A new reality
Crude oil prices peaked over $70 a barrel for the first time on Monday. Gas prices could be soaring past $3 a gallon by this weekend, and $4 or $5 by January. The devastation wrought on the people of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina has also destroyed a large part of the nation’s oil refining capacity.
The Star’s business columnist, Richard Ducote, not generally a wild-eyed Cassandra, writes in today’s Star that the era of cheap oil is over, and it’s time to adapt to a new reality:
A whole range of problems and opportunities is tied to our energy habits including national security, global climate change and foreign trade.
Conservation should become part of our life before it becomes an emergency decree.
Here lies the hope in these challenging times. We can create a stronger community, with conservation as its foundation when it comes to oil and our limited supply of water.
This is one major reason I have been acting for years to create consensus in Tucson to build alternative modes of transportation and self-sustaining forms of development. We must have choices besides the car and choices besides sprawling subdivisions so that our economy and society is not destroyed when we can no longer afford to drive to the sprawling bedroom communities we’ve been building.
Let’s focus less on community-building in Iraq and more on community building in Tucson and the rest of our country. If we act now, before the crisis really hits a few years down the line, we can maintain our quality of life and our safety.
There is a silver lining: More compact, transit-friendly communities also create more jobs, save water, strengthen connections among people, encourage local entrepreneurialism, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cost less tax money to maintain, and help people live longer, happier lives.
We can create the future we want if we solve our problems together. This community has the passion, the creativity, and the commitment to preserve our future, regardless of what the future holds.