by Tricia
Gas prices where we live are basically at $4.00/gallon. It doesn’t affect us too much because both my husband and I work at home. But we probably will try to get back into walking more this summer to run errands and go grocery shopping. We aren’t going as far as this Wisconsin man, though:
“The goal is to not use one drop of gas for 31 days,” [Brian] LaFave said, calling it his personal stand against the oil companies…
…LaFave started the effort May 11. He bikes to his third-shift job at Aldrich Chemical in Sheboygan Falls, a 9-mile commute.
“I did like a practice run … two days in a row to make sure I could do it,” he said. “I’m not in the greatest shape. The mornings are the worst. It feels like it takes forever. I get like a mile down the road and I want to die.”
[Via Yahoo.com]
His main motivation is to stick it to the oil companies. Our main motivation would be to save money and get a little healthier in the process. Can you image what biking 18 miles to and from work a day is going to do for this man? I’m really curious what is going to happen after 31 days. Maybe he’ll decide to keep going for longer.
He’s an idiot. On top of that he’s not in shape so why put yourself through that? The real question is if he was able to buy gas at $3/gal last year why is 25% more this year an issue? If he quits going to the vending machines at work he will easily be able to afford it. This country won’t know what crisis is until gas reaches $8-9/gal.
You can save a lot of money by driving less and driving slower than the speed limit. If you can plan your trips it will reduce consumption. One person not buying gas for a month is a drop in the ocean.
$4 a gallon sounds like a bargain to your British readers. Here in the UK we pay by the litre and the price is running at around £1.15 per litre, which in Dollars is $8.50 per gallon.
Jim – I don’t necessarily agree with his reasoning on doing the boycott. But, I hope that his experience changes his views on things. He obviously doesn’t need to be driving 300 miles a week because he’s making things work without doing that. Of course, I have a lot of hope for people who set a public goal and try to achieve it 😉
Nik – thanks for the global perspective on the price!
@ Nik:
St. Lucia (and most other Caribbean countries) beats you on gas. Currently it sells for $12.50 a gallon. 🙂
Wow this guy is only making a statement to himself. He will not be sticking it to the gas companies..does he think Exxon will go out of business because of his $200 for the month that he won’t spend?
Now if everyone in his town was doing it then it might make a difference but he is just one guy…how much does he spend in gas for the month?
“His main motivation is to stick it to the oil companies”
Good luck!
I can certainly sympathize with his aspirations, but he’s going to have to cut back on a lot more things than driving… like heating his house, using plastic containers, rubber materials and a host of other everyday products we take for granted that are all based on oil. And that’s not even considering items that use oil and gasoline for being transported to the stores for you to buy!
http://ezinearticles.com/?Petroleum-Based-Components-Used-in-Products-You-Never-Realized&id=815584
If he wants to go “off the grid” from oil completely, he’s going to have to live like they do on survivor. 😉
Of course, it still makes for headline grabbing attention…
I doubt it’ll have much effect on the oil companies, but it could be nice for his budget. And decent for his health. However, if at the end of the month he simply starts driving whenever he feels like it, there will be no long-term point.
I can see why he’d make a big deal of it…mostly because the power of shame will probably keep him biking.
A scary thing I heard – and I’m not sure how true this is or to what extent it affects prices – is that the higher prices aren’t just due to demand or price gouging. It’s getting harder, thus more expensive, to pump the oil out.
If it’s getting harder to pump the oil out of the ground, then what does that say about the earth’s supply?
I also think I saw somewhere that Norway, one of the oil producing countries, is preparing itself for the near future when it runs out of oil to sell.
So, yeah, I don’t think he’s going to “stick it to the oil companies,” but it would be good if this gets him to reduce his energy use overall… and for the rest of his life.
I disagree with the “sticking it to the oil companies” motivation, but it should help him get in better shape (presuming he doesn’t get hit by a car – wouldn’t third shift start in the dark?) and reduce his spending if he’s not buying gas for the month.
I agree with Jen – the bigger picture is what do we do when oil is harder to pump out of the ground, when we can’t pump it from known sources off (such as occurs now off the U.S. coastline and in Anwar – spelling? – in Alaska, etc.) Whether you agree that we should pump from these sources or not, should be using more solar and wind, etc., the fact is that our current technological society requires the use of oil for many, many products and engines. This is one of those major, long-term questions that we should be addressing right now, both personally and through corporations and politicians. Instead, we are too busy worrying about Obama addressing a reporter as Sweetie and other stupid stuff that doesn’t matter.
Okay, I’ll get off the soapbox now and someone else can have it.
