writeaboutwarming

October 4, 2011 - Amidst all the very real anxiety brought about by our transitional economy and the "New Normal," I think it's terribly relevant to ponder some of the unintended consequences of the aforementioned. Case in point: our declining consumption of gasoline. What years of well-intended non-profit preaching could not accomplish, a brutal recession has. Higher fuel prices and lower incomes are keeping people closer to home. Couple these two facts of life - experienced most poignantly by our shrinking, high school-educated middle class - with improved car technology, and the verdict is incontrovertibly in: Americans are using less fossil fuel to power their cars. Energy Department statistics show Californians out in front in the race to clean up the air by burning less gasoline. Golden Staters can be doubly proud, since they have not only decreased their fuel consumption, but have done so while adding to the total number of drivers in the state. While gasoline cons...