Driving Less

A new survey proves we're using our cars less since the humungous increase in the price of gas. We've been inundated with threats of global warming partially due to the emissions from our cars but the threats didn't stop us from driving. Cost will do it, though.

If we have to pay a few dollars more to drive a few miles less then maybe it's all worth it...especially to the planet.

I tend to scoot about at a whim because I have the time to do that but now I plan my driving so that everything can be done in one trip. A big loss is not feeling free to just go for a long drive on a Sunday because the cost of the gas is a put-off. It takes about $80 to fill my tank from empty and a long drive would probably use up half of that. I have to question whether it's better to go on the drive or lounge in the yard and the yard has won the battle this year.

I'm sure businesses are suffering because fewer people are taking to the road and that's a sad by-product of our present situation. There will be job loss and increased prices for goods of all kinds which could push us into a depression. The upside is that our planet and the life on it will improve.

Car manufacturers probably could have produced vehicles years ago that didn't depend on gas and that wouldn't foul the air but they didn't. Maybe now we'll see a new breed of automobile better suited to the environment and to our pockets. I believe all industry is controlled by a select few of incredibly rich individuals who produce a product designed to further enrich them. They aren't concerned with ecology. What will get their attention is the reaction of the buying public and, apparently, we've spoken. We're tired of paying through the nose for our vehicles of transportation and are closing our wallets. That should scare the heck out of them.

In the meantime, the roads are slightly less congested and the air is slightly cleaner. We can live with that.