Of all the things that infuriate people these days, oil prices appear to remain forever near the top. As soon as riots started breaking out in the Middle East – first in Tunisia, then Egypt, Bahrain, and now, Libya – pundits quickly turned their focus to the wells. We have been flooded with panicked headlines on the oil question in publications like The Associated Press, Greenwise Business and CNBC, followed by descriptive caveat emptor of the coming $140-per-barrel apocalypse.
Their warnings have not been as extreme as one might have first thought. Retail oil prices in California have gone up over seven percent since Jan. 29 (CaliforniaGasPrices.com 2.23.11). With only three percent of Angelinos commuting to work on foot, most of us are already experiencing some level of pinch at the pump (US Census Bureau Website 2.23.11). But is the world really ending? With the US receiving oil from many different sources, one of them being Canada and its enormous resources of tar sands holding more reserves than all of Saudi Arabia, probably not. Perhaps this is an opportunity.
There is a degree of cognitive dissonance in a country like ours that cheers for the freedom fighters overseas while grumbling about domestic oil prices. Other oil panics have come and gone but this one is a little more representative of a growing national problem: we can’t have our cake and eat it too. Plain and simple, a country founded on the principles of transparency and equality should not be so reliant on dictatorial nations for fuel. With many of these nations now in revolt, America has an excellent opportunity to step back and reevaluate its relationship with resource consumption.
We do ourselves a discredit relying upon others for the well-bring of our economy, our environment and in fact, our peace and security.
We can accomplish many goals, and set a democratic example for the rest of the world by responsibly acquiring and managing our natural resources.