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Posted by Bill S on June 27, 2007 at 2:17:45 pm EDT
In reply to E-85 posted by Blackbeard on June 13, 2007 at 6:21:32 am EDT

rexim -
You got my point - availability of gasoline made possible Diesel's and Otto's inventions, which made automobiles possible, which created a demand for better roads, which promoted suburbs, which allowed commuting farther, which allowed more suburbs and exurbs and longer car-driving leisure travel, which created more demand for extending and improving the roads, which encouraged more use of cars, and ... ad infinitum (add in the defense function of the roads).

The question is how to break the infinite loop. I believe Chumango is right - it will only come with the increasing scarcity of cheap fuel. Not just scarcity of cheap gasoline, but any kind of fuel including a limit on electricity to charge the batteries for electric cars or, God forbid, electrolyzing the whole ocean to get hydrogen for fuel cells.

I can point to all sorts of examples of how people waste resources for amusement. Right now, we have a controversy going on at Discovery Bay (part of the Sacramento River), where people are demanding that the proposal for restrictions on tows (waterskis and wakeboards) and on the speeds they can run their powerboats through a fairly narrow section of the channel be rejected (there is a major safety issue with a number of injuries and drownings) - "I have the *right* to run my boat at whatever speed I want!" Yeah, recreational boating uses only a tiny fraction of gas that cars do, but what is the point of cruising at 30 knots for 5 miles up and down a river while downing six-packs?

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