Be an SC and Boycott Gas!

[edible_hat]

I feel the same way about Buy Nothing Day.

I deliberately go out and buy something I don't need on Buy Nothing Day.

The drastic drop in fuel prices are probably mostly due to the stock market collapse. A very significant chunk of the price of oil was from speculators. Since the stock market crashed all of those speculators lost a whole lot of money and have fled the oil market, thus, lower prices.

That's what I keep saying - the speculators ran out of money, and the price of oil now reflects actual demand.

[Mara-chan]

Yeah, I live exactly 4 miles from work, 1 mile from the gas station and grocery store (both on the way to work). The mall is right across the street from my work.

Four years ago, however, I used to drive 109 miles each way to visit my then fiance every week. My car doesn't mind the rest. ^_^

[Buglady]

Basically you'd have to switch to bicycles and walking to avoid using any gas for long enough.

Hi! That'd be me The bus pass included in my student fees helps too. (That said, I drove to my exam today because it was minus thirty before windchill and I didn't trust the bus to come before I froze bits off that I'd like to keep. But paying $6 to park for 2 hours reminded me why I hardly ever drive!).

[Polenicus]

People bitching about the price of gas make me angry...

[Rant Mode ON]

It's simple. Gasoline, and the Oil it's derived from, is a limited, non-renewable resource. We've known for DECADES that we'd have to find an alternative sooner or later, that it would become more scarce, and therefore more expensive. Hell, the 90's was all about alternative energy sources, and research into new fuels and such.

And what was the consumer response to all this? A sudden trend towards buying bigger, less fuel-efficient cars.

So, KNOWING that gas prices would inevitably rise, we've spend a good decade loading our garages with these monster SUV's and pickups, refusing to carpool, fighting rapid transit whenever it might impact OUR neighborhoods and generally succumbing to massive suburban sprawl.

Then prices suddenly spike... and it's the oil company's fault.

Y'know what? They charge you ridiculous prices because you'll pay it. And you'll pay it because you've left yourself no alternative. You want cheap gas, but you want your massive V8 full-size extended SUV, with A/C and heater blaring at the same time more. You want to be the only person in the vehicle every morning at 6am, along with every other person going to work, by themselves, in their own massive SUV or Pickup.

I spent too long working the parkade booth, watching person after person drive up, by themselves, in massive full-ton quad cab duallie pickup trucks that had never SEEN mud, much less left the nicely paved roads, and listen to them complain about the lack of parking, and the price of gas.

Right now? I take the bus. And I never worry about gas prices, and I never worry about parking. And when I do get a car, it'll be something small and modest. Why? Because I don't NEED anything more.

Doing Boycott Days is stupid. If you want things to change, the change has to start at home.

[Rant Mode OFF]

[Zeniq]

Wow, you can get by for a month on one tank? Lucky! I get ok mileage, but I have to drive pretty far every day for work, so I'm lucky if a tank lasts me 4 days.

[earl colby pottinger]

I am more

The drastic drop in fuel prices are probably mostly due to the stock market collapse. A very significant chunk of the price of oil was from speculators. Since the stock market crashed all of those speculators lost a whole lot of money and have fled the oil market, thus, lower prices.

Personally, I would say 40/20/40:

40% the demand for gas by people who thought they had money to burn for forever, and drove around in big, expensive, gas-gullzing SUVs.

40% the speculators, there were just too many times that there was a big jump in the price of oil with *ZERO* world news about OPEC, failing oil rigs/tankers, or infrastructure damage.

20% China's build up to the 2008 sport/tourist event. I always expect to see a huge drop in demand after it was over. It did take longer than I expected.

[Chromatix]

"Whenever investors believe that the price of a class of goods will rise indefinitely, it's called a bubble."

[Buglady]

Oh great. That describes the entire basis of North American capitalism...