I have a confession to make — I’m glad gas prices in the United States, as elsewhere, are rising. And I’m quietly hoping they’ll keep going higher because there may possibly be no more effective way to promote conservation and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Higher pump prices might be the only way that we Americans will ever even begin adjusting our driving habits and reducing fuel consumption — when it hits you in the pocketbook. The price of gas in the United States may be cresting at over the $4 per gallon level but it is still far lower than it many other countries where fuel taxes are much higher.
In Germany, gasoline is now up to about 6 euros ($9) per gallon. German think tanks have forecast that it would take prices of 10 euros ($15) per gallon to radically change driving habits.
Certainly there are fewer mass transit options in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere. And higher fuel prices are especially problematic for people with low or no income. What’s nevertheless disheartening in the United States is that any suggestion of alleviating the price squeeze in the United States through the conservation of fuel by driving less or by driving smaller, more fuel-efficient cars or by using public transportation seems to get drowned out by a strange political debate about temporarily suspending the federal fuel tax for a few months during the summer holiday season.
That seems to be sending the wrong message to Americans, who already use about one quarter of the world’s gas. It’s a wasted opportunity, in the age of climate change, to help a global campaign for conservation.
I spent an illuminating week recently driving around in California. It was amazing that so many people are still driving enormous SUVs even though fuel prices are high and rising. It was also amazing that people drive their enormous SUVs and other gas-guzzling cars at such high speeds and with such jack-rabbit acceleration.
I was in my mother’s 10-year-old sub-compact and tried to keep to the 60 mph speed limits on the freeways. It sometimes felt like I was standing still. Speeding cars, trucks and busses were passing on the left, on the right and some wanted to run right over me (it seemed). Even at 60 mph I was evidently a traffic nuisance. 
Some especially fast cars can go from zero to 60 in 10 seconds or less. Admittedly I’m a bit obsessed with saving fuel. It takes me about 40 seconds to get to 60 mph. Even getting to 30 mph takes about 20 seconds. To save fuel, I try to avoid braking and never step hard on the gas. I got nearly 50 miles per gallon with that car.
A relative who lent me her mid-sized car was amazed when I went twice as far (600 miles) on a tank as she does. She wanted to know the secret. It’s no secret. It’s just common sense. But with political leaders tripping over themselves with promises of a summer fuel tax holiday, few in America seems to be getting that message.
What do you think about high gas prices?
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Maybe some people live have the luxury of public transportation, but other people do not. I don’t drive a gas guzzling car nor do I speed well beyond the limit. I live NOWHERE near public transportation. The nearest bus is 15-20 minutes in driving and over three hours of walking. I cannot afford to move closer to the city. I have a good job that pays well, but it is 40 miles one way. If I could find one closer to home, I would do it, but if I find a job near home, that is a 50% cut in my pay. So I save on gas for less money made? With healthcare and basic living, people need to make more tham minimum wage, more than one job and more than 10 dollars an hour. If you do not have health insurance at work, it costs 378 dollars for one person, up to a thousand for a family for a private plan add rent, car insurance and car payment- how much do you think that is? Now add food and necessary medical prescriptions. Without insurance, my inhalers cost over 350 per month. With insurance, at 378, it costs still 100 more. These gas prices are making it difficult to live without the cost of living increase to compensate. By the time that comes for some people, they would have it at a cost of their health, basic living needs or family needs. Most people do not have the luxury or the pay to spend more on gas JUST TO GET TO WORK. To get to work only and I drove no where else in the meantime, I still fill my tank twice a week. That is 120 dollars a week or 480 dollars a month- just shy of 35% of a two week take home pay. Imagine the person who does not make 20 bucks an hour. Spending more for gas means sacrificing health care, food and basic living. Gas and oil companies made 300 billion dollars the first year when they almost doubled the prices- imagine now. That is obscene and down right greedy. You cannot tell me that most of that money goes to the supply of the demand. Most of that goes into their pockets. People are not going to be able to pay their bills on time to have good credit for a hybrid car that costs 20-30 grand. We have resources, they are just not accessing it or making it available or affordable. And that is the worst you can do. There is no reason for this other than the opportunity of world politics and greed.
- Posted by shanteThe gentleman from Brainard is correct on all points. Many of us who live in the Midwest DO NOT have access to mass transit as it DOES NOT exist, bike lanes DO NOT exist because many of us live on rural highways and in rural communities which are too far away from well-paying employment - so we need to drive; homes are starting to sit empty because people can no longer afford to pay the mortgage or a stale housing market won’t allow people to sell their homes. In this state we are beginning to experience a rise in gas-related crime: siphoning gas from any parked vehicle: cars, boats, trucks - you name it; drive-offs. Couple that with one of the highest gas taxes in the country, as well as a mandated reformulated gas that the EPA says must be used in our area - our gas more expensive than in most parts of the country. Our family has been more cautious for the past couple years as to the driving we do and combine shopping trips into one day. There are many people here having to make decisions as to what to eat and what is cost-effective for them to eat because they need the extra dollars for their gas tanks. Many go without and elderly balance food budgets, medicine and daily living on Social Security. Unfortunately, high-priced gas isn’t the only piece in this puzzle and this nation has only just begun this adventure. I will continue to teach my children to be as independent as they can be, wherever they may end up one day, and still function in our digital age of technology, as they will not know the world as many of us have.
