Gas prices are sending everyone into a state of hysteria. But the fact that the cost of gasoline is skyrocketing should come as no surprise to anyone: the planet has a limited amount of petroleum, and people have been using it up as fast as it gets sucked out of the ground, processed in a refinery, and trucked to the nearest pump. That prices are finally approaching $4.00 a gallon is actually a welcome development from an environmental point of view. Finally, drivers are taking the actions they should have been taking ever since the first gas crisis occurred in the U.S. 35 years ago: They're car pooling, walking and biking, using mass transit and finding other ways to drive less.
Into this scenario, Pres. Bush is advocating, rather than additional conservation -- which generates immediate relief in the pocketbook as well as at the pump -- drilling for more oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Ironically, the migration season for caribou, the animals that use the Refuge for birthing the calves that keep the herd alive, begins this month. Pres. Bush couldn't care less. In fact, the oil president is using high gas prices as an excuse to exploit the Refuge for what would amount to 4 million gallons of gasoline a day - the same amount the U.S. could save every day if drivers simply inflated their vehicle tires to the proper pounds per square inch. It would take ten years to get the equivalent barrels of oil out of the Arctic refuge.
Alaska Wilderness League is mounting a national campaign to protect the Arctic Refuge from Pres. Bush's oil plan. You can support their work financially as well as by urging your member of Congress to keep oil rigs out of the Arctic.
Big Green Purse is encouraging consumers to reduce gas consumption through ten steps that will also save $20-$50 every month on gasoline. The key BGP message: you can meet your material needs without driving your budget -- or the planet -- into the ground.
Consumers will try to complain about price gouging by the oil companies. They'll probably think they should boycott the oil companies for a day. It makes more sense to figure out ways to meet transportation needs without using a car.
Want to do something about the high price of gas? Forget oil drilling in the Arctic.
Drive less.
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