A friend of mine recently published this:

Posted on Sun, Jun. 22, 2008 / Philadelphia Inquirer


U.S. drivers undeterred by the oil crisis. Save the planet - but fill the tank
first

by Arthur J. Magida
"Thanks for saving our planet," the young mother called out, giving me a
friendly smile while pushing a baby stroller outside Whole Foods.

I had no idea what she was talking about. I was no superhero, saving the Earth
from a mammoth asteroid or rescuing Western civilization from a villain sitting
on an arsenal of WMDs. I was just some schmo pulling up to an organic-food
emporium on his bike.

Then I realized why she was excited: I wasn't in a Hummer, pickup truck or SUV.
Rather, I was balancing precariously on two thin wheels, pedaling furiously,
sweating profusely, all so I could buy some food without dipping into our
dwindling oil reserves.

With gas prices at record levels, and climbing, I have relinquished the four
wheels of my beloved Miata for the two wheels of my bike. For decades, I'd
relished motoring more as sport than transportation, eager to zip around country
roads late at night with the top down and the tires squealing on hairpin curves.
Now, I was a smug conservationist, rationing out a few drops of gas for my car
as if I were in London during the blitz and biking whenever possible.

What's scary is that a recent poll commissioned by Access America Travel
Insurance and Assistance reveals that 85 percent of Americans won't change their
driving habits until gas hits $5 a gallon. Only 26 percent say they will reduce
their recreational driving, 21 percent are consolidating their errands, 7
percent name carpooling as an option, and a mere 6 percent are ready to bike or
walk more.

This is the year of the green, and I don't mean the Irish. Eco-buzz is
everywhere, even if it has taken 37 years since the first Earth Day for the
environmental ethic to reach this level. Suddenly, everything is
enviro-friendly, low-impact and recyclable.

Or perhaps we like seeming green more than living green. Ads for products
ranging from cars to clothing say "green," but much of our behavior regarding
transportation suggests we haven't advanced much since the 1950s or even the
1970s, decades when hardly anyone gave a hoot about saving natural resources and
average gas mileage actually worsened - from 15 miles per gallon to 13.7. Those
years include the 1973 Arab oil embargo, when gas hit 55 cents a gallon, and the
1979 energy crisis, when it soared to a staggering $1.35. You'd think this would
have made us reverse our oil-wasting ways. But logic was never really part of
owning a car.

Which takes us to the present: If the twin crises of the 1970s couldn't make us
come to our senses, is the current calamity sufficient? Maybe - a big maybe -
but only if there is an exponential increase in the number of people who are
willing to walk, or bike, or take public transportation, or - God bless that
woman in my local Whole Foods parking lot - want to "save our planet." It's
reassuring that Americans drove 12 billion fewer miles in the first quarter of
2008 than during the same period last year. But those billions of miles are only
2 percent fewer than what Americans drove during the first quarter of 2007.

Obviously, it will take more than sky-high gas prices for us to alter our
vehicular ways. It will take the equivalent of the Manhattan Project, except
with the participation of hundreds of millions more people than were involved
with that top-secret mission.

One guy who will need to be recruited drove by me just this morning, proud as
punch, I'm certain, about the bumper sticker on his two-ton Volvo station wagon:
"I'd Rather Be Fighting Global Warming." I'm sure he would. But first he has to
get out of his Swedish monolith and pedal along with the rest of us.

Arthur J. Magida (AMagida2@...) is the author of "Opening the Doors of
Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage."