I recently read a very good post on Kuro5hin about oil. Most who left comments thought it was pretty lame. I felt the comments were pretty lame. I am amazed at how people can take a common, shared problem like oil and comment as if they had some magical control of governments to "suggest solutions". It's nothing other than intellectual masturbation to be so arrogant as to ignore what you can do in preference for arguing about what you think others should do.
Here is what I had to say...
Criticizing the original author's rhetoric, or posturing about what you might do if you had omniscient control of governments and finance is pointless. Such a tedious thread. I tire of the propensity of unempowered psuedo-intellectuals to analyze problems from a "global perspective" (as if they could do something) while ignoring personal responsibility (where they can take action).
Regardless of how you feel about the original posting, it is relevant. There is a crisis of global oil economics which puts the USA in the unfortunate position of being the victim of its own oil addiction.
Most of us cannot do anything except try to elect responsible officials, write letters to Congress, and promote greater understanding of the problem. But, those are indirect actions.
What of direct actions? How much oil do you use?
97% of America's transportation needs are powered by oil. Of that, 50% are used to keep America's cars and trucks on the road. That is one barrel in seven used globally.
As you drive, count the number of cars that have better gas mileage than yours. If you count ZERO, you're doing your part better than most. If you drive an SUV (but don't really need one), a muscle car (and can't find a better way to bolster your ego), it's time to ask the hard questions.
My wife and I are US citizens living in Australia for the moment, but the car situtation here is about the same. Recently, we scrapped our Jeep and bought a small economy car that gets about 40mpg. It's really all we need. We didn't do much offroading, and surprisingly, we can fit more in the back of our economy car than we could in the Wrangler. Last weekend, we took a short trip and it was likely that 90% of the cars on the road passing us were using 30% to 60% more fuel than we were. I noted that pretty much none of the SUVs had more passengers than our car would carry. We felt really bad that for all those years we wasted so much fuel with our Jeep.
In the early 80s, the US had just come out of a harrowing OPEC price increase that rocked the nation. The average MPG for new cars purchased in America in 1984 was 27.5mpg, the highest it has ever been. For whatever reason, Americans are taking steps backward. Today, the average fuel consumption of US consumer vehicles is 23.9mpg. Most SUVs top out at 20mpg. A significant percentage of the problem is thus directly attributable to consumer behavior. This is a problem for which each individual can take action.
Americans drive about 2.5 trillion miles per year. If every American were to drive a car which had better gas mileage, and the 1984 gas consumption figures were to return, America would use 333 million barrels of oil less each year. And that doesn't place Americans at even the slightest inconvenience. More can be achieved if people try harder.
I'll accept that there are many perspectives on these numbers and the psychology of American car culture and how it relates to oil dependency. But, I challenge anybody to argue that there is any reason why any American should buy a Ford Mustang GT. Even the stock version has a 4.6L engine, has two doors, and gets 17mpg in the city. You can't use it for a family. You can't use it for hauling things. You can't use it for offroading or difficult situations. It's unsafe, and it has a virtually useless trunk.
Its only purpose is waste.
(In-depth statistics about American driving habits are at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics).
Comments