Hooray for $4 Gas!

As someone who owns and uses a car, I am feeling the "pinch" of gas prices. However, for me, it will be a happy day when prices start topping 4 bucks a gallon.

Aside from the normal talking points about abrupt climate change and foreign oil reliance (which are still very applicable), I am more interested in the increased efficiency that high gas prices bring with them, because for me an efficient and heavily connected post-industrial society is vastly more important than simple conservation. It sounds like an odd stance for a staunch environmentalist, but it is one of the first steps toward a true global society and the prospects of the human race moving out into the solar system.

We have been derailed from that solar path. For me, the problems that we are facing now have always been a direct consequence of our failure to look far enough into the future and see the importance of mass transit and commuter/freight rail. In the 50s and 60s, gas was painfully cheap, and we made the decision to throw efficiency and systems thinking to the wind in favor of a more road-based mindset. Cars and trucks were affordable, and the rail lines languished. Rail has long been the most efficient means of transport that we have ever invented, but we ignored it because of the distributed nature of the automobile.

So now we are reaping what we have sown.



However, we are nothing if not adaptable.

Already, the suburbs are littered with people trying to sell off their trucks and SUVs. Freight rail transport is booming like it was the 20s (though that is bringing along its own issues). Americans are not stupid, we have simply not had any good reason to conserve. Sadly, this correction is turning out to be a painful one, as our cities have few options in the way of mass transit. Sure almost every city has buses, but buses are woefully inadequate once demand reaches a certain point, as they have to use the same clogged roads that cars do.

Minneapolis now has a new light rail line, and it is getting vastly more use than was expected. Plans are underway to expand it out into St Paul, which is exciting, but the timetable is somewhat disappointing. Not until 2014 will we be able to start riding it. Hopefully things will start speeding up as gas prices go higher and higher, but one can never be sure.

So while many people watch the rising gas prices go up with horror, I watch with tempered enthusiasm. Though I fully realize that the increase in price can be extremely damaging to certain people, I also see that the vitality of our cities could benefit greatly from the increased pressure of high-cost oil.

That is, however, provided that we are able to read the signs and know when to invest in the infrastructure that will mitigate the problem, as opposed to trying to offset fuel costs.

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