Now that the oil giants have finally, really and truly, gotten our attention, I’d like to offer a few thoughts. These are nothing new. As the song goes: “You’ve been told many times before/messiahs pointed to the door/ no one had the guts to leave the temple.”

Every single time I see reaction to the price spikes at the pump, someone says words to this effect: “Well, they have us over the proverbial barrel, don’t they? I mean, we have to drive sometimes, the tank needs to be filled ...” We’ve been saying that to our selves since the gas crisis of ‘73! Isn’t it about time we did something about it?

The oil companies repeat the mantra of supply and demand. We jump into the family wagon, with this combination of thoughtless thoughts in our heads, toward the daily work commute. I’d like to see if I can help fuel a burgeoning revolution.

Here are some things we can do - or lobby for -right away:

1. Vote with our purchasing power. We are consumers, we can shop a little for the best prices we can get. The more radical among us could cut up our gas credit cards [we still have the others, Visa and such]. Give the giants a real lesson in supply and demand. Sure, they supply the independents, but the indies run a smaller margin.
2. Investigate, advocate, and promote alternatives! One of the better possibilities I’ve seen are called PHEVs [Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles]. One of the best web sites to check out: www.calcars.org. They link the web-surfer to other sites ... It makes sense to purchase one of these ‘runabouts’ for the daily commute. They have a sufficient range to handle all but the meanest commutes. The vehicles that are converted are 2004-2006 Toyota Prius - certainly full size enough for a commute car! We seem to have hundreds of billions to throw away on wars to insure the flow of oil, don’t we? Wouldn’t it be an easy matter to subsidize the manufacture and purchase of this promising alternative?
3. Continue to write to congress-people. Party affiliation doesn’t matter. The more they hear from us, the more likely that action will be taken – especially now, when the Politicos have finally gotten into the mindset to promote alternatives!
4. Bring online - provide incentives for, and/or subsidize as much green technology as is possible, as quickly as it can be done. Finance it as we would for #2.
5. Let’s quit using fuel crops for the conversion to bio-fuels! Ethanol, for example, can - and in Brazil, has - been produced more efficiently using sugar cane. That isn’t, strictly speaking, a ‘food crop’ - sugar is a sweetener, and there are alternatives. Besides which, it’s being shown to be not so healthy as a food additive. Didn’t we grow it in the past, in Hawaii, Louisiana, and/or California? Couldn’t we revive that practice? Didn’t we also grow sugar beets in the northern climes? See a pattern?

There are things we can do - we are not over the proverbial barrel as much as some think we are. If we think we are, though – then we are! It’s really our choice.