Footprints

by Budd Glassberg

Reprinted with permission from the Zionsville Times Sentinel on August 8, 2007

Do You Have Gas?

“Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground.” - Peacemaker, founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, (ca. 1000 AD)

Walking to work, I had a daydream that would not go away. The dream came about while I was walking on the side of State Road 334 heading east into the village. There was no sidewalk there and I began to think how little things in our community discourage walking as a means of commuting. There are some very good reasons why this is so, the most compelling being that very few people outside of major cities do any commuting on foot. Our society is geared toward use of the automobile not just for commuting, but for nearly every short distance we travel. In my daydream, I wondered what might change if petroleum suddenly became scarce. Walking to work I had time to reflect for a while about this. Please join me in this little exercise.

Just for a minute, suppose gasoline was rationed at fifteen gallons per household per month. Now presume that the cost of the fuel was raised to five dollars per gallon. That would bring the household monthly cost of gasoline to $75 a month and probably less than most households currently spend. For this moment, try to imagine the planning of your family’s auto trips to conserve the precious fuel. Picture some of the changes this would bring about in your life and the lives of your neighbors.

Perhaps you can see, as I did, how wasteful we have become in our random use of fossil fuels. I know it is unnecessary for me to drive to the park to run in the morning. Often I drive to the grocery store for an item I could have picked up with other groceries had I planned my prior excursion a little better. Without even a thought, I jump in the car to go to the library when I have plenty of time to walk there. That drive-through at the bank seems so much more convenient than parking and walking into the building. What changes would we make if we no longer could afford to habitually climb in our autos whenever we needed to travel?

This daydream is not only about sacrifice. Our reliance on the car has contributed in part to our obesity and poor health. Certainly less driving and more walking could be beneficial in that regard. Fewer driving trips would also benefit our air quality. With less fuel available, people would need to live closer to where they work which might reduce the congestion of our roads.

By the time I reached my office, I had concluded that my generation, the baby boomers, and the generation we are raising have never had to sacrifice the way our ancestors had. What’s more, we appear to be negligent about the preservation of a comfortable life style for our children’s children. With little regard for the wasteful use of nonrenewable resources, we continue to squander precious fuels that will no longer be available after we are gone. Many in our generation are pinning their hopes on technology to provide the fuels of the future. Others would sacrifice our young in wars to keep feeding our country’s demand for fuel which has rapidly surpassed our supply. As more developing countries in the world see their demand for fuels rising, how long can we claim the right to protect our way of life, when we are so blatantly careless with the fuel we have.

Perhaps it is time for the “now” generation to step up to the plate and begin to sacrifice for the generations to follow us. Doing this now may help those who follow us to value what we have rather than believe it is their birthright to use the earth’s fuels without regard to others. Unfortunately, voluntary conservation has not worked in the past. Rationing of fuel use for non-work related travel may be too invasive and difficult to enforce. Historically, our citizens have responded to situations which have affected them financially. Fuel providers have long been aware of this and are masters at gradually decreasing supply to raise the price of oil just high enough to keep the demand up. Each rise in price is followed, after a time, with a smaller decline to lessen the impact. This slowly gets us used to the idea of accepting the current price, while keeping the public firmly adhered to the oil teat.

The most effective way of defeating this cycle is by making individual decisions to cut our fuel consumption. Whether by purchasing more fuel efficient autos, cutting our current driving trips, using public transportation, car pooling, or driving at speeds which will not waste gasoline, each of us is able to play a part in how our country uses scarce resources. The government will not take the lead. The answer to this problem lies with each of us making individual choices and sacrifices.

During the early 1940’s a whole generation learned to forgo many of the amenities of their lives in order to fight a war and save future generations from a world they refused to allow. It is time for us to behave as responsibly.

Budd Glassberg is a 23 year resident of Zionsville who works and volunteers in the community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.