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Burning up all the Gasoline for Fun| |  What would a person do if gasoline went from $2.50/gallon to $5.00/gallon?
I think that people would still buy gasoline. They wouldn't be
able to afford as much. They wouldn't just go for a drive.
But they would still buy it. Some people would end up spending
more money on gasoline than usual. That would leave less for fun
stuff like movies, games, and other stuff. 
 Could
the price go up to $5/gallon? Yes, absolutely. In fact,
there are millions of people that already pay that much. The
average price of gasoline in Europe is $5/gallon. Do you think
they're happy about that when we American's are paying half
that?  No, I don't think so.
So why is it so expensive there? Because in the USA, our tax
dollars help to lower the price of gasoline. A lot of tax money
is also used to pay for our military, which helps to keep our gasoline
(oil) supply flowing.
Should we be worried?  No, but we do need to know the facts.
It used to be that gasoline prices stayed steady. They were
steady because the more that people used, the more the Middle East
would pump out of the ground. When the USA wanted 18 million
barrels of oil per day, the Middle East would sell it to us. When
we wanted 20 million a day, the Middle East took care of that, too.
 The
fact is that we have already burned about half of the oil that was in
the Earth to start with. The Middle East, and the entire rest of
the world, is now pumping out oil as fast as they can. BUT, they
can't supply as much as the USA (or the world) want. We're
currently extracting about 85 million barrels per day, and that's
probably the most it will ever be.
So, what happens everyone wants to buy more, say 90 million barrels per
day, but there is only 85 million barrels per day? Very simple,
raise the price so that people can only afford to buy 85 million
barrels! During September, after hurricane Katrina, this is
EXACTLY what happened. What happened to the prices? They
went up by almost a dollar per gallon!
 The
secret that very few people are talking about is that we are sort of in
a crisis. We keep trying to buy more gasoline, but there is only
just enough, so the prices are going up. Its been almost three
years now that prices have been rising steadily on gasoline. We
pay $2.50/gallon, and in Europe, they pay $5.00/gallon.
Based on what I've learned, there will be much less oil in a few years
than there is now. Of course everyone will want it, and so the
price will go up fast. It might surprise you to think about
$25/gallon gasoline, but I suspect we will all see that.
 The
problem is that when we discovered about 100 years ago that oil could
be used to run automobiles, we started burning it up. The people
back then never seemed to care that oil is a non-renewable
resource. In other words, it doesn't come back once its burned up.
In the last 100 years, half of all the oil that will ever exist has
been burned up. That's the main reason we have global
warming. By burning the oil up, we're releasing all the carbon
dioxide in it. We now have about 40% more carbon dioxide in the
air than the earth normally has. That is a problem because the
climate is changing and the ecosystems are dying.
I am a little upset with myself even. I've burned up over 10,000
gallons of gasoline, just for my own cars. I also have spent at
least $500,000 in my lifetime (money I was paid for working).
Most of that money ended up getting spent on OTHER people buying oil or
gasoline. So in reality, I'm probably responsible for the burning
of like 100,000 gallons of gasoline or oil in my lifetime. Just
imagine how much pollution and carbon dioxide that must be.
 I
think this is the number one thing people don't realize. WE
create every single world problem by using money. Once we spend
the money, we are motivating someone, somewhere, to do something...
like cut down a tree or try to make something so cheap that there is
tons of pollution. Once we spend a dollar, it keeps motivating
people to do things as cheep as possible. The next person spends
it, then the next, and then the next... On and on, that dollar keeps
motivating people to do whatever it takes to get that dollar.
Even if we are really, really smart about it, and only buy things from
super good people, if they turn around and spend it buying from someone
that isn't super good, than its just like we were the buying from those
people in the first place.
 I'm
not the only one burning up all the oil. Everyone that spends
money is burning oil, whether they buy gasoline or not. Once a
person pays for something, the seller turns around and spends some on
gasoline, and then buys from other people, who also buy gasoline, and
so on. In the USA alone, we burn or use 20,000,000 gallons of
gasoline per day!!! That is 25% of what the world uses, and we
have less than 4% of the people!!! Plus, a lot of gasoline and
oil are used to provide the USA with products from China and other
countries, so we should really count that as well!
