Time to really conserve

There’s this person who lives in my neighborhood. Not on my street,

but not far away. I have seen this person many times over the past

three years, just as I have seen many people in the neighborhood,

performing the daily rituals we all choose to perform.

This able-bodied person chose last week to drive to the market to

get a small bag of groceries. The market is about a half a mile away,

perhaps a little more, but not much. Let’s say three-quarters.

I was able to notice this, as I have noticed many other people and

activities over the past three years, because I try as much as

possible to run similar errands on my bike. Doing so gives me the

luxury of noticing what others miss as they speed by in the comfort

of their automobiles.

I was able to notice the trip, as you may already have guessed,

because the ride to the supermarket and back took me the same amount

of time that it took to drive it.

Plus, I got some exercise instead of fouling the air and using a

finite resource to get an onion for the stew for dinner.

This story came to mind as I read that President Bush is urging

fuel conservation. In 2005, after decades of encouraging consumption,

this oil man is now telling us to take it easy.

Bush’s conservation plan is a short-term one that includes

releasing oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserves in order to meet

demand and reduce price increases that were caused by hurricanes

Katrina and Rita.

Am I the only one who noticed that oil prices shot up long before

the hurricanes hit?

Oh, you noticed that, too?

As soon as there is more production, which the president will

encourage by giving tax breaks to his oil friends so they can build

more refineries, and as soon as the gulf facilities are back on line,

and as soon as we’re burning the oil that was set aside for national

defense, he will once again be telling us all is well.

He will do that in order to protect the interests of some major

U.S. corporations, such as the oil industry, the automobile

manufacturers, tire companies and so on.

In short, Bush is doing what any ordinary politician is doing: He

is protecting the status quo. This is not a conservation plan; it’s a

consumption plan -- a political move to trick us into believing that

pumping more oil out of the ground will solve all our problems.

A conservation plan offers tax breaks across a wide spectrum of

the development of alternative fuels. It encourages people to walk or

to ride bikes or scooters for short trips, such as the one my

neighbor took. It encourages people to “green” their lives by helping

them understand that oil consumption is not limited to the gasoline

we pump into our cars; that everything we buy has to be produced and

transported and that the price of each product we buy includes the

cost of a finite oil supply.

A real conservation plan has the president touring a solar heating

factory or a recycling plant and offering them the same perks he is

giving his cronies.

A real conservation plan has the president raising the minimum

miles per gallon requirement on cars and supporting the research and

development of more efficient ways or transporting ourselves.

A real conservation plan stops the madness of more and more

freeway construction, which only encourages more driving, which only

uses more gasoline.

A real conservation plan encourages telecommuting, a subject not

new to this space, in which existing technology is used to allow

people to work from home rather than drive their cars to another

location. Millions of people in this country could do that if only

someone such as the president would encourage their employers to

develop telecommuting programs.

But the president won’t tour a solar plant. He won’t “green up”

the White House -- imagine solar panels on the roof! And he won’t

support telecommuting, because in the end, he is a weak environmental

leader and resource manager.

In this time of crisis, he is proving to have no more vision or

forethought than any other politician. A case could be made that he

has less.

As with our self-protection and preservation in a natural disaster

such as an earthquake, the biggest mistake you and I can make is to

rely on the federal government to bail us out of our energy jam. If

you need proof that you’re going to be on your own, read the

highlights of the president’s so-called conservation plan.

The best thing you can do right now is to plan ahead. It doesn’t

take a math whiz to realize that if we’re going to continue to

consume two barrels of oil for every one we produce, before long,

we’re going to run out. But as long as gas is still relatively

affordable -- and for nearly all readers, it is -- take the time to

plan a life with half of the gasoline you use today.

Live close to work, schools and food sources. If you are able, use

a bike or scooter for short trips. Better still, walk.

Most important: Tell the president and your local politicians what

you think.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to [email protected].

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