- Posted by EmilyWell Erik, aren’t you all special and green. American’s do get the message and are resentful that their country, economy and ecology have been hijacked by the fear-mongering of green neo-fascist extremists. I don’t want to be beholden to other countries for our energy needs. When I look at rising gas prices I don’t blame ordinary Americans, I instead vent my frustration and anger at the likes of you (Erik Kirschbaum) Al Gore et al. because of your sneering superiorty and dismal lack of foresight regarding our country’s current and future needs.
I want our country to dig in ANWR, Gulf of Mexico, wherever, to get out of the mess you have all steered us into. You are all big on green talk but have yet to provide us with any kind of satisfactory alternative, despite years of research and billions of dollars wasted to sate your higher than averagely sensitive consciences.
You don’t speak for me or the majority of ordinary Americans. Why don’t YOU rethink YOUR life and the cost to normal Americans and the damage to our environment that YOU and YOUR ilk have caused.
Think seriously about your cliched piece of robotic greenspeak you have just published in Reuters and what it has cost us over the years in terms of jobs and economy, because your particular brand of evangelical and ecological narrowness refuses to work with big business. Many jobs have been located overseas because people in the green industry like you have been difficult to work with. Big business didn’t leave the United States because they wanted to work in countries with less restrictive environental laws and make lots of pollution and poison the water, but they simply couldn’t afford to work in an America with a bunch of immoveable idiots like yourself who chant the same mantras every day, whilst tying their hands behind their back.
Basically Erik I know you think me an idiot and a luddite as soon as you read my response to your article and indeed you are entitled to your opinion. But listen, I care about my environment as much and if not more than you do but I am also rooted in daily realities. Being kind to the environment involves being kind also to the economy and those dependent upon it. You all seem to forget that in your rush to be Green Phariseers.
- Posted by James MacCrossanSoya:
I think you’re the snobbisdh elitist if you think the US should pay half the price of gas that most of the rest of the civilized world does.
Get a freakin compact or walk to the corner store.
The suburbs are the blight of this country. Live close to work and don’t buy a McMansion.
- Posted by EdErik- People act that the only fuel being consumed is in private vehicles. That’s not the case however. Nearly everything that we consume as human beings is transported by some sort of fuel burning mode, be it ship, truck, train or aircraft. Everything will increase in cost especially items made from petroleum based products such as plastic. While you smile blowing your green horn a lot of unsuspecting average folk are going to get hurt bad in this mess.
- Posted by VinceMichael Brainard:
Move closer to work or get a job in city with public transportation. I’m a middle-class midwesterner who makes less than you do, I take a train or a bus to work.
And get a smaller house
- Posted by EdI wonder when our elected officials will decide to come up with plans to work on the infrastructure of this country….now is the time. How about working on creating new alternatives to transportation such us subway lines, better and new transit systems,etc. Maybe if more people had better alternatives to transportation they will realize that it is okay to leave the car at home, this will lower their expenses and in the process will this not create new job opportunities
- Posted by MCGas prices going up will help the economy, but what will people really do. Cars are some peoples only way to work, yeah I hear take a bus, but there is no bus where I am from. People really need to car pool or something to help but when you don’t have the money for the gas anyway what are you really going to do.
- Posted by LindseyI live in the midwest, I recently took a vacation with my wife to the east coast and back. It cost $500 for gas, not a problem since we just take 1 vacation.
I was surprised to notice how many gas stations and truck stops have closed down now, before that it was steel and manufacturing plants.
If we don’t find alternatives- and I am sure they are out there, we (the USA) are in for some very bad times ahead.
Our whole economy is based on cheap energy - if that gets turned upside down, it’s pretty much the end of the world as we know it!
I don’t care where you invest your money or where you work - everyone’s job and money are in danger now.
- Posted by Chuck OlsonWhy are you purposfully exaggerating the prices in other countries?
Gas used to be 2x in most of Europe not is only 1.25 to 1.5 times as American prices..
- Posted by DaveDear Mr. & Mrs. Reader…
Shouldn’t the questions really be:
“Are the privileged class (PC) and super privileged class (SPC) happy about high gasoline prices?”
and
“Are the middle class (MC) and working class (WC) unhappy about high gasoline prices?”
