Howdy, all--
In recent weeks I've been receiving a mess of invitations via e-mail to
participate in "National Gas Out Days." The idea here is to refrain from
buying gasoline for some period of time (in this round, April 7-9), thus
putting the fear of the Consumer into the petrocracy/dirty energy sector,
and, with a decrease in demand, force a lowering of gas prices.
I find this idea hugely flawed on many levels. And please note that I'm
writing from the Land of $2/gallon gas and the biggest class
war/gentrification campaign in America's history (AKA, an "economic
boom"--with the effect that people earning $50,000 a year are homeless in
San Francisco and Silicon Valley, only 1 in 4 people can afford to buy a
home, people are spending upwards of 50% of their earnings to pay for
modest rental housing, and traffic congestion, air pollution, and road rage
are escalating).
The idea of the National Gas Out Days seems to be that the petrocracy will
lower gas prices, if drivers don't buy gas for a few days, with the benefit
being that drivers will pay less per mile for operating their cars.
To me, this is merely organizing an incentive for drivers to drive as much,
or more. It doesn't lead drivers to reconsider their driving habits, use of
fossil fuels, and contribution to congestion, pollution, urban sprawl,
social disruption, accident-related injuries, and destruction of local
economies. It doesn't lead the dirty energy industry to reconsider its
production of dirty fuels. It doesn't recognize that gas prices are
artificially low in the U.S., by a factor of two or three, as the true
costs of private car ownership and driving are externalized left and right.
The Big Three automakers have the technology to produce more fuel efficient
cars. Yet they continue to produce SUVs, monster pickups, luxury barges,
and other gas-sucking road pigs--and people keep buying them. Americans are
hugely defensive about their driving habits. That unexamined dependence on
driving, on private car ownership, and on hogging fossil fuel use is
contributing to all manner of decreased quality of life, from childhood
asthma to poorly constructed urban centers to increasing the concentration
of toxic gases in the atmosphere.
How does this affect ag? The industrial food system is especially dependent
on fossil fuel (dirty) energy. From the methyl bromide-laced winter
strawberries being flown and driven to northern cities to the
petrochemical-based pesticides pouring into the waterways and drifting
across the towns of the Central valley, industrial food is in many respects
an extension of the petrocracy. Part of the power of farmer's markets,
local marketing, and CSA is the understanding of both the up-front and
hidden costs of dirty energy based transportation...both at the point of
purchase and beyond.
To learn more about an alternative to the National Gas Out Days, see the
Center for a New American Dream's "National Drive Out" campaign:
http://www.newdream.org/transport/driveout.html
To learn more about the true costs of driving, see Redefining Progress's
report, /The Roads Aren't Free: Estimating the Social Cost of Driving and
the Effects of Accurate Pricing/, by Clifford Cobb. A summary and ordering
information appears at:
http://www.rprogress.org/pubs/wpts3/wpts3_execsum.html
I'll have more for you in upcoming months about Redefining Progress's
stance on the best market-based mechanisms for greening the fossil fuel
economy while ensuring equity for all--not just profits for a few at the
expense of quality of life, environmental health, and economic
sustainability. I'll also fill you in on our (currently evolving) thinking
on how Environmental Tax Reform can help farmers, rural citizens, and other
vulnerable people and communities.
peace
misha
Michele Gale-Sinex
Communications Director
Redefining Progress
One Kearny St., fourth floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: 415-781-1191 x305
Fax: 415-781-1198
http://www.rprogress.org
Fair trade is not simply asking you to pay more,
just what it costs. --Renwick Rose
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