The older readers among you, my age and older, will remember the early 1970s, when an OPEC embargo against Israeli-supporting countries cut the flow of oil to the U.S. Those were the days of expensive gas, long lines at the pumps, and crude forms of rationing. I remember the odd-even plan, where cars with odd-numbered plates could only fill up on odd-numbered days, etc.
I remember this vividly, although I was only 8 years old — things like that stuck in my mind.
Yesterday I saw a wildly long line for gas. But it wasn’t caused by a shortage, it was a response to the high prices. The gas station on the corner a few blocks from my house is creeping toward $4 per gallon, yesterday the cheap stuff was $3.60, the expensive stuff was $3.80. And I almost never see anyone buying gas there. It’s devoid of cars.
No, the line was on the other side of the tracks, at Costco. Generally speaking, in the past, their prices have been about 30¢ cheaper than the station here on the corner — their prices are posted inside, and I didn’t go through the hassle of going in to find out what it was yesterday, but there it was: a line reminiscent of 1973, spilling out onto the street and causing headaches for anyone trying to drive through there. Naturally, all those people in line were sitting there with their engines running, wasting more and more gas while they waited to save a bit of money. At 30¢ a gallon savings, I’d save $3.00 on a full tank there; of course, my Prius would turn off its engine if I was waiting in that line. I wonder if some of the cars waiting there wasted more money in gas than they’d actually save buy purchasing it there?
It is worth noting how our past actions have long-reaching effect. When oil first burst upon the scene, it was so cheap that we developed our entire society around it. American culture, like no other, evolved around the car — probably because when America began to expand after World War II, oil was plentiful and cheap. Suburbs that require a car, lack of investment in robust public transportation, the drive-in… and now, we seem to be stuck.
I rode my electric scooter downtown today, trying to learn which roads were least crowded with cars and most safe for a relatively unprotected driver going only 25mph. It was not too bad on a Sunday, and I can see that it would be pretty great to commute downtown on the scooter — if only I could find a job downtown. No, downtowns are no longer viable in the car culture, everything has moved out to the suburbs where one can spread out with acres of parking lots.
Sorry, I’m rambling.
I guess that what I’m saying is that, as always, we never learn from the past and keep right on making the same mistakes over and over again. At some point, the mistake will be fatal.
They all laughed at Jimmy Carter back in 1979, when he put on a sweater and installed solar panels on the White House. All these years later, he seems like a visionary.