The answers to both questions ought to be reasonably obvious at this point.
Best Regards (to my fellow MC’s and WC’s),
Oklahoma Jack
P.S. The PC’s and SPC’s must be oblivious to the fact that they are sitting atop the lid of a MC/WC powder keg that is about to blow their gluttonous and greedy lifestyles sky high.
P.S. #2 The only way to clean up the environment and keep the economy humming along simultaneously is to pursue alternative forms of energy (and fast!)…and do an even faster upgrade of our public transportation (i.e., rail) systems. Economies and environments everywhere are like Jacks & Jills. What good is a clean environment if one cannot afford to live in it?
- Posted by Oklahoma JackEconomic realities be damned,huh? If you bike to work, congratulations. But if you’re one of the vast majority of commuters who depend very much on your gas-burning vehicle, the increasing prices of fuel really hurts.
Kirschbaum,you’re just a snobbish elitist.
- Posted by SoyaI have a confession to make. I live in New York City. I take the train, subway, bus, bike and my own two feet to get around. I couldn’t care less about gas prices being double again. I feel really sorry for those people being squeezed, who now realize the savings at Walmart are being offset by the fuel needed to drive there now the smaller stores have all shut down from the competition. (Yes, no Walmart in NYC, just Fairways at probably twice the price).
- Posted by Careful non-driverAt the Island Press blog, Terry Tamminen (policy consultant and adviser to the Governor of California, Canadian Premiers, and other state leaders on climate and energy policy) has some interesting items to say about the proposed “gas tax holiday,” why higher gas/oil prices are not necessarily bad, and why we can reign in greenhouse gases by leaving things as they are: http://www.islandpress.org/blog/index.ph p
- Posted by Jennifer PullingerI’m all for conservation and preservation, but for God’s sake DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS IS DOING TO MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASS PEOPLE? I invite you to move to the Midwest, where mass transit DOES NOT EXIST. There are no busses, there are no trains, subways…etc. There is nothing but miles and miles of CORN and good jobs are few and far between. I work for a manufacturing company in an engineering department of 20 people. 15 of us drive a minimum of 45 miles to work ONE WAY EACH DAY. We are somewhat forced to. The housing market won’t allow any of us to sell our homes and move closer. The job market won’t allow any of us to find good jobs in our home towns ( some of which are only 400-500 people! ) ….so we drive every day. My car gets 34mpg and I still spend $350 a month in fuel.
- Posted by Michael BrainardThis comment box is not large enough for the way I feel about the gas prices and all that it is tied to. We will never see the price of gas lower than 4 bucks ever again and people have not the slightest reason why. People need to get educated and learn about what our government has done in the past decades to bring us to this point. Look up Lindsey Williams and listen to what he has to tell you about the oil situation. Why are more people not aware of this and why is nothing said about it? I am truly confused and getting more upset everyday. It’s time I started being more vocal and I don’t care about the people who think I’m a goofball or a conspiracy type. It’s time to wake up people and listen to what is going on. Alaska has more oil available to us than anywhere else in the world and yet we will never see a drop of it.
- Posted by prospinThank you Henry Kissinger! google Linsdey Williams and learn something.
Many people must use the car to work! They will breathe better but will die hungry.
- Posted by giovanniA few days ago a fellow student told me that he was riding his bike again to school due to the rising oil prices. I am also very happy that the oil prices are going up because it seems to create great habits! Also, in comparison to Europe, the price in the US is still very low. At the same time, if the prices keep going up, it will be harder/more expensive to transport goods, hence, we will start going more local too!
- Posted by Patty from BoulderSo you’re the nice guy that doesn’t keep with the flow of traffic on the highway. Good way to cause an accident.
- Posted by GaryI’ve started cycling to work a number of times a week. I live close to work, so the cost of fuel doesn’t affect me all that much, but I thought if I was driving up demand by wastefully driving I was part of the problem for people who depend on gas. Where I live in Orange County has a great setup for cycling fortunately.
On the one hand a part of me is upset that the higher price of fuel is aggravating many, but on the other hand the high price is the only thing that will get us thinking about real and positive (and economical) solutions like mass transit.
I lived in Germany for a year in a city called Karlsruhe, a very tram and bike centered city. Getting around was a breeze, the trams were comfortable, efficient and clean, and cycling in the area was fun. One of the only times I was in a car, it got into an accident.
I truly think a similar light rail system could work in Southern California, much to its economic benefit. Imagine people going to work and not worrying about traffic, even doing work on the way there. Corporations would get on board and you could listen to Sirius Satellite Radio, enjoy AT&T wi-fi, watch TV on an super-thin OLED Sony screen etc while you get to work.
I really, really hate driving in Southern California. I’m not the only one either.
- Posted by Phil Arnold