Shut the hell up about the price of gas

I think it's pretty apparent I'm not the typical American. I served in the army in special forces. I have no clue what football and baseball are about, as I have just enough knowledge to be able to watch a game and only ask several stupid questions. I prefer euro sports, like cycling, golf, formula one and sports car racing to Nascar, MMA, and whatever other modern gladitorial spectacle is invented this week.

I'm getting this out in the open because I'm sick about the whining I hear regarding the price of gas. Also, I'm sick of hearing about the greenines who drive hybrids and how they think they are superior. So, here I go again ( a sub reference to Whitesnake for David Amulet) offering my solutions for a problem that we created.

First and foremost, the price of gas is not going down if you complain. Drive better, ie slower acceleration, a few mph slower on the highway, combine errands into one trip, etc. Watch how the gas seems to last longer. So we've already started to save some cash. Already we're making up ground.

Don't rush out to buy a new, more fuel efficient car. The resources that went into that car will expand your carbon footprint exponentially. Buy a well maintained, fuel efficient used car. I just sold my 1998 Honda Accord coupe and it got 36mpg on the highway. Even an older, well maintained car is better for the enviroment. I'm rebuilding my 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500. When finished, it'll get about 30mpg on the highway. The earth is thanking me for putting some personal effort forth to not use more resources, and also fill a landfill.

So we've now done what we can on the vehicle front to save money, use less gas, and hopefully stabilize the price for a little bit. But is that enough? No.

I was reading James May's column in the latest issue of Top Gear Magazine and he hit upon a fascinating concept. Basically, he realized that we get sucked in by advertisers and buy all kinds of crap we don't need. Pissed about the price of gas but were one the idiots to stand on line for hours to buy an iphone? That's a few hundred that could have gone towards gas if you were still using your old phone.

I have about 32 year's worth of tee shirts. I'm trying to use them up by working on my car in the oldest ones, then they bocome rags. Of course, it seems I end up with three of four shirts every time I race. So apparently I'm losing ground there. But the point James made was a great one. Why don't we use up the stuff we have, sell what we don't need, and use the savings for gas money?

Think of it. We save money, the enviroment is better off, and those products aren't in as much demand, so less gas and fuel is used. We all end up doing our part. Some will argue the lack of demand is bad for the economy, but that's another topic for another post.