We are not addicted to oil.

We are not addicted to oil. We are addicted to taking our kids to school, driving our parents to their doctors and transporting food from farms to cities. When crude exceeds $75 a barrel, it becomes increasingly expensive to perform these tasks. We need to exhaust all options. We need to conserve, make optimum use of our resources. We need to continue to import foreign oil while expanding off-shore drilling at home. We need to drill in Alaska. We need an ongoing effort to develop alternative fuels for the future.

 

But the population IS addicted to oil. An addiction doesn't necessarily entail a necessity though, it means a WANT.

We WANT to drive our kids two blocks in our giant SUV's

We WANT to buy food that has been transported thousands of miles because it's just more conveniant that way.

Etc...

Big companies are making an awful lot of money on this "oil" thing, and why would you switch? I mean, our economy is pretty much based on the thing, and that's not just things like transportation (and that ENTIRE industry, which is huge to begin with! Think buses, planes, trucks etc), but industries, electricity and so many more!

And on TOP of that, many countries depend on out dependancy on oil to keep their economy going, and we first-world countries take full advantage.

Politicians don't listen to reason when the dollar sign is planted on one fork of the road right away, and the dollar sign on the other side is barely visible. They go into office for a TERM, therefore they are only allowed to think short-term, why would they do it any other way?

Alberta is a prime example. Ralph Klein is currently on a Washington promotion of oilsands (as a "reliable" source of energy) responded to Al Gore's comment that the US should reduce their dependancy on oil with:

"The simple fact is America needs oil. They need gas, and unless he (Gore) can find another source, fine."

*Shakes head sadly* And that's a canadian!

 

According to a conversation I had last fall at a gas station with a guy driving alone in a GMC Denali XL, "We need to survive somehow".

 

I hear a lot of whining 'bout these so-called SUVs, but what really bothers me are snowmobiles. Those things get only a few miles per gallon, and the idots ridin' 'em are usually bar-hoppin'.

 

There's a whole lot more SUVs than there are snowmobiles.

 

I'm addicted to oil !
I hate to say it but I fix up every night with a litre of
high grade engine oil

 

I hate the fact that you all complain about seeing a lone person in an SUV or pickup truck. The fact of the matter is that some of these people use their vehicle for their intended use, hauling stuff, just because they don't always haul things doesn't mean that you should condemn them.

 

And how do you suggest we feed the urban population?

 

And they're capable of hauling a whole lot more.

 

wow ...were the fuck do you live ?

 

yeah ....they haul their boats, quad bikes, sand rails, snow mobiles, travel trailers with two slide outs and a hot tub.....those poor bastards

and they need to add those extra large rims and jack that thing up high so they can see where there pecker is.......

 

Yea, people haul their boats, some of them make their living on the water, fishing, crabbing, and such. Jacked up trucks, used to go across fields and mud to get to their jobs.

 

WI

 

Some people might need their trucks & SUV's for jobs or whatever, that's not the problem. The problem is that they've become trendy and people who never go off-roading or just plain don't need an SUV drive them because they're popular. We ought to pressure the auto makers to increase fuel efficiency or at least make all SUVs hybrids.

Of course we're addicted to oil, it's what runs our country. It's a finite resource and one that is dwindling fast. Drilling in Alaska & increasing off-shore drilling are only a temporary solution and won't get us far at all (not to mention will F*CK up what very little un-raped wilderness is left in Alaska). What we need to do is figure out alternatives and start letting our dollars do the talking (i.e. don't buy from automakers who refuse to increase fuel efficiency & use alternative energy). Or, what I'm doing, is converting our vehicle to run off waste vegetable oil and bio-diesel. Not a difficult conversion at all, and the fuel will be free, but for some reason most Americans are too lazy to make changes like this.

It's going to take a major shift in consciousness to get people to change thier lifestyles, drive less (or not at all), reorganize cities so people don't have to rely on cars to get around, and focus on alternatives. But I'm confident it will happen. Might take a catastrophe and peak oil, but hopefully people will come around and realize that things need to change, NOW.

 

haha....yeah right most SUVs and trucks are owned by subburanites and they do not even go off road with them...

 

We're addicted to the freedom that oil provides us (with our cars and such; our freedom would be reduced, at the moment, without oil). We need to simply find alternatives transportation forms. Simply HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH

 

Just because they don't go offroad doesn't mean shit. If they use it to haul something that couldn't be hauled in a car, then they used it right.

 

haha......haha.......haha..........if..

yeah a few of them might need it ............most dont

 

I cant recall the last time I saw an SUV hauling a crab boat, much less an SUV with a speck of mud on it. I realize the point youre trying to make is that some people use trucks for their intended use. But the large majority of SUV owners dont realistically need a sport utility vehicle for everyday commuting to an office job. In fact, the primary justification for buying them goes along the lines of surrounding oneself with as much physical car as one can in the event of an accident. This suggests that drivers would rather have cushion around them when they bump into things instead of learning to not bump into things. Like other drivers. The logic goes that I have to have the biggest car on the road to protect myself. If everyone applies that logic, then it becomes a war of neverending escalation for biggest car size.

Besides, the safety issue is stupid because theres plenty of normal passenger cars that have higher safety ratings than large SUVs.

 

Well, that's a shame that you can't see SUV's used for their intended purpose, but I do see them used correctly everyday, so maybe I'm biased.