The Price at the Pump

I used to drive a Mercedes ML430 SUV. I liked the fact that it was a quality vehicle and a workhorse, much, I thought, like me. It was functional and at the same time portrayed the appropriate image of a successful business person, supporting my ego appropriately. It was snowy white with tan leather interior and it slurped premium grade gasoline at an alarming rate.

For awhile it didn’t matter. Gas was cheap. I could fill up the tank for under $30. Then things started to shift. I remember the price of gas climbing, first creeping over $2/gallon, then $3. At that point, when the needle on my gauge approached empty my palms would get clammy. My gut would clench and my brow would prickle with tiny beads of sweat.

That was then. This morning I passed the gas station and noticed the price at the pump. My response was familiar, the faint nausea, the expected fear-clench of the gut. But today that response was triggered by a dramatic DROP in the price of gas. Today my reaction came from a different place. Today I have greater concerns than the impact of the price of gas on my pocketbook.

Falling gas prices indicate a culture oblivious to its precarious place in its own history. We are on the descending side of petroleum production. Let me say that again. We are on the DESCENDING SIDE OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTION. Simply put, the world's supply of oil is running out. Yet we continue to demand more, more, more...cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.

I find it deeply disturbing that the powerful entities we depend upon to protect our interests, (government of the people, by the people, for the people) are madly scrambling to scrape the remnants of incredible wealth from the earth. They are doing so with full knowledge of the consequences. The oil summits, the energy conferences, the sustainability briefings, point to the immediacy of the threat. But the warnings are falling on power hungry deaf ears. The government has a huge investment in keeping the capitalistic, consumer driven money machine grinding. For all we, "the people" know, it is business as usual. All is well.

It’s not that there isn’t a plan of sorts. According to the U. S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook – 2011, our growing demand for oil will be “…offset by the increased use of biofuels (much of which are produced domestically), demand reductions resulting from the adoption of new vehicle fuel economy standards, and rising energy prices. Rising fuel prices also spur domestic energy production across all fuels—particularly, natural gas from plentiful shale gas resources—and temper the growth of energy imports.”

So basically, if I understand this correctly, we can rest assured that our lives will continue undisturbed. Biofuels and natural gas extracted from shale on our very own turf will save us. I wonder what we will eat if it becomes more lucrative for farmers to grow biofuel crops. As far as extracting natural gas from shale, in 2010, CBS aired an expose on 60 Minutes indicating that "the process for extracting natural gas from shale is a difficult and costly endeavor." And what is this about “demand reductions resulting from new vehicle fuel economy standards and rising energy prices”? To me that sounds like demand for oil will be reduced because only the wealthy will be able to afford to buy gas.

All that is alarming enough, but the Energy Outlook report goes on to say that in 2011 we will continue to rely on coal, another fossil fuel, as the largest source of electricity generation with no additional constraints on CO2 emissions. So what if the polar icecaps melt? So what if the temperature of the atmosphere exceeds the tipping point? We, the people, will be plugged in and turned on.

These days I drive my hybrid as little as possible. I intentionally plan trips to accomplish my errands in a small radius. I’m getting to know my neighbors and my neighborhood. I have a feeling in the days ahead we are going to need each other. And I watch the price of gas with different eyes.