"Drill, baby, drill" not the answer

One of more repugnant moments of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in early September was the robot-like audience chants of "drill, baby, drill," as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and others spoke about rising gas prices and America's energy crisis. It was as though everyone in the crowd had surrendered any semblance of intellectual independence or curiosity at the doors to the Xcel Energy Center.

The implication behind this mindless chant, of course, was that lawmakers need to facilitate more offshore oil exploration and drilling to satisfy America's insatiable appetite for the black gold, bring down gas prices, and consequently allow citizens to continue living lives of bubble-like delusion — secure in the false notion that, no matter what, more oil will always be available and we'll always have our luxury cars to drive whenever and wherever we want.

Let's be clear: It won't, and we won't. Oil is not an unlimited resource. Its supply will eventually be exhausted. In fact, we're already seeing this happen. Does anyone remember the days of $0.99 gallons of gas? Contrast that to where prices sit right now. I heard someone at work the other day note how gas prices in the Seattle area have finally dropped below $3.00. I cynically replied that I never thought I'd see the day that $2.99 was considered "cheap" for a gallon of gas. Skyrocketing gas prices are not just symbolic of world events or natural disasters; they're indicative of a resource that is being overexploited and depleted at an unsustainable rate that will lead to disaster sooner than most of us can imagine.

Consider just how dependent our society is on oil. Most American cities are built so that vehicle transportation is not just a luxury, but a necessity. Some urban areas are so sprawling and dependent on the automobile that outlying suburbs — where an increasing percentage of the population lives — are simply not accessible by any other means. For that reason, when our oil supply collapses, so will the economy and general vitality of these places. Bedroom communities will effectively become ghost towns because their infrastructures were built on the short-sighted, implicit assumption that gas-powered vehicle transportation would always be a viable option. If you live an area where you need to drive your car just to pick up a gallon of milk at the grocery store, what will you do when driving is no longer possible?

Speaking of grocery stores: The food items and other essential products on the shelves don't appear magically. They need to be transported and delivered, often from long distances. This is an excellent reason to shop at local businesses and consume locally produced goods. But let's face it: Most Americans don't do this. Most understandably shop at large, non-local establishments that sell non-local goods where they can get lower prices. What happens, though, when the ability to cheaply ship these goods is greatly reduced or eliminated by the collapse of our oil supply? The potentially catastrophic economic effects that will occur in the absence of an alternative plan cannot be overestimated.

Make no mistake: "Drill, baby, drill" is an option that merely delays the inevitable. It's not even a good temporary solution, because it simply lures us back into a state of complacency. It's like a tiny bandage on a gaping wound. If we want to avert disaster, we need to adapt an entirely new strategy immediately — one that weens American society off of its oil addiction, and one that ensures we can weather the end of oil without experiencing catastrophe. Electric cars are just the beginning. This also means cities need to trash the idea of more lanes and more freeways to solve their congestion and transportation problems, instead investing in efficient, accessible public transit that gives residents an incentive to get out of their vehicles. It means clamping down on unchecked suburban sprawl. It means providing incentives for consuming local products. Most of all, it means parting ways with the delusion that oil will always be part of the solution. In fact, the only feasible end solutions are ones that do not involve oil at all.