[Seattle-editorial]
Fwd: Re: [www-features] Proposal: The Real Price of Gasoline
Sheri Herndon
sheri at speakeasy.org
Sun Aug 31 18:44:51 PDT 2003
oops
forgot to include seattle editorial on the email.
====== Forwarded Message ======
Date: 8/31/03 5:40 PM
Received: 9/1/03 12:44 AM
From: sheri at speakeasy.org (Sheri Herndon)
To: valeoftheoaks at hotmail.com (Tribal Scribal)
hi,
i like do's idea for the link on over-consumption and somehow including more of a "definition" for suv's would be good. also, in my rewrite i talk about "external costs". does it work or does there need to be an additional phrase for what this is as well. i think it's kind of implied, but just checking.
as i started to look for some additional material for this feature that promotes alternatives, i came across some spelling and grammatical mistakes. i don't have html skills as you'll see, so any links are in parens. if someone can send me an html tutorial, i'd be happy to learn.
CORRECTIONS:
first paragraph:
misspelled word: "accross" should be "across", only one c.
delete the ? in second sentence, doesn't make sense.
second paragraph currently reads:
While the mass media is out to tell us the same story over and over, that gas prices are too high... especially for labor day, when Americans traditionally set the yearly record for travel by car. The reality is that gas prices are nowhere near record levels.
punctuation: the first sentence is an incomplete phrase, the period after car should be a comma and the last sentence become an independent clause. i also don't think having ....s work that well. i'd suggest a dash around that clause: -- that gas prices are too high -- .
spelling: also, down in the last paragraph, the word incalculable is spelled wrong. it needs an "l" in there.
last paragraph currently reads:
In addition to crude prices and taxes, the environmental costs of burning gasoline, and waging wars to procure the oil to make it, burning gasoline has an almost incalcuable cost on society at large... though many have tried to put a number on it.
change: (1) put a period after "at large" and correct spelling of incalculable. (2) also the word "burning" is redundant and makes for an incomplete sentence.
rewrite: "in addition to crude prices and taxes, the environmental costs of burning gasoline, and the waging of wars to procure the oil to make it, has an incalculable cost on society at large. Though many people have tried to put a number on this cost, it is clear that consumption of fossil fuels is a huge contribution to global climate change. According to Northwest Environment Watch (insert link to www.northwestwatch.org), this region sent an estimated 194 million tons of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels into the sky in 2001. That is the daily equivalent of 70 pounds of carbon dioxide per northwesterner. Burning fossil fuels now accounts for nearly 70 percent of the Northwest's total contribution to global warming. Another source for what this "cost" might be can be found at The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, which provides a good overview. Read How Much are We Paying for a Gallon of Gas?
promoting alternatives in this feature:
since this is being proposed for the global feature and since i'm a big believer that we not only point out the problems, but suggest alternatives so people can make wise choices. the corporate media also doesn't ever let people know about the alternatives. we must do this as well to counter the rate of destruction and increase the rate of creation.
possible segue:
"while these external costs soar and society continues to pay for them individually and collectively (health problems, increased insurance, lack of public transportation, lack of adequate environmental protection standards, dwindling natural public resources, inadequate technological innovation for fuel efficient cars, etc.), there are efforts which are underway to change direction and promote policies which could have more long lasting benefits for the region and beyond. The regional think tank, Northwest Environment Watch, talks about a number of them on their website. A few of them include pay-as-you-drive insurance (insert link http://www.northwestwatch.org/press/payd_facts.html); shifting taxes toward green taxes (link: http://www.northwestwatch.org/topics/cat6_taxes.html). this idea is a simple one - tax what you want less of and don't tax what you want more of. Also, some policy recommendations http://www.northwestwatch.org/press/tpoe01energy.html.
Gasoline prices will continue to go up until as a car-dependent society we face the true costs of our consumption of fossil fuel and the real costs of using finite natural resources and the longer term effects of global climate change and consider the alternatives and the options for more public transportation and a change in our personal consumption habits.
FULL REWRITE (without the links):
Record Labor Day Gas Prices Not Really Record Prices (should this mention u.s. in the title?)
Gasoline prices have recently hit almost $2.00 per gallon across the United States. For a consumer culture that drives SUVs, that $2.00 price tag makes many people believe that prices are at an all-time high. These recent price spikes have led to renewed calls for government regulation.
However, while the mass media tells us the same story over and over, that gas prices are too high -- especially for labor day when Americans traditionally set the yearly record for travel by car -- the reality is that gas prices are nowhere near record levels.
When adjusted for inflation, 1981 set the most recent record at $1.35, which is $2.69 adjusted to year 2000 prices (the most recent year for which numbers are easily available). In fact, the all-time high was set in 1918, which would be $3.00 per gallon in 2000 prices, and prices have been falling ever-since. For the "official" industry numbers visit the petroleum-promoting API American Petroleum Institute, and download this PDF. These falling prices are a direct result of social subsidization of the oil industry and they keep people in the U.S. in a state of denial about the true costs of gasoline.
These currently "high" prices don't even begin to address the real price of gasoline, which according to a report by the International Center for Technology Assessment, could be as high as $15 per gallon. In addition to crude prices and taxes, the environmental costs of burning gasoline, and the waging of wars to procure the oil to make it, has an incalculable cost on society at large. Though many people have tried to put a number on this cost, it is clear that consumption of fossil fuels is a huge contribution to global climate change and an externalized cost to society by the oil industry. According to a regional think tank, Northwest Environment Watch (NEW) (insert link to www.northwestwatch.org), the Pacific Northwest sent an estimated 194 million tons of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels into the sky in 2001. That is the daily equivalent of 70 pounds of carbon dioxide per northwesterner. Burning fossil fuels now accounts for nearly 70 percent of the Northwest's total
contribution to global warming. Another source and good overview for what this "cost" might be can be found at The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. Read How Much are We Paying for a Gallon of Gas?
