Gas-out June 29th

[NRS]

I got an email today about a gas station boycott planned for June 29th to protest high-prices.

 

Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but it's pretty easy to avoid filling up for one day. I invite all others sick of lining the pockets of already very well lined pockets to avoid gas stations on the 29th and get others to do the same.

[akhalteke]

Boycott for one day? So the gas companies have to wait one more day to get their money. Big Deal. Much better idea to look for a way to minimize consumption for a length of time.

 

How about a mass utilization of mass transit. This would do 2 things: force investment in mass transit infrastructure and it would also thin the wallets of the oil barons.

[NRS]

I agree something like that would be much much better. I'm just relaying the idea. It's not a hard thing to accomplish and maybe would plant the seed in peoples' minds to participate in something larger down the road.

 

A week of utilizing public transportation, walking, riding your bike, and carpooling to work when it is normally well outside your routine is something I would heartily support. Once I get that email I'll start posting flyers.

[akhalteke]

what's your e-mail address?

[NRS]

PMs work too.

[akhalteke]

Lets do it. No gas for a week (except mass trans). Name the time and we'll get this thing going.

[Fairweather]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

[NRS]

May 2009, correspond with national bike to work week.

[Bug]

Hey here is a stupid idea.

How about driving a smaller high mileage car?

Ride you bike more?

Walk more?

Buy fewer new cars?

Turn your thermostat down?

Insulate and weather strip?

 

Oh sorry.

I forgot. We have a right to be gluttons.

 

[NRS]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

 

 

Yeah...haven't lived in a dorm for quite some time now. My thermostat is as low as it goes, there isn't a single set of lights on in my apartment. Obviously my computer is on.

 

You clearly have no concept of how much you actually have to increase your food intake to pedal to work (especially when it's only 2 flat miles away). Try an extra glass of OJ, or a muffin (if your ride is more than 30 minutes). I'm sure you only eat the exact necessary amount everyday. Or maybe you have a little 'comfort food' while you sit in your car on a bad traffic day, or perhaps a little 'pick me up' while you sit at your computer and try to come up with 'witty' responses to threads.

 

Nice try on the bicycle components too....I'm sure it was so much more oil than it would take for me to drive a car to work or deliver all of my 'car components' to plants for assembly and delivery to dealerships.

 

Mis-quoting hacks...gotta love it.

 

 

 

[NRS]

Hey here is a stupid idea.

How about driving a smaller high mileage car?

Ride you bike more?

Walk more?

Buy fewer new cars?

Turn your thermostat down?

Insulate and weather strip?

 

Oh sorry.

I forgot. We have a right to be gluttons.

 

I'm not sure what the point of this post was, but I completely agree. We have a right to be gluttons, those are all stupid ideas...

[akhalteke]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

 

Wuddup FW. I would really like to hear you pipe in on why minimizing my driving is a bad idea. It is healthy for me, it is good for me financially, it is good for the environment, it helps to point out that the pricce of gasoline is artificially inflated and takes a stab at men who are raking in record profits while the economy is taking a nose-dive in front of them.

 

I am a conservative voter but I will not fall into the polarization trap that both parties have set. I will not say no to gay marriage because I could give a fuck what a couple homos do behind closed doors.

 

I also refuse to swallow the pill that the market is trying to feed me. There is no good reason for this recent surge in the cost of oil. NONE.

 

I furthermore do not want to line the pockets of Prince's in countries that wish death upon us.

[Maine-iac]

Just imagine if winters were cold here along the West Coast. Those Californians would get the price of oil down pretty quickly if they actually had to heat their houses. A good sweater and set of windows does an amazing job.

 

Also YES to public transport; those Europeans have a few things figured out.

[pink]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

[kevbone]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

 

Wet blanket

[mtn_mouse]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Gotta love it.

 

Let me get this straight, you're trying to say that the oil companies aren't raking it in right now?

