Got Gas?

According to CNN, crude (oil that is) is over $70 a barrel right now, which means that sometime this summer, gas at the pumps could reach $4 a gallon for the first time in American gas-guzzling history. As a driver, I am appalled and hope that it doesn't happen, but as someone who actuallyn gives a shit about the planet, I'm secretly thrilled. Europeans have been paying exhorbitant rates for gas for decades while we Americans have gotten off cheap. Sure, gas prices have steadily gone up for years, but no one has ever done anything to create a truly more fuel efficent car. Why did it take decades to invent the hybrid? That just sounds like the kind of technology we could have had in the 70s when we first started worrying about fuel economy.

Well the answer is simple economics really. No one on the planet is going to be motivated to develop better and more efficent means of getting from A to B until their pocket books are hurting. There is a reason why it's mostly poor people who take the bus in the United States, you know. In Europe, it is not so uncommon to see everyone but the very rich on public transport. In the U.S., a car is mandatory even if you are just mostly poor. Just look at our cities. They are made for cars, not people. I saw a guy walking on the street the other day and I was shocked. I thought, there goes a guy who lost his license. I was probably right, too, but for all the wrong reasons.

So as much as I'm about to hate this summer's gas prices, it's long overdue. I'll try not to bitch.