While these external costs soar and society continues to pay for them individually and collectively (health problems, increased insurance, lack of public transportation, lack of adequate environmental protection standards, dwindling natural public resources, inadequate technological innovation for fuel efficient cars of and diversion of public resources from energy efficient technology, etc.), there are efforts which are underway to change direction and promote policies which could have more long lasting benefits for the U.S. and beyond. NEW talks about a number of these ideas on their website. One is the idea of pay-as-you-drive insurance (insert link http://www.northwestwatch.org/press/payd_facts.html). Another is the simple yet profound idea of "tax shift" (link: http://www.northwestwatch.org/topics/cat6_taxes.html). This idea is a simple one - tax what you want less of and don't tax what you want more of. Some people refer to this as green taxes. Also, NEW provides
some clear policy recommendations (link: http://www.northwestwatch.org/press/tpoe01energy.html.)
Gasoline prices will continue to go up until as a car-dependent society we face the true costs of our consumption of fossil fuel and the real costs of using finite natural resources and the longer term effects of global climate change. We must also consider the alternatives and the options for more public transportation and a change in our personal consumption habits.
my 2cents
sheri
>SUV's are Sport Utility Vehicles. In the U.S. they symbolize all that is
>vile about the Yuppie consumer culture and/or over-consumption by
>self-absorbed citizens. Hence the recent trashing of a bunch of HumVees
>here: http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/08/1637139.php . Perhaps the link
>should be added to the text as well as a link on over-consumption in
>general?
>
>d.o.
>
>
>
>
>
>************************************************
>
>"A terrible machine has possessed itself of the ground, the air, the men
>and
>women, and hardly even thought is free."
> - Ralph Waldo Emerson
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: clara <clara at ifrik.org>
>>To: g at art13.com, <www-features at indymedia.org>
>>Subject: Re: [www-features] Proposal: The Real Price of Gasoline
>>Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 10:21:37 +0200
>>
>>hoi gentry,
>>
>>thanks for proposing this.
>>Just a question, as it comes up in quite a few US-texts, but not in any
>>dictionaries: what are SUVs?
>>
>>in solidarity,
>>clara
>>
>>
>>At 09:27 31-8-2003, Gentry Lange wrote:
>>>Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>>This is my first proposal to the global collective, I am part of the
>>>Seattle
>>>IMC and wanted to send this out to the Global site as well.
>>>
>>>Here's the link to a clean version...
>>>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=32213&group=webcast
>>>
>>>Gentry
>>>______________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>Title: The Real Price of Gasoline
>>>Subtitle: Record Labor Day Gas Prices Not Really Record Prices
>>>
>>><p>Gasoline prices have recently hit almost $2.00 per gallon accross
>the
>>>United
>>> States. For a consumer culture that drives SUVs, that $2.00 price
>tag
>>>makes
>>> many people believe that prices are at an all-time high? And recent
>>>price
>>>spikes
>>> have led to renewed <a
>>>href="http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/recall/story/7322481p-
>8266769c.
>>>html">calls
>>> for government regulation</a>. </p>
>>><p>While the <a
>>>href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/137351_gasprices30.html">
>mass
>>> media</a> is out to tell us <a
>>>href="http://www.news-leader.com/today/0826-Gasprices,-145522.html">
>the
>>> same story</a> over and over, that <a
>>>href="http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6626793.htm">gas
>>> prices are too high</a>... especially for labor day, when Americans
>>>traditionally
>>> set the yearly record for travel by car. The reality is that gas
>prices
>>>are
>>> nowhere near record levels. </p>
>>><p>When adjusted for inflation, 1981 set the most recent record at
>$1.35
>>>which
>>> is $2.69 adjusted to year 2000 prices (the most recent year for
>which
>>>numbers
>>> are easily available). In fact, the all-time high was set in 1918,
>>>which
>>>would
>>> be $3.00 per gallon in 2000 prices, and <a
>>>href="http://www.narprail.org/gas.htm">prices
>>> have been falling ever-since</a>. For the "official" industry
>numbers
>>>visit the <a
>>>href="http://api-ec.api.org/industry/index.cfm?bitmask=
>001004001000000000#">
>>>American
>>> Petroleum Institute</a>, and download <a
>>>href="http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/Historical%20Trends%20in%
>20Gasoline%
>>>20Pump%20Prices%201918-2002.pdf">this
>>> PDF</a>.</p>
>>><p>Of course, these prices don't even begin to address the <a
>>>href="http://www.icta.org/projects/trans/rlprexsm.htm">real
>>> price of gasoline</a>. Which according to a report by the <a
>>>href="http://www.icta.org/index.htm">International
>>> Center for Technology Assessment</a>, could be as high as $15 per
>>>gallon.
>>>In
>>> addition to crude prices and taxes, the environmental costs of
>burning
>>>gasoline,
>>> and waging wars to procure the oil to make it, burning gasoline has
>an
>>>almost
>>> incalcuable cost on society at large... though many have tried to
>put a
>>>number
>>> on it. The <a href="http://www.iags.org/home.htm">Institute for the
>>>Analysis
>>> of Global Security</a> provides a good overview of what this number
>>>might
>>>be,
>>> read <a href="http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html">How Much are We
>>>Paying
>>>for
>>> a Gallon of Gas?</a> </p>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>www-features mailing list
>>>www-features at lists.indymedia.org
>>>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/www-features
>>
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