[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5360136p-4850591c.html]Fuel costs change entrenched habits, quality of life (link)[/url]
AARON CORVIN; The News Tribune - Tacoma, Washington
Published: November 27th, 2005 02:30 AM

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Now she pays $22 a month to van-pool as opposed to the $180 to $200 a month she paid to commute alone.

Even if the price of gas drops below $2, she says, she’s not going back.

Part of her reasoning is that she likes to shed the day’s stress by talking with her co-workers during the ride home. Part of it is helping the environment by taking a few more cars off the road.

And there’s another reason. A big one. “I have extra money,” she says.

[gego]

Of course, this is good for the individuals who take this path, but what happens when everyone does everything they can to "save" (conserve) and there are no available options left to fend off the relentless reality of not enough energy.

Initially demand gets compromised, but there is certain demand that cannot be ignored; things like keeping from freezing, keeping from starving, etc., and these are the things against which we humans cannot defend by conservation.

Six+ billion people on a planet capable of supporting 1/6 of that and conservation is enforced by nature in the form of eliminating a substantial portion of those who are using energy. In the early stages of lack of energy humans make the decision to reduce demand by using less; in the mature stages of lack of energy nature makes the decision to reduce demand by reducing the number of demandors.

[Heineken]

I'm not convinced that the recent $3 gasoline will lead to lasting changes in behavior. Americans have seen oil price spikes before, and they always returned to their old bad habits when the price came back down. Their brains, in fact, are shaped around the belief that the price will come back down. And indeed, gas is back below $2 in many areas now, including mine ($1.96 at the local Exxon).

It will take much higher prices that don't come back down to change behavior permanently. The current sub-$2 gas just reinforces the impression that high prices are always a temporary anomaly. Look for the return of a couple of Hummers to your block soon.

Bear in mind that 99% of Americans have never heard of PO---yet. They're not like us at all.

[oil4u]

It is temporary!! That's what the OECD had to say about Canada.

"Energy prices have, admittedly, pushed inflation above normal targets, but that is largely a temporary phenomenon. And, improvements in the world economy should make up for any declines in the domestic market, it said."

[Heineken]

I have no clue as to what you are trying to say, oil4u! WHAT is temporary, high prices or low??