GAS!! GRRR!!

I hear ya. The news this week said they have had more people file bankrupt in the last 2 months than in years. It's killing us. Plus our hydro has gone up. I'm still trying to get caught up on my gas bill. I don't know how we are going to do it. My husband is the only one that works, yet the gov't cuts my  child tax in half because we are in a higher income bracket. I'd like the bastards to come see how we are living and then tell me we are well off.
 
 I really wish people would stand up to this crap and boycott the gas stations for a whole 24 hours. Problem is everyone would rather B*&ch than do anything.
 
Phew... sorry, this just makes me really mad

Woo Hoo fun!  Gas in upstate NY is running between $2.98-$3.29.  Wait till summer..I won't be going on any vacations or any unecessary trips.  Going to have to make all my trips worthwhile and take care of as many things as I can in one trip.

I got gas here in up-state NY after work today.  $3.09 for regular.  I was wondering what the other parts of the country is paying.  Wish I could walk to work or ride a bike.  Makes me mad too.    [:@]

A TV documentary a couple of weeks ago showed how Brazil is totally, completely energy independent.  They had the good sense and foresight to start switching to ethanol (which is a product of corn) after the energy crisis in the 70s. North America is a pretty big continent what with the US, Mexico and Canada.  Wouldn't you think between the 3 countries we could do the same thing?

Whoa, guess I should quit my biatching about our $2.63. [link>http://tinyurl.com/mms28]http://tinyurl.com/mms28[/link]
 
 

Yup its over $3 here too

when i went home at lunch the gas was still $2.75 for regular in upstate south carolina. our gas prices have been really unstable and have jumped as much as $0.15 in less than a day. i would ride my bike to work, except that i dont like risking my life twice a day. the suv/pick-up/mini-van drivers around here are bad enough, but i pass by a wal-mart and that is sheer terror in a car much less on a bike.

ORIGINAL: fuzzy_dogs_mom

A TV documentary a couple of weeks ago showed how Brazil is totally, completely energy independent.  They had the good sense and foresight to start switching to ethanol (which is a product of corn) after the energy crisis in the 70s. North America is a pretty big continent what with the US, Mexico and Canada.  Wouldn't you think between the 3 countries we could do the same thing?

i thought the same thing, however i also read a study on how much corn we would have to produce to supply enough ethanol to be completely oil free in the US and there just isnt enough open land or farm land to support it.

i think the technology that sounded the most interesting to me is the hydrogen powered cars. oil free and enviornmentally friendly. the by-product is water. of course i guess there would be the potential of flash-flooding on the main arteries at rush hour [8D]

It was 2.94 a gallon here on Sunday...have no idea how high it's climbed now.

Boycotting gas stations isn't going to help.  You'll just buy gas before or after that day so you won't hurt the oil companies one bit.  What everyone needs to do is to conserve.

Back in the early 70's we had another contrived shortage.  We were on odd/even rationing and could buy 10 gallons at a time.  We learned to do things like combine our trips.....ONE trip to do everything, not several.  Drop off the dry cleaning on the way to work, pick up groceries on the way home from work, etc.

In that day, the 8 cylinder vehicle ruled the road.  Shortly after that, 6's became more acceptable and GASP, even 4 cyclinder vehicles.  Cars got smaller, more fuel efficient.  Then, somehow, we forgot the lessons of the past and size started to creep up.  The family station wagon became the family minivan, and then the SUV that gets 3 miles per gallon......combining trips became something most folks didn't do....just some of us old farts who remembered sitting in line for 3 hours to buy 10 gallons of gas.  Planning ahead and getting EVERYTHING you need for the week in one trip was something us OLD people do, not something that the young, upwardly mobile folks do.  Carpooling?? Gosh, do people still DO that?  Let the kids take the BUS to school?  Public transportation?  Who does THAT?

We all moan and groan about the high cost of gas, but WE have the power to lower the demand by taking a few simple steps to decrease  our own consumption.  Some of our driving can't be avoided.  And that's ok.  But a LOT can.  And if every driver can conserve just ONE gallon of gas each week, think of the billions of gallons of gas that will be added to the supply.

i wish public transportation was an option here. we have a handful of buses that have to cover large areas, so even if one came by it might take 1-2 hours (maybe more if i had to transfer) to get to work after i got on the bus. i dont think my boss is quite that flexible. they wonder why no-one takes the buses here. i say if the schedules arent reliable then it isnt an option.

this is how we are trying to conserve gas... we both drive 4 cyl. cars, dont go anywhere on the weekends (most of the time), and wont be taking a vacation this year (cant afford to drive and cant take the dogs with us if we fly).

Absolutely there IS a problem with public transportation.  Not enough people USE it for it to pay for itself so they cut back the number of buses, cut back the routes,etc.  But this is in direct response to.....well, US.  Our new house is 5.2 miles from the bus stop.  DH's job is 25 miles from home.  Guess who'll be taking the bus once we get moved?  The couple bucks per day he'll spend on bus fare is NOTHING to what it would cost to travel 125 miles each week.

That'd be nice, but not all cities public transportation is commuter friendly. Oklahoma City's is geared much more toward low income transportation. I could drive 16 miles to the closest stop and leave my car in a ghetto convience store parking lot all day and get off within 2 miles of work in an area I'd rather not walk through... or I can just drive to 30 miles to work. Guess which one I'm picking?

i can understand your situation, my dad travels 30 miles one way to and from work and there is no public transportation where they live. but i work 7 miles from home and the bus stop is about a mile away. by the time i got up early walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus, i could have slept in and driven to work in WAY less time. i wish i knew some people in my neighborhood that worked near me as i definitely would carpool.

you are definitely right about public transportation. a couple of years ago they were going to totally disband the bus system here, but a philanthropist donated a large sum of money to not only keep it going but increase the number of bus lines. since that time so few people are riding buses that they have slowly started reducing the number of bus lines. the more they reduce the lines the less people that ride. eventually we will be where we were before and there will be talk of disbanding the bus system again.

i think the technology that sounded the most interesting to me is the hydrogen powered cars. oil free and enviornmentally friendly. the by-product is water. of course i guess there would be the potential of flash-flooding on the main arteries at rush hour

 
 
Except hydrogen gas isn't just floating around everywhere. It's not a very stable compound and quickly binds to other atoms (like oxygen). So, at least this is what I gathered in Gen Chem last week (my instructor specifically mentioned hydrogen powered cars); we would just be defering pollution and reliance onto yet another fossil fuel : coal. I, personally, like the thought of ethanol or another biofuel. Right now, I wish there were more E-85 models and stations. Regardless, I really think we need to get off the fossil fuels, for more than one reason.
 
I, for one, am sick of SUVs, pick-ups and minivans. I have no problem with people who actually use them for the purpose... but these people who drive around Yukon XLs, Hummers, and Excursions just as a status symbol need to rethink their priorities(especially the ones that turn around and whine and complain about global warming). -sorry, this is a tangent part.