So, we are burning it up, and there is NOTHING that can replace what
we're using up. I feel a bit sad when I imagine young people
thinking that they are going to be driving cars or going into outer
space... It takes a lot of gasoline to drive a car and a lot of
energy to get into outerspace. I don't think its going to
happen. 
Is this a problem? No, not if we know what is going on so that we can take action. 
In Michigan, for example, we need to put up lots of wind powered
electric generators. If we don't, we won't have enough
electricity and we'll be all siting in the dark all the time.
People in Michigan also need to find jobs where super-high oil and
gasoline prices aren't a problem.
 For
me, I'll probably end up riding a bike or a moped to school
everyday. I won't have to worry about cars because so few people
will be paying $25/gallon, that the roads will be practically empty,
except for everyone else riding bikes and things.
Another reality is that I'm going to have to come up with a new way to
heat my home. This winter, I paid like $1,000 just for the
propane. The price of that is going up just like gasoline, so
when gasoline is $25/gallon, I'd be paying $15,000 just for heating my
home each year.
That's not going to happen because I'm going to figure out a way to
heat my house without propane. There are things called heat pumps
that pump heat into the house from out of the ground. That's one
choice I'm thinking about. Another choice is super-insulating the
house, and then making a sun room that sucks up the heat during the
sunny daytime and lets it out at night. There are actually houses
in Michigan that already do that, so I'd like to visit a few.
 The
last big reality that grocery stores and quick marts are not going to
have much food when oil gets really expensive. That's because
people aren't going to buy a $10 bunch of bananas all the way from
South America. People aren't going
to pay $20 for a pound of hamburger either. The higher the price
of oil goes, the more expensive all the food in the grocery store will
be.
The solution is that I know I can grow food of my own. I used to
help my family with a garden, and we had really good food from
it. I'm lucky and have over an acre of land that I could grow
food on. That would probably be enough food for up to 10 people
if everyone pitched in and made sure to keep the garden healthy.
Some of that food could be stored until winter time as well. I
think I'd also have a growing room on the house to grow stuff in the
winter. That would have to be different from the sun room because
the sun room would get too hot for growing plants.
 Oops,
one more issue. I think it's entirely possible that money
(dollars, pennies, etc.) might lose their value and be essentially
worthless.  This has
happened in other countries. The solution is to make a system of
buying or trading that doesn't involve money. It could be sharing
things, or having coupons to trade, or something, but money might just
be worthless.
Of course, its very difficult to predict some things in the future, and
I hope I'm wrong about all the tough things that are going to
happen. On the other hand, I don't want to be stuck not knowing
what is going on or what to do. Sitting around and whining and
complaining are not going to help anyone when things become challenging.
 This
is why its so important that people really learn things that will be
useful in the future. Skills like being a leader, knowing how to
learn new things by looking stuff up, knowing how to talk to people to
learn stuff and get them to help... all of these skills are going to be
very important. It makes me sad to think that so many people are
just floating around, playing all day long, and not really talking,
thinking, or planning about anything in the future.
So many people just watch TV, surf the net, play X-Box, and waste their
days away. I know. I've been a TV addict. I probably
have spent 10,000 hours in front of the TV. Now I feel like I've
wasted all that time. No more of that. I don't watch TV
shows anyone. I'd rather go spend time with people, and chatting,
and writing, and doing real things. I changed, so I know other
people can as well. 
 The
young people especially need to recognize that if they want a nice
world to live in, they are going to need to help take over, with other
serious good people, so that there is something left for the
future. Right now, our civilization is destoying the planet a
little piece at a time. Global warming is going through the
roof. Ice caps are melting. Hurricanes are getting worse
every year. Air and water pollution is killing people. The
horrible food that corporations sell is making everyone fat. We
are sending all our money to China and India to buy things, which means
there's no money left for people's jobs in Michigan.
We have to remember that we are doing it to ourselves. Most of us
never think about anything but "how cheap is it?" when we buy
things. Every purchase we make like that destroys the planet a
little bit more.
Its time to get serious. This planet is in our hands. We
can either use it all up, like we have been for the past few hundreds
of years, or we can take action and create a better future for
ourselves, our friends, our families, and someday, our children and
grandchildren.
Good luck and stay safe!
| | | Posted 3/19/2006 10:11 AM - 96 Views - 14 eProps - 10 comments
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