Green Counsel

Gas Prices, the Election and the Future of the World

A USA Today/Gallup poll last week found that 42 percent of the roughly 1,000 adults surveyed across the United States believed President George W. Bush’s administration had “deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections.” The White House, or course, denied it.

But given the strong ties of the Republicans generally, and this Administration in particular, with the oil industry, the industry has every reason to help the Republicans hold onto Congress, and polls make clear that Bush's popularity has always been tied to the price of gasoline. It doesn't take a "conspiracy" with the White House, or even overt collusion among the oil companies, to achieve the desired effect.

The power of the industry is staggering, and the Bush/Cheney/Energy Alliance is one of the greatest barriers to sustainability that we face.

Eating Oil and Passing Gas

If you thought the food chain's biggest contribution to climate change was the methane emitted from animals, guess again. It turns out that approximately 20% our fossil fuel consumption goes toward feeding ourselves. According to Michael Pollan, author of the excellent new book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," the most worrisome aspect of the current U.S. food system is its reliance on fossil fuels.

Pollan says that this happens in three places. First, farms use enormous quantities of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, which is made from natural gas and a great deal of electricity.

Second, commodity crops (such as corn, soybeans and wheat) are processed so intensely that we add seven calories of fossil-fuel energy for every one calorie of food produced. According to Pollan, "It's a very intensive process to take the corn and turn it into the high-fructose corn syrup, or take the corn and turn it into the chicken, and the chicken into the Chicken McNugget. As we move further away from eating food to eating highly processed, complicated food products -- as we move from yogurt to Go-GURT -- it takes more energy, and more energy in the packaging."

Third, our food arrives from all around the world and in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles before it arrives at our plate.

An Interview with Michael Pollan appear on Grist. Or listen to Tery Gross's interview with Michael Pollan on Fresh Air.

Gas Still Too Cheap

NPR's Morning Edition had an interesting story this morning ("High Gas Prices Quietly Welcomed by Environmentalists") about whether gasoline consumption can be better curbed through regulation or through high prices (particularly a tax).  Economists feel that gasoline prices would need to double and remain there (i.e. $7-8/gallon) before behavior would really change, and advocate a gas tax to get us there.  The externalities (accidents, smog, global warming, etc.) are simply not reflected in the current price of gasoline. Environmentalists, however, feel that a gas tax is a complete political dead-horse, fearing that it would be extremely unpopular with most Americans, and advocated regulations requiring 40mpg automobiles (as exist in Europe).  Economists note that the 40 mpg averages in Europe exist, not because of regulation, but because of high prices (through taxes) that have existed for decades.   

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that we are going to get better fuel efficiency (through either taxation or regulation) until we have leadership from either side of the aisle in Washington.

Note also another story on Morning Edition this morning concerning an organization in Indiana promoting car pooling by matching people up using a method similar to online dating ("Carpooling Best Sampled One Day Per Week").