 

[pink]

http://www.ncpa.org/iss/ene/2004/pd040904b.html

 

 

 

 

[Fairweather]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

 

 

Yeah...haven't lived in a dorm for quite some time now. My thermostat is as low as it goes, there isn't a single set of lights on in my apartment. Obviously my computer is on.

 

You clearly have no concept of how much you actually have to increase your food intake to pedal to work (especially when it's only 2 flat miles away). Try an extra glass of OJ, or a muffin (if your ride is more than 30 minutes). I'm sure you only eat the exact necessary amount everyday. Or maybe you have a little 'comfort food' while you sit in your car on a bad traffic day, or perhaps a little 'pick me up' while you sit at your computer and try to come up with 'witty' responses to threads.

 

Nice try on the bicycle components too....I'm sure it was so much more oil than it would take for me to drive a car to work or deliver all of my 'car components' to plants for assembly and delivery to dealerships.

 

Mis-quoting hacks...gotta love it.

 

 

 

Sorry, I guess I just assumed that your youth-like idealism was exactly what it seemed. Feel free to cut consumption of energy all you want--it's a good idea. Just don't live under any illusions about Guilded Age monopoly politics driving the current price crisis. Better yet, take a look at how your 401k assets are invested and see if the company administering your plan is involved in some of the rampant speculation taking place in the oil market. You really think you're standin' up to da man by taking a day off petrol? Chances are good that in some way you are the man.

[pink]

well said

[NRS]

Sorry, I guess I just assumed that your youth-like idealism was exactly what it seemed. Feel free to cut consumption of energy all you want--it's a good idea. Just don't live under any illusions about Guilded Age monopoly politics driving the current price crisis. Better yet, take a look at how your 401k assets are invested and see if the company administering your plan is involved in some of the rampant speculation taking place in the oil market. You really think you're standin' up to da man by taking a day off petrol? Chances are good that in some way you are the man.

 

 

More assumptions... No 401K here, I'm actually in the military.

 

Maybe there isn't *one* company running the show, but there is a system. And that system responds to the market. If enough people proved to the system they could do without gas in their cars to get them from point A to point B for a week (yes, a week, if you noticed the progression of this thread) I'm sure something would change.

 

But then again, maybe I'm just not old enough to have become quite as disillusioned as you are. I'd rather remain an idealist and try to change things rather than just take it up the ass and figure it's just the way things are.

 

 

Let's also just think for a second about 401K management. Don't you think investment strategies would change if your plan started losing money because oil became less profitable? (Assuming your plan has investment in that market at all.)

 

[NRS]

http://www.ncpa.org/iss/ene/2004/pd040904b.html

 

 

 

 

 

Not a biased source at all...

[murraysovereign]

These "don't buy gas on xx/yy/zz" campaigns are not just utterly useless; they would actually be counter-productive if they ever worked the way their advocates imagine.

 

Think about it - a nation-wide boycott is announced for June 29th and, miracle of miracles, everyone complies. No gasoline is sold for the entire day. So what? The day before the boycott everyone filled up to make sure they didn't run out on boycott day. And the day after everyone fills up again to replace the gas they burned driving around on boycott day.

 

So what's happened to the gas station? Nothing, really. The staff had one really boring day standing around an empty station, rearranging the winshield fluid display seven or eight times, maybe even cleaning the washrooms. But over the course of three or four days, total sales would be exactly the same as they were over any other three or four day period, for the blindingly simple reason that everyone continued to burn just as much gas as they ever do. Way to stick it to the man.

 

But wait, you say - what if we do it again? Then the oil companies will know we're serious. We'll break their will, by God. We'll keep repeating these boycott days until we bring the bastards to their knees!

