When I write about American dependency on gasoline, I may imply that my non-car ownership makes me innocent of the social, environmental, and political ills caused by the internal combustion engine. But my life is as oil-fueled as anyones. I ride in cars, buses, taxis, planes, and I take advantage of a global marketplace that materializes within walking distance of my home. And with an impending move to the suburbs of Boston, I will soon acquire a car. I’m not going to live in the suburbs without a car like some liberal martyr, walking on a sidewalk-less road as cars whiz by at 50 mph.
Honestly, after seven years of public transportation, car rentals, the occasional inspired spat of biking, and (mostly) my own two feet, I look forward to sitting in traffic like everyone else. For a long time I wanted a Subaru Outback. So befitting of the image that I want to project to the world: A sporty, rugged individualist who isn’t afraid to own a vehicle that the stereotypical lesbian-mobile. But most Subarus get gas milage that are shockingly below average (low 20s MPG highway), so I am considering a Civic… possibly a hybrid.
My concern about fuel efficiency is partly because $5/gallon is not far away, and supply disruptions may become a weekly reality. Remember the last time gas prices surged, right after Katrina? Americans felt helpless, vulnerable, and angry, like a drug-addicted prostitute who lives in constant fear that her pimp will start rationing her crack. It was the first time George Bush ever kinda-sorta asked Americans to curb their consumption. “We can all pitch in,” Mr. Bush said. “People just need to recognize that the storms have caused disruption,” he added, and that if Americans are able to avoid going “on a trip that’s not essential, that would be helpful.”
How is conservation even possible now? Sure, maybe some people can walk or ride their bike to the corner store to get milk and save that 2 miles of driving, but the vast majority of America is enmeshed in sprawl where any sidewalks are for recreation, not transportation. Millions of Americans are stuck driving low MPG vehicles bought when our oil pimps kept us deliriously high enough to believe that the times of abundance would never end. I hate to invoke the wisdom of Dick Cheney, but: “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy.”
In this year’s State of the Union address, Bush said “Here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” It was like our lead pimp/crack supplier was blaming us for being a crack whore! It was confusing. Then this week, Bush ordered a federal investigation into “possible cheating, price gouging or illegal manipulation in the gasoline markets.” What’s going on?
The oil industry is the most exploitative and self-serving entity ever to exist in the free market, and it’s downright scary the control that they have over the health of this world and the people within. A Shell oil boss once said “International oil companies, without exception, are very pragmatic commercial organizations. They don’t have a theology” Perhaps that’s why Bush suddenly has all these ideological beliefs about oil. Is he belatedly realizing that politicians should serve the interests of America, not lobbyists? Maybe at one time, when campaign funds were needed and interests were conflicted, Bush cared about what the oil industry thought of him, but perhaps he’s matured during his reign. He’s got a legacy to care about.
But wait. After Bush makes all these righteous statements about protecting the consumer from the greedy oil men, he nonchalantly adds he will “temporarily ease clean air regulations that have caused gas shortages in some portions of the Northeast. “I think it makes sense that they should be allowed to, so I’m directing EPA administrator [Steve] Johnson to use all of his available authority to grant waivers that would relief critical fuel supply shortages. And I do that for the sake of our consumers.” How much you want to bet all his tough talk about forcing energy companies to reinvest their profits in renewable energy research amounts to nothing, and the clean air regulations are already being ignored anyway? Yeah, I’ll take the Civic Hybrid, and keep my bike tuned up.
