Carbon Tax and Travel

I recently received an email from the political action group, MoveOn.org about a new campaign entitled “Stop Price Gouging.” Their original goal was to collect 350,000 signatures, they are now approaching 500,000. I have also received a few local circulating emails, about the need to increase the gas tax. Even with record prices, we are still increasing our demand for fuel. Peak oilers are saying that prices will need to reach $7/gallon before we dramatically shift our lifestyles. With global warming now upon us and peak oil around the corner, the need for dramatic shifts in lifestyle should be understood. But it isn’t and the record profits that the oil industry is seeing don't help.

All this got me to feeling guilty on Memorial Day Weekend. Did I want to contribute to this mass exodus of folks using more and more energy traveling for the weekend, especially with gas inventories being so low? But then a friend reminded me (who cycles around town regularly), that holidays are the time when you want to use your car. Taking the bus, cycling to work—that is where most of us can make the biggest impact on energy savings. If we need to drive, taking the kids on a 3-hour drive to Montana for a few days to hang out at the hot springs (in a mini-van with my cousins and their kids) is the probably an okay use our precious resources. Of course, I would have preferred to hop on high-speed train to Missoula and bussed the rest of the way - but not an option. The guilt wore off once I saw the kids having a blast in the pools.

But we are not alone, Canada’s complaining, too. Here is a great article from the Toronto Star on the need for a carbon tax. | Juliet

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/217825