The Millennial Files

If You Want to Change Gas Prices, Change Your Habits

Lately I have been getting emails advocating boycotting Exxon-Mobil as a way of forcing the company to lower its gas prices. On its face, it sounds good, but I have been boycotting Exxon-Mobil for at least three years, and have yet to see them send me a discount coupon to get me to patronize their stations.

What is really needed is a paradigm shift in our day-to-day living. The logic of boycotting one company in sufficient numbers to force them to lower their prices ignores the notion of curbing our own dependence on oil, and looks like an attempt to having our cake and eat it. Never mind that current fossil fuel use is speeding up global warming.

Also, oil companies are closely linked, and if one company has a surplus, they can probably sell it wholesale at any price they want, to the other companies like Chevron, BP & Shell. This will be done without our knowledge, so the only thing that will change is where we buy the same gas.

If we are going to be able to have any impact on the world as well as gas prices, we will have to change our own attitudes toward public transportation and energy-efficient cars. If we are all to stop ourselves from being at the mercy of Big Oil, we have got to stop depending on their products. People who have SUV’s need to learn how to do without them — not necesarrily sell them, but let them sit in a driveway two or three days a week by carpooling or taking the bus to work. Americans have a reputation for not being able or willing to sacrifice, and as long as that holds true, Big Oil will have nothing to worry about. If we really want to make a difference, we have to make things different — which includes our own habits. Otherwise, we are just stubborn, spoiled children trying to get our way.

If more people in LA used light rail and the buses, there would be no discussion about raising fares for those with no other choice.Furthermore, if the Peak Oil theory plays itself out, we will all be in the same boat eventually, so we might as well start getting used to living like the rest of the world. Who knows? Driving down demand may not be so bad after all.