Thoughts On Oil and Bicycling
I love riding my bike to work. The trip is 7 miles each way with some good hills thrown in for variety. I have an electric motor on my rear wheel that helps me up the hills and lets me get to work in 40 minutes instead of an hour.

Every day I am struck by how many people are driving around. Do they all have urgent business? Nah. I remember when I was a kid that one of our favorite passtimes was simply driving around. This has obviously remained true. I also see an awful lot of people sitting in an idling car.

All this will change, of course, and probably pretty soon. America uses 21 million barrels of oil a day, of which we are able to produce 6 million barrels domestically. Wikipedia explains our energy usage quite well.

It seems apparent to me that we will soon reach a point where gasoline and diesel fuel will be too expensive for the majority of Americans to afford. Oil is running out, and demand in the rest of the world is increasing dramatically. Since our transportation is based entirely around single occupant, internal cumbustion automobiles, we face a cunnundrum. The development of electric vehicles is a start, but widespread use is unlikely to come in time to prevent a dramatic disruption of transportation in this country. 

In a way, this is a good thing. I urge everyone I know to get out of their cars and get some fresh air. It makes you feel better and gives you a better outlook on your day. Unfortunately, a lot of people have too far to go to work to feasibly ride a bike or walk. And as we all know, America frowns on public transportation, for the most part.

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