Why Don't "Conservatives" Conserve?

Lean times at work today. Only those staff who could get to work without driving were supposed to come in. So there are just 3 of us in the department today. (One person did use a car, but rode in with someone who worked downtown.) Then, we are closed for the rest of the week, at least through Monday.

We discovered that the bus will stop for us on Brevard Rd. even though there are no official bus stops. Very good to know!

Walter actually rode the school bus this morning. When he's with his mom he has been walking with her to school. (I have asked him to write a guest blog for me...don't know if that will happen, but I'm hoping!)

I bought an October bus pass this morning when I got to the transit station. My ticket to unlimited comings and goings for the month. I will flash it proudly.

On the way in I was thinking back to the beginnings of the Bush presidency when Dick Cheney had those secret energy task force/ policy meetings where the public was not allowed to know who was there...and of course we assumed there were no alternative energy people there, just oil company cheerleaders...It was also around the same time period that Cheney said that conservation is fine as a personal virtue, but shouldn't be the basis for an energy policy. But you know what, I do think it should be one of the foundations of an energy policy. Sustainability should be another foundation.

As to conservation: I really don't care if you are virtuous or not, we all need to conserve energy and not act like we are the only people on this Earth. If we develop habits to conserve, then we conserve...We might not like it, but the right and moral thing gets done. The way things are now, what got done from the Bush/Cheney policy is that oil industry tycoons and stockholders got richer and richer and richer. For years and years I didn't think much about conserving. I drove too many miles...I just didn't think about any alternatives to jumping in the car. Finally the price of gas and a shortage of gas has made me try to conserve. Habits are hard to break.

Why are conservatives called conservatives if they don't believe in conservation?

To Panic or Not to Panic

To follow up from Friday.

I have a wonderful boss and a wonderful co-worker and they both said, "Leave 10 minutes early to catch your bus." So I did! Everyone I emailed regarding a ride at the last minute responded, but none were going my way at the right time.

Back to carpooling Monday morning. I planned, planned, planned the night before. Ironed my clothes. Made my lunch. Put some items in the car already. Still, I had to put my contacts in at the Y and bring my breakfast with me...Sigh...a sad scramble.

The gas situation seems to be worse instead of better. Long lines at the stations that do have gas. Many do not have gas in the Asheville area. Waynesville and Franklin had gas this weekend at much lower prices than Asheville.


Today's carpooling was a little calmer. Partly because I planned the night before...partly because the clock in the living room that I thought was 5 minutes fast had been set to the correct time and I didn't realize that I needed to be panicking!


Speaking of panicking: Panicking seems to be the order of the day. Many stations are out of gas; there have been fights at at least one station; otherwise calm people are scrambling to top off their gas tanks...Our local paper runs articles about all this panicking, but has yet to run an article about conserving, carpooling, riding the bus, bicycling or walking to work. (Or if they have run this article it hasn't been on the front page and/or I haven't seen it.)

It is scary to think of not being able to get to where you want/need to go. We need "green" alternative transportation methods so badly. Does anyone really believe that gasoline supplies are going to last forever...that "drill, drill, drill" is what our energy policy should be? (Actually I'm afraid lots of people believe this.)