Spring Break
Cheap gas, cheap fixes
Lara Oliver
Issue date: 12/2/08 Section: Opinion
This summer, North Carolina and the rest of the country dealt with one of the biggest oil price jumps the country has seen since the 1970s. A gallon of regular unleaded gas jumped from $2.50 to almost $5.00, all within the span of a couple of months.
The price increases even caused Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton to add a plan for a temporary gas tax alleviation. The peak in prices caused people to postpone their vacations and begin looking at alternate methods of transportation.
As the prices climbed, many Americans started making changes to their daily lives in an attempt to compensate for their thinning wallets. Bikes became all the rage for the able-bodied and public transportation saw a surge in users. In Charlotte, the popularity of the new Lynx train system surpassed all expectations.
But, like most fads, convenience and selective memory took over once gas prices started to drop again. Now wavering just below $2.00 a gallon, gas prices have allowed us to go back to our old ways of using our cars for every type of trip we need. Whether it's a road trip across the state or running down the road for milk, we turn to our cars before considering any other type of transportation.
Even with gas prices in our favor, we still need to consider changing our day-to-day lives in an effort to preserve our future.
When met with problems like pollution and climate change, so often we find it easy to shrug it off and say we're not capable of making any real change. We point to countries like China and India, whose growing populations and booming industry can be used as a scapegoat for many of our world's energy problems, but what about considering an issue as essential as oil consumption?
Let's look at the facts: America's population makes up nearly 5 percent of the world. Meanwhile, China and India combined make up about 37 percent. According to NationMaster.com, a collection of data gathered on the world's nations, America uses 20 million barrels of oil a day. In contrast, India and China combined only use about 9 million barrels a day.
The price increases even caused Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton to add a plan for a temporary gas tax alleviation. The peak in prices caused people to postpone their vacations and begin looking at alternate methods of transportation.
As the prices climbed, many Americans started making changes to their daily lives in an attempt to compensate for their thinning wallets. Bikes became all the rage for the able-bodied and public transportation saw a surge in users. In Charlotte, the popularity of the new Lynx train system surpassed all expectations.
But, like most fads, convenience and selective memory took over once gas prices started to drop again. Now wavering just below $2.00 a gallon, gas prices have allowed us to go back to our old ways of using our cars for every type of trip we need. Whether it's a road trip across the state or running down the road for milk, we turn to our cars before considering any other type of transportation.
Even with gas prices in our favor, we still need to consider changing our day-to-day lives in an effort to preserve our future.
When met with problems like pollution and climate change, so often we find it easy to shrug it off and say we're not capable of making any real change. We point to countries like China and India, whose growing populations and booming industry can be used as a scapegoat for many of our world's energy problems, but what about considering an issue as essential as oil consumption?
Let's look at the facts: America's population makes up nearly 5 percent of the world. Meanwhile, China and India combined make up about 37 percent. According to NationMaster.com, a collection of data gathered on the world's nations, America uses 20 million barrels of oil a day. In contrast, India and China combined only use about 9 million barrels a day.
Be the first to comment on this story