Don’t worry about oil prices too much. Like Nik said, Europeans pay much more and we are not in the poor house yet. (Let’s hope the European Union will continue on its antisocialistic path. They should push our states to lower the gas taxes to ‘normal’ sales tax rates.)
Also, the price elasticity of oil has been estimated at 0,1 in the short run and 0,3 to 0,7 in the long run. This means that if prices double, oil consumption will go down 10% immediately and 30% to 50% in the long run. (‘Long run’ is an economic term meaning ‘after investment decisions are made’, i.e. it can be after 1 hour or after 3 decades only. The former rather than the latter, because people and companies act relatively quick when they can save a buck by investment.)
So, forget about peak oil theories that assume demand remains constant, ignore Goldman Sachs who predicts oil at $200 just so their traders can profit from a quick run up in the market, and whatever else is there. Within 5 to 10 years, or with an oil price like this one, alternative energy will start to make economic sense, and the power of the market will solve it all. Like I said above, the elasticity for oil is quite low in the short run, but plain normal in the long run.
The idiot should sale the “pick-up truck parked in the driveway” and buy a normal car. Let’s see how he bikes to work in October with 2 feet of snow in Wisconsin.
@PJ
PJ, I am not so sure about the so-called elasticity that you mention. I seem to remember that gas was less than $1 in 1999-2000 (in Illinois). So, it’s gone up four-fold in eight years. According to your theory, consumption has to be down at least 40%, and it is actually up.
I don’t blame him. I’m about ready to buy a hybrid. Although I was paying over $9 a gallon on my recent trip to Ireland. I’m glad to be back to cheap fuel in the states.
We need more people to do this! Not just one. I’m sure he’s happy he’s getting this kind of exposure 🙂
This is really a great idea. Now if we could get everyone to do this the we would not only healthier but gas may get cheaper.
It’s a publicity stunt in my opinion. However, I think it’s going to turn out to be a great fitness story if he accomplishes his goal. So much would change for him — weight, energy, outlook. That’s of more value to him in the long run anyway….
Gas Prices here are now at $3.71 a gallon. While we don’t work at home, my husband is able to drop me off to my job, on his way to work, which saves us gas. We also go to the store once a week only. We’re hoping to change this to once every two weeks or once a month.
Penko, good point.
Minor correction: Price times 4 = 2 times Prices times 2 => 10% decrease in consumption (so from 100 to 90), and than again 10% decrease (so from 90 to 81) => 19% short run decrease in consumption.
Did your region develop new oil consuming industries lately? Did the population grow a lot? I have no exact explanation for your situation to be honest.
@PJ
I was talking about the US in general, not just my region. The price was around and under $1 in most of the States (I have bought gas in Indiana for .65 cents as late as 2000) so my point should be valid for the whole country.
Even if your calculation is correct, we still have not seen ANY decrease in consumption, so my situation is irrelevant.
I believe the elasticity theory in the US is deeply flawed when it comes to gas, because there is no alternative to it. I, for example, commute 20 miles each way to work. There is no other transportation I can use, so even if gas reaches $10 a gallon, I would still be forced to drive.
Penko, you really made me think this through and I think I have it!
We have been discussing price elasticity, that is: The effect of price on quantity demanded, ceteris paribus (= all else constant).
However, in the real world, the income of US citizens goes up year after year (generally speaking). Given the performance of the stock market in 2003-2007, massive wealth effects took place (or: capital income was substantial).
So, price elasticity of oil/gas is around -0.1, but the income elasticity of oil/gas is positive, and I can imagine (no data found), below 1. This means that if income goes up, you will buy more oil (It’s not like cheap food that you substitute for better food). However, the percent of your budget that goes to oil/gas declines. (In economic terms: Oil/gas is a necessary good and not a luxury good.)
These two effects add up to an increase in demand in the last couple of years, but given the economic and stockmarket slowdown, the negative price effects will most likely be bigger than the (hardly positive or also negative)income effect. Demand will go down.
We should all be coming up with ways to conserve gas.
I’m a bit annoyed at the level of attention this man is getting (and by this I mean on “news” in the Midwest, not on Tricia’s blog, which is much more thoughtful than most “news” I see). Riding his bike is exactly what my dad, a tool and die maker in Detroit, did when times were tough in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
I have many friends who don’t own cars, and haven’t owned them for years. I haven’t owned a car since 2003. My boyfriend and I go months without using a single drop of gas. For years, I (and many of my coworkers) biked to work (3-8 miles each way per day) year round, in Chicago – you just bundle up. Many other people, in and outside of cities, telecommute, walk, take public transit, use car share programs, and/or ride bikes.
