It’s about time we did a little planning for the future.We have certainly gotten ourselves into a pickle this time by relying on oil to power our lives. Realizing the cessation of federal taxes on gasoline is only a temporary band-aid over this catastrophic issue, maybe it’s about time we did a little planning for the future.
Whatever we do, we must first realize that conversion away from oil will not happen overnight. Have you ever considered what will happen when such a limited commodity starts to run out? Not considering passenger vehicles, what will happen to the cost of fuel for planes, trains, trucks and ships that transport our goods, including food, around the globe? What will it cost to heat our homes, power generators for cities and create petroleum products we commonly use daily? It seems to me we better start prioritizing our limited resources for the future if we want to stay viable in a global economy. Allow me to propose one practical solution to this problem:
In the United States today, there are over 243 million passenger vehicles using over 43 percent of the entire petroleum consumption. It is estimated that they use over 500 million gallons of gasoline per day, which in turn, spews nearly five million tons of pollution into the air every day. What if we could change that picture and become a self-reliant, environmentally conscious country once again? I believe part of the solution is for the federal government to sponsor a conversion away from gasoline vehicles and steer us to electric vehicles, truly efficient hybrids and alternative propulsion vehicles. Right now, there are electric passenger vehicles that can travel over 60 MPH for around 250 miles on a three- or four-hour charge. And do you really think there aren’t even better ones just around the corner? What we need now is action—the kind of action, dedication, vision and innovation that once took us to the moon. What we do not need is to skirt the issue, putting it off for the next generation to never resolve. We are at a crucial point in our development as a species, so let’s all hope we have the courage to take the actions necessary today to get us through to tomorrow.