Ok smartypants, what's your answer?!

Last week I wrote a blog article about snopes.com. The idea for the posting came from an e-mail I received regarding another gas-out. As stated in my post, I replied to the e-mail explaining the misconceptions of this e-mail. The person who sent it to me was my wife and she didn't quite appreciate the know it all attitude I probably took in my response. This morning on the way to work the topic came up again and I tried to make my point again. Basically the conversation came down to her asking me, "Well, then you come up with an idea that will lower the price of gasoline". Well, I guess I asked for it but here is my online rebuttal. ...

If you checked out the articles about the gas out at snopes.com, you might have come to the realization that this idea does not affect the oil supply chain as mentioned in the e-mails. If you read the articles and allowed oil consumers, and thus yourself, to be fallible, you realized a gas out doesn't work because you aren't willing to take on a hardship to show how much it means to you. In order to make a difference that the oil companies would notice, you have to reduce your own consumption of gasoline and assist others in doing the same. Many of these ideas are already out there so I don't need to come up with them myself.

• Ride a bike to work( or walk/jog ) - In this way you limit the influence the gas companies have on your daily mode of transportation. How much do you spend each week in gasoline? How much does a bike and all the accompanying paraphenalia cost? How long would it take to pay off if you aren't buying as much gas? Don't forget, you'll be keeping yourself in better shape as well.
• Car Pool - This takes a certain amount of organization, but it can help. If you work in a company that has a lot of people, or even in an area where a lot of people work this may already be set up. This might not only help you save money in gasoline but also help make new friends and acquaintances.
• Ride the Bus - Or some other method of mass transportation. Bigger cities usually have better mass transit options, the more of us that take advantage of them can only have them improve though. Some mass transit options don't even use gasoline for energy! Get involved and we can have better options in mass transportation.
• Use a car with good gas mileage - Don't fool yourself on what good gas mileage is either. Less than 30 miles per gallon might be good for a 6 or 8 cylinder but nobody said get good gas mileage for a sports car. If you must buy a vanity car, there are options in electric cars out there, but they are still pricey at this point.

There are definately other ideas as well but the main point is use less gas. When it comes to a true boycott, you end up taking on a hardship to make your point. During the civil rights movement bus boycotts and sit ins weren't convenient to the people participating in them, they were hardships they took on. By taking on these hardships people finally started to take notice, usually because it hit them in the pocketbook. If you want to make the oil companies realize you don't like their pricing strategies, take on the hardship of not buying, or in reality buying less of, their products. While your at it, assist others in doing the same. That will lower gas company profits which will make them change their ways. Of course, if you change yours, you might never go back :)

Since there are other ideas out there. Please share your ideas in the comments. Anonymous posts are accepted, but please respect the other readers.