I always get a laugh out of posts like this. Everyone seems to buttume we all live in the city and have trains and busses right outside our windows. I live in the country. The nearest business of any type is 6 miles away, and that offers me very limited shopping. Pretty much all they have is a small grocery and very little for hardware, clothing, and other needs. No where at all to get computer items. The only place to get many needs is the nearest larger city. That city is 30 miles away. If I want to take a train or bus, I have to drive to an even larger city which is 55 miles away. Add to this the fact that my job is 30 miles away, which means 60 miles a day just to go to work. There are no alternatives other than becoming totally cut off from the world. I also need gas to run my farm tractor and equipment, and there is no way around that. I have always tried to combine trips and stock up on supplies in order to avoid useless trips for one item. There is simply no other way to cut back any further, and the fact I did not go on an out of town vacation this year is totally due to gas prices. It's easy to buttume everyone has a bus outside their doors to take downtown, but not everyone has that luxury. And even those that do live in cities can not always take a bus. For example, how can a plumber load a bus with 300 lbs of equipment and carry a stack of 10 foot long pipes? Or a carpenter carry a ton of lumber and doors on a bus?
However, there is one point that everyone seems to be missing. Not all oil is used for fuel. Look at most everything you buy these days. It's all plastic, and so is the bag the store puts the things in. We are buying tons and tons of plastics, which have short life spans, rather than the items that were once made from steel and other solid materials and last many years. Well, guess where all these plastics come from? That answer is OIL. Plastics are mostly all derived from oil, and most things we buy are made from plastics and are all disposible and poorly made junk. Look at all the plastics used for packaging, that you thoughtlessly toss in the garbage.
It's not just the gas in our cars. We need to look at the many other ways oil is being wasted. The next time your local Walmart starts to uses 8 bags to package 12 items, simply say "No bags please". Their shopping cart can easily carry the items to your car.
