ECadmin 2 June 2008 Articles, CreationCare 1,830 views 5 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

With the cost of regular gas now at $4.00 a gallon or higher, there is much talk about the “pain at the pump” and what effects this will have on people’s lives, the development of alternative energy sources, and so on. A few comments.

First, I have trouble when I see news reports showing people who are overweight or obese pumping gas into their big SUVs while they complain about fuel prices. It just doesn’t ring true. I don’t mean to be uncharitable, but are we a nation of spoiled fat cats or what? Why are fuel (and food which could be thought of as “people fuel”) high? Look around you! Two out of three of us are overweight or obese, and our garages and roads are clogged with vehicles, many of which are far larger and more powerful than they need to be. Nations like China and India are now fast approaching the level of consumerism that we have been “enjoying” for decades and, thus, are competing with us for the resources needed to support such high-consumption economics. Perhaps I am cold-hearted, but my answer to such complaining is, “Get real!” It’s simply a matter of supply and demand. Our swollen waistlines and our oversized vehicles speak louder than our words. If you don’t want to pay so much for gas (and food), use less.

Second, the “ecologic price” of fuel is different from the “economic price.” Our modern economic system is not reality. It is based on the Cartesian idea that we are separate from nature – we are not a part of the ecosystem. The price of fuel is determined by “internal” factors such as productivity, supply and demand, and so on – rather than “external” factors such as effects of carbon emissions on the biosphere and the ecologic impact of extraction, transport, and processing of petroleum and the fuels and stuff we make from it. The truth is our economic system is not true to reality. We are a part of the biosphere and its ecosystems. I have read that the “ecologic” (not economic) price of gasoline is around $8 to $12 a gallon at present. This is the estimated “real” cost of the gasoline we burn in our vehicles when we consider its holistic impact on the biosphere and its ecosystems. The difference between the “real” cost and the “economic” cost that we are not paying now will have to be paid by someone someday – probably our sons and daughters. Maybe we should tell them this when we kiss them goodnight: “Goodnight dear, sleep well, and don’t think about how you will have to pay dearly for our gluttonous, stupid, selfish, short-sighted economic practices.”

Third, those of us who are concerned about God’s good earth and its care hope that the higher fuel prices will depress demand, reduce our gluttonous appetite for fuel and slow the damage we are doing to God’s creation. But our current system is almost totally based on fossil fuel. Everything from fertilizer to drugs to computers to myriads of other products are made from petroleum or transported in fossil fuel using vehicles. So when the price of petroleum goes up, the price of just about everything goes up. Will wages rise accordingly? The effect of this might be sort of like inflation and not really result in a shift of the economy away from fossil fuel dependence. I hope not. We will see.

Fourth, what we really need is a carbon tax. The Europeans are way ahead of us on this one. Back in the 1970s when oil and gas prices spiked due to the Arab oil embargo subsequent to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, there may have been a window of opportunity when such a tax would have been accepted. During the 70s, cars got smaller, mpg’s went up, and the 55 mph national speed limit was imposed. Unfortunately all of this was undone by the Reagan Administration after oil prices collapsed in 1982. Since then there has been little if any public or political will to impose taxes on carbon consumption. A rising federal tax on all fossil fuels (say 15%, rising 15% per year forever) might depress demand for fuel, stimulate demand for smaller more fuel efficient cars, reduce carbon emissions, and stimulate alternative energy development. (One can only dream of where we would be today had this been done in the 1970s.) It would, in effect, impose some modicum of ecological reality on our unreal economic system. It would be a win-win-win long-term solution, and it is needed now. Unfortunately, there is virtually no support for such wise, far-sighted action. We would rather let our children pay for it.

Lastly, I contend that we are going to have to understand that a contraction in our standard of living is inevitable. The “American Dream” is going to have to be chopped down or scrapped altogether. A four-bedroom house, a two-car garage, a cabin in the mountains, and a cruise to the Caribbean each year are not sustainable. The modern myth of inevitable progress and endlessly increasing wealth is false. At least since WWII each generation has believed that its sons and daughters deserved to live better than they did. In a finite world this is simply not reality. Besides, this is un-Christian. Jesus said, “Lay not up treasures on earth . . .” as well as many other warnings about accumulating wealth. For the Christian, wealth consists in what kind of person you are, not how much you possess. We or our children are going to have to accept the notion that happiness and contentment do not consists in worldly possessions and power. If we don’t learn this from reading Scripture, then the ecosystem will teach it to our children the hard way.

So, pray for higher fuel prices!