http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arctic.asp


If you are not aware of this impending vote in congress which will pave teh way for new drilling for OIL in The Alaskan refuge, suggest you investigate this and speak up.

IMO- if drilling in the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge is allowed--

we are truly in the handbasket on the way down the one way ride.

I'd say it's pretty much inevitable at this point. I don't know why anyone's expecting anything different from the same Congress that passed the recent joke of an energy bill. We'll be drilling for oil until the last drop is gone. Then maybe we'll start thinking about alternatives.

Can't get oil from the middle east because it causes terrorism, can't get it from Alaska because it hurts the environment.

I guess we'll just have to stop driving our cars.
Are you with me Dougie?

im not too sure how i feel about this.......

We seriously need to throw in all the mony we can into researching and developing solar energy, the potential is incredible.

Not to mention that with the recent spike in gas prices, the public sentiment is probably not going to give a rat's ass about saving the environment if there can be a decrease, however temporary, in the cost to fill up your car.

i guess were pretty much at the point where were fucked..i mean, yeah we can explore and research all the alternatives we want, but how long unitl somethin comes out of it..it can happen, but will take years and years..but until then, were pretty much at the arabs or whoevers mercy with this fuckin oil situation..im not sure how long we can go on paying this much for gas..this drilling thing will probably fuck everything up in the longrun, butwe may be at the point where we have no choice..

I designed, built, developed and raced solar cars for 5 years while doing my undergrad in mechanical engineering, and let me tell you, don't hold your breath. What can be done is indeed amazing, but there is NO WAY that solar energy will be a viable solution in the transportation industry. You just can't generate enough power from an array the size of a passenger car. It is absolutely a great idea to put a solar panel on the roof of your house to cut down your energy bill. If every home in the southwest, mexico, the middle east and Australia had one (and other sunny climates), then you would see some real, meaningful changes in fuel consumption.

But don't expect to see solar power replacing gasoline any time soon. Don't expect any miracle scientific solutions. We as a society can not afford to maintain our gas-guzzling lifestyle. he only real way to solve these problems are to make sacrifices and change the way we live and travel. Buy a smaller car, car pool with your co-workers, move closer to work.

I know, I sound preachy, but the only alternative is the path we're on now. Rape our earth until it can't bleed another drop with exponentially increasing environmental and geopolitical problems along the way. It's going to be a fun ride.

I hope you mean, "I don't know how long the American public will stand for it, even though they should", cause there is no way we should be bitching as much as we are about gas prices. Numerous Americans drive gas-guzzling SUVs, pick-ups, etc...we make little attempt at public transportation, or riding a bike, or walking. Yet we bitch about gas prices that are far less than a vast number of other countries in the world. Look, I have to drive to work, I wish gas was 30 cents a gallon, but I have trouble complaining about $3/gal when it's $6 in Europe.

to be fair, we have been so dependant on gas and lower gas prices that pub trans isnt really a viable option for most of the country.....

Thats my problem. I would love to ride the bus/train/subway/whaatever to school (especially since my car is dying a prolonged and agonizing death which involves shutting off for no reason at stoplights), but there is no public transportation that would be practical.

I dont know why so many people think it's up to the government to solve all the energy problems. It's not. Although they certainly have the power to help one way or the other, the real change will happen within the industry itself and with you and me. People still want to drive their stupid fucking Hummers. How is that the governments fault? Once gas prices get to $5 a gallon, we'll see some more urgent changes in the industry and how people think about their resource consumption.
Heck, down the street from my house, the cheap gas reads $3.30 already. I'm glad I have my Prius...any bicycle

Everyone who's driving a Hummer is paying for it.

As to this:

if you can afford to drive a hummer, $3.50 a gallon is not going to kill you

I bought my Hummer with food stamps.

This is true, but people who'll still drive gas-guzzlers will typically feel hard-hit since the majority don't have that kind of money. Like Buggy said, they'll know when the prices continue to spike, except I think it's starting to happen now. My brother and my cousin, for instance, drive large family SUVs (typically by themselves) and have both been forced to seriously cut down on driving.

As gas prices get higher, consumption will get lower. There's no constant need for fuel at the rate it's being used today.

While Katrina has spiked the oil prices, the consumption of China and India are the real reasons oil has gone higher and will continue to get higher. In the next few years, a barrell of oil will be $100.00. The need is in these developing countries.

Gas in Seattle is roughly the same as it was 2 weeks ago. :shrugs:

Forbes predicts the oil bubble will burst by next summer anyway, dropping prices back to 30-40 dollars/barrel.

Drill in Alaska. I did some investigating; the caribou absolutely LOVE us up there! They fuck like maniacs around those pipes, as if they're some kind of technological aphrodisiac. I get the same way around hot dogs. OOOO.

You probably know better than I, but I don't believe that solar energy is out of the question. Solar panels on a car may not work, but large solar arrays and electric cars are the future.