to take $10 a gallon gas or massive shortages...

Cheers...

[Scuba]

2. Thanks for the reply....

... I agree with the "alternate enery Manhatten Project" idea. That's what we should have done with the money that went in tax breaks to the oil companies (the most profitable industry in the history of commerce).

I also agree on public transportation, where we are not only decades behind internationally, we are (as you pointed out) well behind where we were 100 years ago. Still public transportation won't help many/most of us get back and forth to work every day unless we radically change our society.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Old Habits Die Hard...

I'm in a similar situation to you...the average commute in my area is 20 miles and/or 45 minutes of travel time (each way) every day. Due to the combination of rising energy costs and overall traffic congestion, I've seen more and more people taking trains where they can. But that's only a sliver of the population...and in many metro areas, the routes are set up in a hub route. Here in Chicago, I can get downtown fairly easily, but if I want to go to a town 10 miles north, there's no direct connection. In the past 50 years, there's only been one rapid transit line added and the restoration of a couple comuter lines but no new construction has gone on. There have been plenty of proposals and even money allocated, but its either not enough or the money ends up diverted to some "emergency".

Yep, it will take a radical change in society...the era of self-indulgence will have to end. We've seen what 30 years of the "me" generation has brought...a dysfunctional society that has enabled the powerful to take control with little need to be responsible.

Cheers...

[Captain Hilts]

16. BINGO. nt

[taterguy]

3. Stop using cars for errands less than 5 miles away

I have no idea how reliable it is but somewhere there's a stat that says something like 50% of car trips are less than two miles.

My observations in my neighborhood confirm that. I live in a place where the standard excuses for relying on cars don't apply: The weather is decent most days and most people in my neighborhood live within 3 miles of where they work.

Nevertheless, most people drive to work. Hell, some people drive when it takes them more time to find a parking place than it would to just walk from their house.

I have no idea how much oil would be saved if people stopped using cars as their default mode of transportation, but I suspect it's a lot more than we'll ever find offshore.

[Kalyke]

20. Um... why not just stop and do these errands on the way to and from work.

I hate going back out after I get home in the evening, so, since I pass by most of the places I need to go on my way home from work, I just stop then. There are many weekends that I don't even get my car out of the garage.

[taterguy]

25. If all people did that, we wouldn't have as much of a problem

But the undeniable fact is that people use cars as a first resort, instead of thinking about whether or not they're really the most expeditious way to get from Point A to Point B.

[Submariner]

4. The Gulf disaster was caused by a corrupt partisan Supreme Court

that installed an AWOL punk with 2 legacy degrees who deserted his Air National Guard unit, and who partnered with a draft dodging coward (5 deferment Cheney).

The regulations and MMS team were in place prior to Bush's installment by the corrupt SCOTUS, so the blame is not on the everyday gas consumer.

It is the ignorant corrupt minds of Scalia and Thomas that lit the match on this disaster. They appointed the illegitimate president who brought in a team of fuckwads to screw up MMS and the rest of government.

With the best military and intelligence establishments on the planet at his fingertips, Bush still lost 2 wars and couldn't keep the country safe. Of course he'd fuck up the oil drilling regulation business, Bush and his team were natural born losers.

[Scuba]

12. As a veteran, I share your disdain for the chickenhawks.

[alphafemale]

5. If they live in a house with electricity they should shut their smug asses up anyway.

And if they buy anything whatsoever. That was brought to a store using fossil fuel.

Do they rely on the USPS for anything? Huge consumer of fossil fuel right there.

They are being smug without cause.

And I actually DO bike to work most days.

But, I see it as something that I am extremely lucky to be able to do; due to a remarkable stroke of luck and circumstance, I live about a mile and a half from work. Once I am out of my quiet neighborhood there are bike paths all the way.

[Traveling_Home]

6. What do you think those of us who burn gas should be doing?

Lobby for drilling in our backyards where we can get to it when things go wrong. Close in, shallow water - ANWAR, downtown LA where people live.

The NIMBY movement has meant we drill in near impossible conditions. STOP IT. Drill where we can fix things when they go wrong until the alternative systems are ready.

[Traveling_Home]

8. ALLEN, LIKE AL GORE BUYS CARBON OFFSETS FOR HIS 'houseboat and mansions" - ISN'T THAT GOOD ENUF? nt

[GeorgeGist]

9. First, educate yourself on constructing a lucid question.

[Scuba]

11. How much gas will that save?

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Heheh

:evilgrin:

[rucky]

10. Industry is responsible for over 75% of greenhouse gas emissions.

That doesn't let us consumer types off the hook, but it suggests where the brunt of the responsibility should go...

