I have seen the future, and it works.O.K., I know that these days you're supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of "old Europe." But we're living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices -- gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon -- have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world. If Europe's example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don't drive them too much.
I have seen the future, and it works.
O.K., I know that these days you're supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of "old Europe."
But we're living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices -- gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon -- have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world.
If Europe's example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don't drive them too much.
Just a couple of years back an abandoned railway up through N Hollywood was paved over to make a bus-lane.
It's going to be very hard to put that stuff back. keep to the Fen Causeway
By and large, the Germans don't drive itsy-bitsy toy cars, but they do drive modest-sized passenger vehicles rather than S.U.V.'s and pickup trucks.
"modest" is not the first word that comes to mind when one considers cars in Germany. Only from America... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Isn't there a song about that? The Carpenters maybe? Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?
