Posted on 05/19/2008 11:43:15 AM PDT by shrinkermd
...But we’re living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices — gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon — have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world.
If Europe’s example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don’t drive them too much.
Notice that I said that cars should be fuel-efficient — not that people should do without cars altogether. In Germany, as in the United States, the vast majority of families own cars (although German households are less likely than their U.S. counterparts to be multiple-car owners). To see what I’m talking about, consider where I am at the moment: in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping.
It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas. Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.
And in the face of rising oil prices, which have left many Americans stranded in suburbia — utterly dependent on their cars, yet having a hard time affording gas — it’s starting to look as if Berlin had the better idea.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Then what was it I rode to the airport? They have a pretty good subway.
Apartments? As in, nobody owns their home? Doesn't sound middle class the way I know it.
Public transit can work for some people, but it’s never going to work for all people. There are a lot of situations where you might have to take a job that’s out of reach of public transit because you need a job and that’s the one you got.
Tapping some of the huge amounts of reserves on our terroitory and off our shores might help also.
meant to say territory
computer is acting up
Most families own their “apartments”.
We call them condominiums over here.
Sounds like they want us all to live in inner city communes.
Don’t they call them ghettos?
Or in my case my office is about to move to a new location and Instead of a 23 mile commute each way it is about to became a 45 mile commute each way. It’ll be three gallons of gas a day for my commute, but car pooling some of the way may be an option.
They're called public housing and we have lots of them. They're easy to find. Follow the sound of gunfire.
You're looking too hard at this. For many of us, this:
is simply more appealing and desireable than this:
My wife and I actually live in a condo/townhome development and like it as a starter home, but the top pic is our eventual goal, not the bottom one.
Dear NY Times dimwits,
Then I guess you better learn how to grow all your own food on those NY City rooftops, because we out here in the country are not going to waste precious fuel getting our organic produce to such an undeserving bunch!
That’s a starter home to me. In fact my wife and I live in one but it’s a townhome style.
Free people are very creative.
If the government would just leave us alone we’ll figure out 10-different ways to get around. All without government “help”.
Very true. I’m job hunting and realize that anything in a 40 mile radius is fair game. Furthermore, moving isn’t an option - first off we just bought our house, and secondly, my wife also has a job and her commute also has to be considered.
Sounds like he's looking forward to it.
three words..........DRILL IN ANWAR..he’s an idiot.
Having spent most of my life in NYC, public transit is slow, smelly, too hot, too cold, too crowded, too rude, and too dangerous.
And now, as if the homeless puking and fouling subways and buses isn't enough, they're starting to find bedbugs on subway cars and buses.
Looking back on my career I deeply regret thinking the same thing. All the lost hours, all the lost quality time that can never ne replaced. I wanted to work in a high wage area, and live in the country. Your situation may be different, but run the numbers carefully, and decide what you want to pay yourself for those uncompensated hours on the road.
At my retirement party, I said, "If I knew I was going to drive for a living, I would have joined the Teamsters and had better benefits.!" Everyone knew I meant it. It would have been cost-effective for me to take 20-30% less with a ten mile commute. I suppose it depends on what road or highway, but in my case it was true.
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