[TransitJohn]

13. I need to get in to the Ag sector for the laughing gas apparently.

[Scuba]

15. I don't see the US Military on this graph....

... maybe they're not burning fuel anymore.

[rucky]

17. Maybe they're under "transportation fuels"?

but I would like to see how they rank

[Scuba]

22. Doubtful based on the 14% mark.

I believe the US military is the largest consumer of fuel in the country.

[patrice]

18. The notion of blame is zero sum. No one should blame "the drunken slut" for being raped.

It IS the Oil Royals' fault for "raping the drunken slut". Indeed, their crimes are that much the worse, that much much MORE heinous for the condition of the victim.

But, if one is truly against rape, and not just into punishing the guilty after the fact, if one hates rape more than anything else, you have to also talk to the "drunken slut" about her behavior.

...........................

What needs to happen here is that everyone needs to do what they CAN, no matter how big, no matter how small and, because the wealthy CAN do more, they have more responsibility to do more, more responsibility to change.

However, if we, the not wealthy, are not doing what we CAN do (and I am suggesting here that we be extremely creative about the thousands and thousands of things people could be doing ((if you can't move closer to work, there probably are other things you could be doing))), if you aren't doing WHATEVER you CAN do, you have no grounds to demand that others do what they can do either.

[Scuba]

19. Excellent analogy and recommendation. Thanks.

[patrice]

24. People think small things don't matter, so they don't do them. Isn't failure to

do small easily accomplished things (and there ARE millions of them on the order of things like: no longer using electricity to style one's hair; or drinking out of re-purposed mayonnaise jars; or using that set of sheets for one more year; or . . . . !) more guilty than failure to do large very difficult things (such as meet everyone's demands, within a corrupt system, as President of U.S.).

[pipi_k]

21. My question for those who blame gas/oil consumers would be...

Why are they trying to instill such guilt in others when, unless they totally stop using petroleum products themselves, are just as guilty of "not being part of the solution".

Everybody....and I do mean everybody uses petroleum-based products each and every day. There is no escaping that fact, unless one lives in a cave, eats roots and berries, and heats the cave with dried cow dung.

Maybe it's not in the form of oil or gas, but there are plenty of items used during the course of a day that are made from oil, or which had to be transported.

So we get the, "I use LESS gas than you do" individuals running around acting all holier-than-thou about it.

Yeah...something to be proud of. Just like, for example, someone enabling an alcoholic by only buying him one drink a week whereas other people are buying him drink after drink after drink. If one buys the alcoholic a drink, one still enables him, so don't act all smug about how "little" one still contributes to the problem.

That's how I see this issue.

People who try to make others feel guilty for contributing to the problem are STILL contributing themselves, just not as much.

I don't think you need to apologize for not doing more.

The only way Big Oil would hurt would be if ALL of us gave up ALL petroleum products. Anything less is a pisshole in a snowbank to them.

[immune]

23. The most successful criminals

implicate the victim in their crimes.

Say for instance, illegal drugs wouldn't be so rampant in society if there weren't all those illegal drug users out there ... so just pass a law making (some) drugs illegal and bing bang boom, the user is as culpable as the pusher. And which of those is most likely to do jail time?

Its not too difficult to make the stretch from that scenario to BP manufacturing the "drug" and implying guilt on the guy pumping BP's drug into his tank so he can get to work.

[Edweird]

26. 'Blaming consumers' is just an attempt to shift blame off the administration.

It isn't very well thought out, but it's all they have.

[Scuba]

27. Shift blame off the administration???? Please explain....

... I don't see anyone blaming the administration, at least not the current administration, except a bunch of the right-wing shills the corporations hire to indoctrinate the gullible.

[Edweird]

28. Here's what I see:

I see a monumental environmental catastrophe occurring. I see the current administration taking a very 'hands off' approach. I see the criminally responsible being allowing to attempt to sweep this under the rug while destroying evidence - while acting in their own best financial interest.
An ecosystem is being destroyed and along with it the livelihoods of those dependent on it.
This is completely unacceptable.

The current administration chose to embrace and even expand the status quo. For that they are indirectly responsible.

I see 'RW shills' here alright, but they aren't saying what you think they are.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" -Ronald Reagan

The assertion that 'the government is unable to do anything' is a RW position as well as a pathetic miserable sleazy lie.
There is a lot of that going around lately.
The current administration has all the resources of the Federal Government at their disposal, yet they prefer to let this go on and on. The lack of a massive Federal mobilization is directly and inexcusably this administration's fault.

BP is looking out for BP. Who is looking out for us? Who is responsible for the welfare of US citizens and it's natural resources? If not ultimately the President, then who?