Old_Fart

So, as usual, the morning news was interviewing folks (in big, gas guzzling SUVs) at the gas pumps about the rising gas prices. Nowhere in the spot was there any suggestion about doing anything but complaining about profiteering gas companies and the government not doing anything. I sent in an email suggesting something besides whining, and they actually put in on the air! Well, with a bit of editing. The bold parts are what they actually aired. Even with the editing it still kept the core message.

Here it is:


The answer to rising gas prices is in the hands of the consumer.

Drive less, and use less gas.

We all have to find alternatives to driving our cars everywhere we go.

Take the bus, ride a bicycle, carpool, or walk to the corner store instead of
driving.

When you buy a house, keep your commute in mind. When you look for a job, keep
the commute in mind.

You and I are the people that have to make the difference. We can't count on the
government to change things for us. We have to take control of this ourselves.

Here's what I have changed in my life to make a difference; I have changed my
work schedule to four ten hour days and ride my bicycle to work at least two
days per week.

I sold my gas guzzler and bought a smaller, more fuel efficient car.

Everyone can do something. We can't look to the government to magically fix this
for us. We have to make our own solutions.

As a side benefit, driving less and getting around under your own power is also
good for your health, and the health of everyone around you.

Forrest
Seattle

super-douper

there's more outrage about the rising cost of gasoline than the rising costs of healthcare.

as you point out, the consumer has the ability to change the gasoline problem...instantly. Drive less today than you did yesterday.

JohnBrooking

Too bad they removed all the concrete suggestions and the benefits list, and left only the ideology, admirable as the ideology itself is. Nice try, though!

vrkelley

Forrest,
THAT's all they aired? Disappointing. But that's the PNW...hard core SUVs and Trucks...they're not going to sell out. The proof is in CA. Gas is for $4/gal in some places...and traffic doesn't appear to be any lighter.

jeff-o

I wonder how many car dealerships and car companies have ads on that radio station?

Old_Fart

I was glad they actually aired any of it and didn't make me sound like one o' them there anti-establishment hippy weirdos. People just don't want to hear that they have to change their own lifestyles or make any effort to change anything themselves.

Now that W is actually telling us to use less gas, it does lend more credence to folks like us and our message that we actually have to do something ourselves to change the world around us.

vrkelley

I feel sorry for many people... because it's either change a lifestyle on your own terms, or someone will do it for us.

marqueemoon

You mean people should consider living on the same side of Lake Washington that they work on? Blasphemy.

I wish I could have heard this show. What station was it on?

Old_Fart

It was on the endlessly repeated 20 minutes NWCN morning news. Channel 2 on cable TV.

golgotha

The editing sounds good, but they ripped out the best parts. Why didn't they use the actual suggestions? It's cool that they used it at all though. good job.

Banzai

Do you mean to say that our stoogey corporate media can't actually cover the "meat" of an issue? You don't say?

Like last week...a CBS journalist is held for year in Abu Ghraib, and it's later found that the guy was innocent, and was essentially being held to cover for the Army. You'd think that this would be a story to CBS, if no one else.

But no...the hottest "news" item they can bring us is a discussion of Katie f-ing Couric's "perky" factor.

And our media would NEVER be guilty of covering an issue in terms of "he said-she said" with some sound bites, rather than actually RESEARCHING an issue in an academically rigorous manner.

What the hell do they teach at journalism schools these days, anyway?

swwhite

Well said. In today's Minneapolis (Minnesota USA) newspaper, a letter to the editor pointed out that a quarter of a century ago Jimmy Carter proposed a 60-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax to fund public transportation and was voted out of office. So the writer said, "So drivers, don't look to St. Paul or Washington this time. Just look in the mirror."

JohnBrooking

To be fair, property values can have something to do with that, at least around here. Granted, you've always got people who just want to live out in the country while working in the city, even if they could afford to live in the city. But in Maine, property values are going steadily up in the more urban areas, and many lower-middle class and below workers are being forced further out into the country just to find an affordable apartment, let alone a home of their own. But of course the jobs are easier to find in town. Top off the situation with inadequate public transportation, and you've got people who can't afford to live close to their work, with a car as their only means of getting between the two.

I find it very difficult to know what else I could do in their place. As it is, I can say I made a good choice in moving closer to my job, but I could only do that because we found a house before the boom really got underway in the town we're in. We couldn't afford to buy the house we're in now if we were looking at it now. So good for us, but not for those who are looking now. And in turn, we could only afford it because my salary, though not stellar, is sufficient, due to the good fortune of having parents who cared enough about my education to help me with college financially and emotionally. So to someone without all those advantages, what advice can I give them? I really don't know.

marqueemoon

As you did a good job pointing out, it's complicated, but aside from the obvious limitations of income and availability we still have a lot of say in where, and more importantly how we live.

Old_Fart

Obviously, no one person can do all things. I think the point that needs to be made here is that everyone can do something, no matter if it seems trivial. Can't live closer to work? Fine, what can you do? Can you function with a smaller, more efficient car? How about carpooling? Telecommuting? Bus? Bike?

As a manager, I have battled this phenomenon countless times. Instead of telling me that you cannot do one particular thing and therefore nothing can be done is a huge cop out. Don't tell me you can't do anything, instead figure out what you can do. We know what needs to be accomplished, it doesn't matter how it gets done as much as that it must be done.

John, the fact that you are participating in this forum means that you are thinking in the right direction. I'm not attacking you, I just have to keep arguing against the forces and attitudes that resist change and progress.

tokolosh

apart from john's point, which applies nicely to my part of the world too . . . imo, people don't plan where they live as closely to where they work anymore, because nobody realistic knows where they'll be working five years from now. so they buy/rent where they can or where they're happy, and just resign themselves to the long drives because that's less disruptive than moving house all the time. there's a disconnect in their minds between where they work and where they live, which fosters a car kind of mentality to keep it viable.

tulip

AMEN to that! People are always coming up with excuses. All it takes is a slight turn of attitude, and they could be coming up with solutions!

marqueemoon

True, and this goes back to point I made later. It's not solely dealing with our stuff that makes moving a hassle*, but it's a big component.

Another aspect which nobody has mentioned is the idea of a home as a investment. Most homes do appreciate in value, which is more of an incentive for people to hunker down. It's a bit of pyramid scheme in most expanding metro areas.

Also, because most Americans are not accustomed to saving any significant portion of their income and have other monthly financial commitments (ex. car payments), budgeting for new place to live can be tricky.

It is acceptable to people to deal with long car commutes for a lot of reasons. The point I have been trying to make is that as a culture our logic is clouded by materialism, inertia, and a car-centric approach to problems. Our stuff does not make us happy. There are plenty of studies that show that. Houses are material goods just like any other.

The house I grew up in now has property tax so high my mother has to teach summer school (and drive significant distances to get to the jobs) just to pay it. I understand why she does it. The house has obviously skyrocketed in value and she wants to hold onto it to be able to cash out later, but how much do we let our stuff own us instead of the other way around?

*If I had kids I would not want to be enrolling them in a new school every few years. I'm sure they wouldn't like it either.

gregtheripper

a brief aside, but I'm in j-school right now and what they teach you differs greatly from what one can actually expect. you learn the idealized version in school, and then learn the industry is nothing like that aside from nifty independant publications. mainstream media has become far too tame, dry, and humourless lately, it's frustrating. i blame the endless corporate media mergers in the last few years.