World Events
Topic: Do high gas prices still bother you?

#	Author	Message
161	plpeters70 Thu 5/22/2008 8:55p	"Its freaking wilderness... that means no one lives there." That's actually not quite true - there are some Native American tribes that live in those areas. But even if they didn't, there are many animals that call that area home - and I for one am unwilling to destroy their habitat just so we can keep using oil for a few years more. People aren't going to die if we don't drill up Alaska, but they could if we don't make a huge effort to find a better alternative to burning fossil fuels. It's as plain and simple as that - we MUST get off oil, and the sooner, the better.
162	RoadTrip Thu 5/22/2008 9:14p	<<there are many animals that call that area home - and I for one am unwilling to destroy their habitat just so we can keep using oil for a few years more.>> Sorry. I'm not. How many species have been saved over the past 45 years because of our conservations efforts? One heck of a lot. Many species that were endangered in the past (American Bald Eagles, Wolves, etc.) are now plentiful and in some cases increasing more rapidly than nature would allow. Does this mean we can totally ignore all of our impact on nature? Of course not. Does it mean that we can manage a less than desirable situation for the short tem with the knowledge that it will not be a problem in the long term? Absolutely!! I'm not looking for oil for next 100 years. I'm looking for oil for maybe the next 20 years which will allow us time to transition to other energy sources. The problem with so many green/global warming people is that this is an all-or-nothing proposition for them. That just is not reality -- there are a broad range of options in the middle than can help get us to where we need to go. Yeah, I did it too. When I was in my 20's I shrieked like a banshee and figured that the world was going to hell in a handbasket. You want to know what I've found in the 30+ years I've lived since then? Ain't gonna happen. We (both Americans and other citizens of the World) are resourceful people. Faced with challenges, we meet them. Thirty years ago, how many folks would have predicted: 1) Unbelievably powerful computers for under $1,000? 2) The World Wide Web and the unbelievable number of changes that has made to everyone's life? 3) Big pig cars like my Dodge Charger that can get 25+ mpg on the highway? (Thirty years ago we would have been looking at 15 mpg at best.) 4) Massive TV screens with absolutely superior resolution and technology for under $1,500? All of you gloom and doomers just haven't lived long enough. Don't worry Bunky. Things probably didn't look so great on December 7, 1941 either. We'll handle it.
163	Mrs ElderP Fri 5/23/2008 6:34a	Drilling in ANWAR just postpones the inevitable. We've know since *at least* the 1970's that oil would *eventually* run out and being addicted to forgiegn oil is a dangerous addiction. However, while americans made brief changes for a time (Yeah for the VW bug! boo on Fins and 10 miles a gallon) as soon as oil became cheap again we went right back to the way we were. (Yea for Suburbans and then proliferation the heavy spacious SUVs) If we drill in ANWAR and *if* that actually brings down the price of oil, and more importantly, the price of gas, why in the world do you think now would be different? Where would the money do develop alternative forms of energy come from? On the other hand, as long as oil and gas stay high there is huge incentive to develop alternatives. There is no form of energy we know of on this earth that is as cheap as oil at $50 a barrel. There is no incentive for and no money for creating alternatives as long as it exists. We are going to have to go through the pain of high prices before alternatives can be developed, we may as well do it before ANWAR is irrepairably harmed as after.
164	RoadTrip Fri 5/23/2008 7:37a	<<We are going to have to go through the pain of high prices before alternatives can be developed, we may as well do it before ANWAR is irrepairably harmed as after.>> I don't see it necessarily as a cost savings issue. If the price needs to stay high to develop alternate sources I guess I can live with that. I just hate to be so darned dependent on the Middle East providing us with a vital product. They have us over a barrel so to speak (has that phrase ever been more fitting?). I think it would be a big plus if we pumped more of our own oil, even if it didn't make a big change in the price.
165	Mrs ElderP Fri 5/23/2008 9:22a	But the alternitives get us away from the middle east too! http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshe...dex.html According to a US Government publication dated April of this year, the 2007 consumption broke down like this: Western Hemisphere: 48% (domestic production + Canada + Mexico) Africa: 22% (Nigeria, etc.) Persian Gulf: 18% Everywhere Else: (Brazil for example) 12% Obviously most companies would love to have an 18% market share, it's nothing to sneeze at. However, by no means do they control most of our oil.
166	LadyKluck Fri 5/23/2008 10:15a	Yes the gas prices bother me, especially when things like gas going up .10 per gallon OVERNIGHT. The Chevron here in Emmett was at 3.79/gal on Wednesday night at 11 pm when I passed it, the next day, around noon when I drove by it again, it was 3.89! That's what bothers me. It also bothers me that when we bought our car 2 years ago September, it cost about $32 to fill it up, now it costs $52 to fill it up. I can go about 400 miles on one tank of gas, but it also takes me 4 days or less to go thru that because I have a 45 minute commute every day and so does my husband - so it takes 1 and a half round trips to go 100 miles! It most definitely bothers me, but there's not much I can do about it - I can't exactly ride my bike to work, and our public transportation doesn't come all the way out here. We have a commuter-ride vanpool program but it only runs the times of day that "normal" people work - you know the M-F, 8-5 folks, which doesn't help the nightshift people like myself!
167	DouglasDubh Fri 5/23/2008 5:32p	Whatever environmental harm drilling in ANWR might cause is much smaller than any other source of energy will create? Do people really think that wind turbines or solar panels won't affect the environment? What other energy options do they think are going to come along in the next 10 years? More hydroelectric? Coal burning? Nuclear? Drilling in ANWR and off our coasts is our best option now.
168	DVC_dad Fri 5/23/2008 5:41p	I thought, according to many Democrats, that we invaded Iraq so that we could have our own oil source. Wow, funny how long it's taking for that deal to work out. Personally I really don't understand how the whole thing works. I really don't know what drives gas prices and how they relate to what I do on a daily basis. I have heard of OPEC and all that but I am too lazy to learn about those people. Everyone is blaming the oil companies, but really not all of them are making record profits. What is the answer? I have no idea. Do gas prices bother me? Yes very much so. Will it get worse before it gets better? I think it will. Is it W's fault? In some way it must be. I am really surprised it hasn't happened before now, like a decade ago. I wonder at what price per gallon the demand will plateau, where an additional penny in price actually means less gas sold? 8 to 10 bucks? I dunno.
169	plpeters70 Fri 5/23/2008 8:48p	"Whatever environmental harm drilling in ANWR might cause is much smaller than any other source of energy will create?" And just what proof do you have to make this kind of statement? How could solar or wind power cause MORE pollution than drilling and burning fossil fuels? I would love to see some proof of that, because frankly, that just sounds silly.
170	DouglasDubh Sat 5/24/2008 9:18a	Environmental harm is not necessarily the same as pollution. In order to generate the same amount of energy, you'd need many, many more wind turbines and solar panels than you would oil derricks, destroying much more habitat.

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