Let's face it. We are in a war for our own survival. Survival, of our way of life. The gas-guzzling, food-wasting, trash-producing, resource-wasting, fat-inducing, ignorance-accepting, drug-taking existence we've let ourselves become accustomed to.
This is not a war where we can choose to fight or not, pass an act of congress to declare, then draft and march our doughboys off to the front to do battle with the enemy we can see coming over the hill or hiding in the rice paddies or sand dunes. No, this is a more insidious conflict going on right under our noses. It is the war for world resources, and the primary one, the one currently getting the most attention, here, being not food, where the planet is still capable of meeting its needs, is oil.
Yet we make more cars. Well, there is some oil left, but at the rate we're using it, in the USA, in Russia, in China, in the developing world, it won't last long, even at todays prices, which are only the beginning of the increase. Yet we make more cars that use gasoline. And we keep our houses as 70 degrees toasty warm. What are we, crazy? But then, what choice do we have? We have a lot of choice. We can actually choose to use less oil. Of course we could get another kind of car, that burns hydrogen, but how much would that cost? We could buy another heater for the house, once again a major expenditure. More money, more planning, radical change.
What can we do RIGHT NOW? Today.
We can do three things:
First: Drive the speed limit. ONLY the speed limit, no faster. We all speed, admit it. We go 30 in a 25 zone, 42 in a 35 zone, 55 in a 45 zone, 75 on the interstate where the limit is 65. We know that the cops allow us a little leeway in the speed limit - a buffer - so we take it. Saves time, after all, and time is a major resource we don't want to waste. We get there quicker, so we speed. But think. If we all only went the speed limit, and no faster: 25 in a 25, 35 in a 35, etc., right on the nose - If we all did that, and everyone behind us had to slow down too, think of the gas it would save. Last year I drove 400 miles on interstate highways to my vacation, at 70-75 MPH, checked my mileage carefully, and got almost 30 miles-per-gallon. This year I did it differently, set the cruise control at 65 all the way on the interstate, and I installed a permanent air filter. Lo and behold! 37.73 Miles Per Gallon. Same car, same route, same weather. Last year, 13.5 gallons used. This year, 10.6 gallons used. Three gallons, twelve bucks saved one-way. Round trip: six gallons twenty four bucks saved.
"Zoom Zoom" say the ads. "Zero to sixty in 4 seconds" etc. But face it, cars are made to run most efficiently at lower speeds than ads. The advertising appeals to the ego, the sense of adventure, the libido, but the lower speeds appeal to the pocketbook, the intellect, the practical side, and with supply dwindling, practical beats adventure just as sure as paper covers rock, rock breaks scissors and scissors cut paper. Project that reduction on usage to 10,000 average mileage per car per year in the USA, and you've got billions of dollars saved, gazillions of gallons of oil still in the ground. These are conservative estimates, and they don't even count the savings on wear and tear of the vehicle.
The war is the human race against oil, against the limited resources of the planet. But here's a place where we can do, actually DO something about it now. Right NOW. You can do it, yes, you, yes WE Can. The less oil we use, the longer it lasts, the cheaper it is. Just drive the limit.
Keep tuned for Number two and Number three.
Henry Francisco, Special to
The Port Whitman Times
