Reply #62

Europe uses taxes, funding strategies and incentives to avoid urban sprawl. We have urban sprawl because we let the oil companies run wild. We also have the CONSTITUTIONAL power to declare lands off-limits, like Federal lands. We also have ZONING laws.

High gasoline prices may or may not be a good thing. What they are, regardless, is 1) inevitable and unstoppable; and 2) a natural incentive to look to other forms of energy. Gasoline prices absolutely will force a change of habits - we will either adapt or plunge into a dark ages when there's none left. Or we'll go extinct because of global warming. Really, those are your choices. Pick 'em. Cheap gasoline is gone. It's dead. In fact, here's one that'll blow a few minds: cheap gasoline never really existed in the first place.

We can use solar, nuclear or geothermal energy to power electric cars. None of these do as much damage to our environment as coal-fired power plants. It's not a FAST solution, but if this is the journey of a thousand miles then we'd better start stepping NOW while we still have an inhabitable Earth for us to do so.

I think our problem here is that you do not understand that this is a do or die situation for human civilization, or even our species. We can make these changes or future visitors to Earth can pick over our ruins and ask themselves why we didn't. We don't have an option #3.