I know that city living enables us to make these choices, but there are a LOT of people in the world who have made these choices deliberately. One of the major reasons I knowingly pay a little bit more to live in a city is so that I don’t need to own a car or use oil. I save more, especially with gas at $4+ per gallon, than I would if I paid slightly less rent but had to own a car, pay for insurance, etc. I do this because I think being so dependent on oil (which almost always means OPEC) weakens us as a nation and is delaying the inevitable oil-weaning we’ll have to do. Am I hero? Nope – I’m just frugal.
This guy makes a good story, because of the type of guy he is – and I admit I’m interested in, for example, how much better he might feel (and will probably look) after 31 days of biking.
@Penko: next time you call someone an idiot, do us all a favor and double – nay, triple-check your message. I believe you meant to write “sell the pick-up truck” instead of “sale.” “Sale” is a non, while “sell” is a verb. ;^p
I find this story worrying. There will always be fools taking up irrational quests, much like Don Quixote fighting windmills. What is truly alarming is the amount of attention this man received. Like others have already mentioned, he’s not the brightest bulb: he drives a truck and is in pretty bad shape, seeing how he “wanted to die” after running “like a mile down the road.”
I wonder what will happen if this sudden increase in his level of physical activity results in a fatal heart attack… There is a chance that he’ll become an all-American hero. If he actually manages to last a month without succumbing to the temptation of driving his gas-guzzling vehicle (and without killing himself in the process!), the Hollywood just might make a movie about him. They’re in a dire need of new ideas as it is, and his movie just might become America’s response to the British “Run, Fat Boy, Run.” 😉
@G.L.
Well, if we get that particular, “sale” is a noun, not a “non”.
But miss-spelling a word is off the topic at hand. He IS an idiot, as most rednecks and soccer moms, driving pick-ups and SUVs that get 12mpg and crying that gas is expensive.
I am driving a Honda Civic, and care very little if gas is $2 or $5 per gallon. So, my spending on gas will increase from $40 to $100 per month, big deal.
@Penko
Touche! 🙂
I’m just enjoying this guy’s idea of not having to rely on oil for a while.
Yeah right – not only can’t I live without driving, but this idea that we can “stick it to the oil companies: reminds me of that stupid email I keep getting from my friends:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp
Trust me, I wish I could do something about the high prices of gas, and maybe just the fact the man feels in control is worth something, but driving myself nuts saving a few drops of gas is not worth my effort.
I commend the guy. What’s wrong with an oil diet? And I saw a pic of the guy, he’s young and lean, and certainly looks like the ride won’t kill him.
When we come home from traveling abroad where we have no car and do walk everywhere, we try to stay shifted to this mentality as long as possible. It does a good job of forcing you to prioritize and saves more than gas money. It saves on unnecessary shopping trips, and eating out too. Instead of going to the movies, you pull out a deck of cards or find something the tivo has recorded. You end up way more sociable with your family and neighbors. It really makes a difference in all of your thinking, which is a good exercise.
Post peak oil, everyone is going to be living like this, better to get used to it now while you CAN fall back on the car while learning.
“The power of the market” is what got us into this mess in the first place, and now petroleum is so insinuated into our culture and economy that it’s going to be incredibly hard to wean off of it. If we *only* used it for fuel I would share the optimistic point of view that we could spend ourselves out of this mess. We don’t only use it for fuel. For one thing, the Green Revolution occurred entirely on the strength of petroleum and natural gas (the latter is often used to make fertilizer). And I don’t need to tell you any other “thing” because losing the GR will be bad enough. We can get pretty good production with organic methods, mind you, but we have gone from small family farms to huge agricultural conglomerates and do you think they’ll let go of their holdings any time soon without government intervention? And how are they going to farm if fuel and inputs get too expensive?
We would not have to live like on Survivor if we lost Big Oil but we would certainly have to live more like the Amish. And even they will have to cut back somewhat.
So while what this guy is doing is pretty much worthless as a political statement, changing our individual lifestyles may just help us anyway, because it’ll get us used to a life with less. And considering that there are six and a half billion people on the planet and they’re estimating that’ll burgeon to 9 billion in another twenty years or so, we should learn how to make do with less anyway because more people means greater resource needs.
So I hope he learns to love riding his bike. At the least he’ll be in lots better shape at the end of the month than he was when he began. You gain physical fitness in a very short time if you really work at it; eight weeks in Army basic training taught me that. 🙂