Fuel prices… W.T.F?
Today I filled up at my usual Shell station, a station i remember being slightly aghast at having to pay 75p/litre less than three years ago. Today I paid £1.16/litre, now I realise the price of stuff does go up but *piss off*, seriously.
Now, some people will claim that it’s appropriate given that a) Oil is running out and b) fossil fuels are ‘bad’ and we should all cycle, walk or use public transport to get to work.
Let me address this view… Oil is running out? Bollocks, ok yes, it’s finite but it’s always been finite, estimates on how much is left vary because these estimates are made up by the media or guesstimated by the people who want us to stop driving, either way it’s not going to dry up anytime soon.
Fossil fuels are bad? Yes, probably, but so is the majority of ‘modern’ living, however our pollution levels are significantly lower than 100 years ago. I hear a knob in a flowery shirt shout that car contribute towards the green house effect? Well yes, but nowhere near (and i mean so far away from) natural processes and not a patch on how much ‘developing’ countries do.
Cars are unnecessary as commuting tools? Maybe for some, especially some who live and work in cities, but for the millions that live in the suburbs and work in industrial areas they are the only feasible way to travel to and from work given how shit our public transport is. I work 15 miles away from home, and thanks to the M4 it takes me about 20 minutes each way in a car, and slightly quicker on my bike. If I bussed it to my local station, then train’d into Reading and bussed it back out to my office it would take slightly less than two hours.
I want the expense and effort I have taken to reduce my energy usage and waste in other areas to offset the cost of going to work because I *cant* do without transport, and the increase in travel costs will only serve to raise my salary expectations, which is a cost my company will have to pass on to it’s customers, and eventually the public will bear the cost (as with almost every business at the end of the chain is joe bloggs buying a product or service.
I wouldn’t have an argument if the government started to invest in industry to produce alternative ‘fuels’, infact I’d welcome a short term rise in my cost of living to look forward to buying a car/bike that cost me and the environment significantly less. Alas that isn’t gonna happen because it’d cost our government dearly and at the end of the day all this is about is money, they don’t give a shit about the environment, that’s just the current political excuse.
Lastly before anyone suggests I get a job closer to home, or live closer to work, you’ve missed the point regarding how residential and industrial sectors work outside of our cities.
Frankly all this is even enough for me to consider buying a scooter, 100mpg.
