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 mericans love their symbols. And we also love raging
against authority. Combine these two aspects and you have a fine
formula for widespread political impotence. We would never confuse
a menu with the meal itself, but we routinely endorse symbolic
political dalliances over productive choices required for substantive
change.
 It was
with some consternation that I began receiving computer email
messages a few weeks ago from friends asking me to join and promote
"THE GREAT 'GAS OUT'." It had the appealing lead: "It's
time we did something about the price of gasoline in America!"
and the interesting idea to "see how many Americans we can
get to NOT BUY ANY GASOLINE on one particular day!" Right
on, I thought.
It continued:
"Wanna help? Send this message to everyone you know. Ask
them to do the same."
Problem was,
from the get go, the premise that this action would matter was
questionable. It continued.
"All
we need is a few million to participate in order to make a difference.
We CAN make a difference."
Fair enough,
and a premise I do agree with. After I started receiving more
and more invitations to join, it was clear that this spontaneous
demonstration would make the jump into other media. Email from
Roger Hedgecock's radio show soon arrived, exhorting people to
"Boycott Big Oil."
After a while,
the message changed. Someone else had figured out that one day
of moving market demand wouldn't really matter. So I started
getting emails suggesting that people boycott a different oil
company each week. I knew then that this movement had peaked.
The amount
of spontaneous public participation in something like this is
directly related to how simple the plan is. One day off a habit
is imaginable. Figuring what to do every week is beyond the passions
of most of us. But Hedgecock pushed people to: "TARGET A
MAJOR OIL COMPANY EVERY WEEK TIL PRICES COME DOWN!!" Now,
more than a week after the scheduled one-day Gas Out, he is still
building "a valiant band of anti-Big Oil commandos."
This is a
squad that should appeal to any environmentalist. However, I
question their sincerity about really wanting to get out from
under the thumb of "Big Oil." What they really want
is cheap gas and this movement is a well-meaning combination
of legitimate frustration and self-centered whining. As addicts,
knowing we are getting screwed by those who control our supply.
So we want the government to control the price of our required
choice of fuel.
You see, this
boycott was not about being "anti-Big Oil," but about
the rising price of something most of our lives are designed
around: a gallon of gas.
For environmentalists,
it was promoting the right action for the wrong reason. Environmentalists
have common ground with Roger's "commandos" in wanting
oil companies to be subject to real competition. But I've found
there is much less interest in wanting to be responsible for
the full costs and damages of increasing oil consumption. That's
why having a so many folks wanting me to endorse the Gas Out
caused such consternation. Boycotting Big Oil? Yes! Cheap gas?
Subsidized, cheap gas is one of the main drivers of environmental
pollution and climate change.
Cars and light
trucks (including minivans and pickups) cause the highest amount
of environmental damage overall nearly half of the toxic air
pollution and more than a quarter of the greenhouse gases traceable
to a household's consumption is related to cars.
If you really
want out from under Big Oil, a path is now becoming clear: lease
or convert to an electric car, change your power provider to
a "green power mix" of wind, geothermal and solar -
and voila! You have now just bypassed the oil cartels and significantly
reduced your environmental impacts.
Unfortunately,
electric cars are still out of reach for most consumers who are
so trapped in a gas-dependent lifestyle that they can't even
imagine a way out. They just know they need their gas to be cheaper.
But a way out seems so impossible that thousands are pouring
energy into purely symbolic expressions against the system that
they have bought in to. But for anyone who really wants out,
you can start to get there.
A new Environmental
Defense Fund (EDF) website, Green Car: Guide to Cleaner Vehicle
Production, Use and Disposal at www.edf.org/greencar offers a
truckload of recommendations for choosing and using your vehicle
to minimize its impacts on the environment. All of them also
reduce your dependence on "Big Oil."
EDF and other
environmental groups are also calling on auto manufacturers to
offer consumers cleaner vehicles in all classes. EDF is promoting
a Green Vehicle Standard for the auto industry. The standard
calls on automakers to offer a vehicle during the year 2000 that
is at least 50 percent more fuel efficient than other vehicles
in its class, meets the tightest California emissions standards,
and is built using state-of-the-art clean production practices.
Visitors to the Green Car site can let the auto industry know
they want the choice of greener vehicles by signing a Green Vehicle
Pledge.
"By committing
to integrate green vehicle standards into their purchase decisions,
consumers can convince automakers that there is market demand
for clean production processes and products," said Kevin
Mills, director of EDF's Pollution Prevention Alliance.
These are
consumer choices that can matter.
Locally, the
consumer lobbying group Utility Consumer Action Network, who
endorsed the Gas Out early on, helps to channel the frustrations
of people attempting to engage with the system and "send
a political message."
UCAN Executive
Director Michael Shames puts it this way: "Oil companies
are abusing their accumulated, ill-gotten power. Gas pricing
is symptomatic of an oligarchy that is dictating state policy
on energy, in this situation, retail gasoline prices."
The definition
of an oligarchy is "a government in which a small group
exercises control, especially for corrupt and selfish purposes."
This is not news about "Big Oil." Environmentalists
have been pointing it out for decades. Attempts to regulate and
deregulate the oil industry have been political sport since the
term "oil baron" was well established early in this
century.
This attempt
to wield consumer influence on the consumption - and therefore
the price - of gasoline, if nothing else, was an interesting
and evidently popular idea, grounded in a sound premise. Too
bad it wasn't connected to action that could really make a difference.
You've got
to respect the mythic model of a hardy band of righteous individuals
railing against powerful oppressors. It's important to rally
together for change. But unless the actions are chosen judiciously,
it's just so much political angst. Political angst is fine, but
is it too much to ask that it move beyond the realm of sincerity
and into the realm of integrity?
Real competition
will affect the oil industry when consumers awaken to their freedom
to choose other energy sources and providers and break out of
their dependence on a system that has been polluting and politically
entrenched from it's inception. 
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