Something we’re not totally thankful for: Cheap gas
Image via Silhouette Clip Art.
Happy Thanksgiving from Green Jersey.
We regret to admit that we will be driving to Pennsylvania today to be with family. Regret, because we wanted to take mass transit — but Amtrak tickets from New York to where we’re going are $45 one-way. Since there are two of us, we’re giving up and going for $1.70 gas.
Sure, cheap gas is great, but we hope it doesn’t mean a downshift in green thinking. It’s easy to take trains and buses everywhere and think about fuel-efficient upgrades when gas costs $4 and up. When gas is less than half that and we’re stretched in other ways… it’s harder.
More: Why we can’t afford cheap gas (AlterNet)
November 29th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Cheap gas sux. When people had started to get used to the idea that gas might stay at $4 a gallon, a San Francisco Guardian editor asked why we hadn’t started taxing gas four years ago. If we had taxed gas when it was $2 a gallon, perhaps raising it to $3, we could have used those tax dollars to start building a more efficient public transport system so higher prices wouldn’t hurt so much. We could have started on a bullet train between SF and LA (sure it takes time but it has to start somewhere) which would have rivalled the speed of plane travel while being almost pollution-free. People love to link cheap gas with freedom, but this belief will only lead to sorrow when prices inevitably go up. Better to spend those extra dollars on a decent public transport system.