Cultural Change and the Price of Gas

The ever-increasing cost of gasoline and its attendant effects are spawning cultural changes, a phenomenon that should not be unexpected given the intimate relationship between our daily lives and the automobile. For example, attitudes toward public transit are changing. Bus passenger counts are up. New forms of mass transit are getting serious discussion, particularly in central city locations. In time, riding the bus will be socially acceptable and the availability of public transit systems will be factored into decisions for the location of housing, business or employment. As the pinch at the pump escalates, car-pooling programs are no longer falling on deaf ears, Large SUVs, the ultimate family conveyance, designed to provide crash-safety are on the way out, as smaller vehicles with greater fuel economy take their place. Road rage incidents will decline as the need for speed and unimpeded driving is foregone in favor of gas conservaion. Trip planning is being practiced to minimize travel distances and frequency. Teenage behavior will take an unpredictable turn as cruising becomes prohibitively expensive. Overall, health will improve from greater exercise. The higher cost of food will reduce food intake and the number and extent of over-weight people will subside. Bicycles will become popular again as pedal power replaces piston power for short trips.

This is an opportunity for readers to comment on any cultural changes they anticipate will occur due to the price of oil. All one need do is to think of a behavior that is intimately associated with the automobile or economically related to the price of fuel, and voila, a change is in the wind. So far, there are a lot of people wishing the price of fuel would come down and fewer realizing that it is they who must adapt, because the cost of a gallon of gas is not going down. If anything, it will go higher. So folks better quit yappin' and start adappin'.