 

So another boycott day is announced, this time for, let's say... August 17th. As a gasoline retailer, I can now expect to do zero sales on that day. So what am I going to do? I'm going to close for the day, and tell my staff to stay home. I myself will probably plan to spend the day fishing or golfing or just hangin' at home playing with the kids. I know my total sales for the week will still be the same as they would have been, so I'm not worried. In fact, I'm coming out ahead, because my labour costs are going to be 1/7th lower this week due to the boycott day. So my net profit for the week will be higher by the amount of the labour cost savings. Way to stick it to the man!

 

And who actually gets hurt? Well, the employees of the gas station, that's who. They lose out on a day's work, which means their income for the week will be reduced by 20% - ouch. Way to stick it to the man!

 

And in the end, gasoline prices will stay exactly where they are, because overall demand stays exactly where it is.

 

If people were serious about putting pressure on the oil companies to reduce prices, they'd leave their cars in their driveways one full day each week. That would reduce gasoline consumption by 14%, and gasoline prices would soon start to come down. But - and here's the rub - you'd have to continue leaving the car in the driveway one full day each week even after prices dropped. As soon as you resume driving everywhere every day, gasoline consumption will go back up to previous levels, and so will prices.

 

In other words: if you want to spend less money on gas, it's simple - use less of it.

[akhalteke]

"Oil Barons"? "Well lined pockets"? Don't forget to turn off your dorm room thermostats, computers, and lights. And try to at least imagine the oil it took to deliver those extra food calories and bicycle components to market. Well-intentioned simpletons. Gotta love it.

 

 

Yeah...haven't lived in a dorm for quite some time now. My thermostat is as low as it goes, there isn't a single set of lights on in my apartment. Obviously my computer is on.

 

You clearly have no concept of how much you actually have to increase your food intake to pedal to work (especially when it's only 2 flat miles away). Try an extra glass of OJ, or a muffin (if your ride is more than 30 minutes). I'm sure you only eat the exact necessary amount everyday. Or maybe you have a little 'comfort food' while you sit in your car on a bad traffic day, or perhaps a little 'pick me up' while you sit at your computer and try to come up with 'witty' responses to threads.

 

Nice try on the bicycle components too....I'm sure it was so much more oil than it would take for me to drive a car to work or deliver all of my 'car components' to plants for assembly and delivery to dealerships.

 

Mis-quoting hacks...gotta love it.

 

 

 

Sorry, I guess I just assumed that your youth-like idealism was exactly what it seemed. Feel free to cut consumption of energy all you want--it's a good idea. Just don't live under any illusions about Guilded Age monopoly politics driving the current price crisis. Better yet, take a look at how your 401k assets are invested and see if the company administering your plan is involved in some of the rampant speculation taking place in the oil market. You really think you're standin' up to da man by taking a day off petrol? Chances are good that in some way you are the man.

 

Huh. Way better idea to just resign myself to being the man than actually taking steps to avoid maximizing my impact on this world and this country.

 

Its a mentality. If it becomes commonplace, things can change. I have been a conservative all my life but am watching the GOP turn the United States into a Czarist state.

 

This pervasive mentality that the GOP is sending down throught the ranks is ridiculous. Pull the blinders off.

 

I am not some bat-wing hippy liberal. I vote very conservatively, but I refuse to buy into this mentality.

[JoshK]

Good ol' FW. Nothing but typical assumptions and misguided insults against "the youth", piled on top of common FOX news rhetoric and a clear lack of reality.

 

Maybe if people realized that "doing what they can" is a lot better than doing nothing. Of course, with FW's take, doing anything without pushing it to the extreme means you are a hypocrite.

 

You should always realize, fW, that electricity consumption can't be weighed directly against fossil fuel impact. The % of power in Seattle, for example, is going to be generated by a good deal more renewables than, say, LA. Your arguements are always completely over simplified and do little more than illustrate a bitter streak and chip on your shoulder you have exhibited since I first visited this board.

 

Exactly WHAT did the world do to you to make you the bitter man you are?

[akhalteke]

In other words: if you want to spend less money on gas, it's simple - use less of it.

 

exactly.