Friday, April 28, 2006

My take on "Don't buy gas from Exxon starting July 4th!"

I'm sure you have or will soon get this in an email from someone.

You know the type of friend, the one that forwards every single thing under the sun to you, but can't take 5 minutes to type out an email asking you how you are.
Everything that's been proven false on Snopes like those "hurricane" cloud pictures or the one with the diver and the shark. It gets old.

Well, don't fall for this one, either.

Look, we're all pissed off about high gas prices, the war, the oil companies making billions in profits off our backs, etc..
But going from one station to another doesn't really do anything.
Exxon can refine the gas and sell it to someone else.
Your local dude that owns and runs that gas station is the real one that will lose here. They're just trying to make a living.

If you want to do something about the demand for gasoline during the month of July, then don't drive your car.
If your company/boss offers you the chance to telecommute, take it!
You will save 20 percent per day on what you spend in gas during the week right there. This is something that I have already started.
Take a couple vacation days and spend them relaxing around the house and working in the garden.
Ride your bike. Walk to the store. Put up a flyer at work to see who lives near you that might want to carpool. Slow down. Pay more attention to your frequent trips around town and try and combine them.

This musical gas stations thing will do nothing.

Rather than joining in on something silly like not buying gas from a particular brand, CONSERVE!!

10 comments:

High Power Rocketry said...

: )

Tom Harper said...

This makes sense of course. But unfortunately it's more fun to single out one villain and channel all your wrath toward him/her/it. It just feels good to yell out "Boycott ____________" even if it doesn't do any good.

LA said...

Mike - If you haven't seen the news yet, see my blog re: Rush's arrest today.

Mike V. said...

LOL!

That's too funny.

Matt Vella said...

There's fun, and then there's using your head there Tom. It'd be nice to see Americans using their heads for a change.

That said, we are so conditioned to consume consume consume, I don't see that happening any time soon.

Let's see, time to check the news to see what I should be afraid of next. Then, whilst avidly watching the commercials, I'll see what kind of SUV I should buy...

Hopefully one that's as big as a friggin' brontosaurus, of course. Lord knows I need a 12 passenger car to go to and from work by myself.

Then, I'll fill it up - but not from Exxon!!! Tee hee, that'll fix 'em!

Pfffrt. I hereby declare that most Americans are retarded until proven otherwise.

LA said...

p.s. I already do telecommute daily and only have to fill my tank about once a month to the everlasting relief of my wallet.

Senor PeerPressure said...

Exxon? All of the oil companies are showing profits (eek! thats not allowed in a capitalist system!!).
Meanwhile for every 8 billion that exxon made, the US GOVT made 17 billion in fees and excise taxes.

Thanks to Democrats, we can't drill in our country. We have oil reserves that rival those of the mideast, yet democrats have stalled us at every opportunity by refusing to let us drill off FL, CA, Alaska, CO. Meanwhile we havent built a refinery in nearly 30 years. WE ARENT ALLOWED TO DO ANYTHING TO ALLEVIATE THE CRISIS.

When Clinton entered office, our oil dependence on others was 40%. When he left office it was 60%.

Thanks God we didnt listen to Gore or Kerry and tag on another 50 cents to every gallon for the whores in congress to waste. (both dems and rep)

Senor PeerPressure said...

At least you will all be happy to know that China will be drilling north of Cuba, using slant drilling to take the oil deposits that we arent allowed to touch.

Mike V. said...

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.

The amount of oil available to us on our own land where we are not already drilling wouldn't drive LA for a month.

The oil companies with their enormous profits have been just as complicit as anyone else in the lack of refining in this country of gas.

What we need to do is CONSERVE, like I said.
All of a sudden Bush says, "we're addicted to oil.
Not long ago, the feeling of the administration was:

Q: Does the President believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the President believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?

MR. FLEISCHER: That's a big no. The President believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one. And we have a bounty of resources in this country. What we need to do is make certain that we're able to get those resources in an efficient way. . .

El Mas Chingón said...

I agree. We need to conserve, and when we drive we need to do everything we can to make sure we get the most mileage out of our cars.

*Properly inflate your tires
*Drive 65 instead of 75
*Don't overrev your engine when accelerating
*Don't make short trips. Plan your errands so they're on your way to or from work.