I hear people complaining that oil prices are too high, and they are. I hear conversations about alternative fuel situations, such as natural gas for heating and solar power, to name just two examples. But there is another alternative. Another alternative - reduce consumption. Reducing consumption generally brings prices down.
We are a nation of consumers and expect our wants to be met. We are not good at depriving ourselves on even a small scale to a common end. Yes, there are many who live a life committed to preserving the earth and are frugal in almost every action. I applaud and admire you., but the majority of Americans are consumers who buy what they want to have when they want to have it, mostly within reasonable limitations. The far reaching impact of this is high. Only one facet of this is that it takes a lot of fuel to move those products.
Steven L. Hopp says, in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,
"If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences."
When we consider what a large number of people can do by each making such a small contribution, why would we not?
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