« What $130/barrel Gas Means to Me »

The cover of this week’s Macleans magazine depicts a man with a gas nozzle pointed at his temple. Pretty good visual, as far as instilling fear in the hearts of Canadians.

But really, gas prices are going to impact my life in a pretty significant way.
The changes:

1. Goodbye Grocery Gateway - it’s off to NoFrills for me, and only for things that I know I’m going to eat in the next few days.
2. Goodbye regular weekend cottaging. It’s going to be hard to justify $200 in gas for 2 days of relaxation. Just thinking about the expense is going to make it hard to relax. I’m going to need that extra $400-$600 come winter.
   
3. Goodbye 69 degree thermostat. I think we can learn to be thrilled with 65 degrees in the winter.
4. Goodbye silly purchases. Gone are the days of excess and spending. The one good thing that may come out of gas prices - people are going to actually start thinking about what they are wasting their money on. Oh - and those excessive kid birthday parties - gone, gone, gone. Back to the good old days of inviting 2 friends over to a sleepover with homemade Birthday cake.
5. Goodbye Fancy Fruits - this one is going to hurt. I’ve recently become infatuated with Asian Pears. Sigh, the relationship was doomed to fail.
6. No more Commuting. Say, this could be an upside
   

There *is* an upside:

1. Home vegetable gardening is making a comeback. Already I’ve bought cucumber and tomato plants. I’ve also planted 4 more trees this year. Not bad for a lot that’s only 50 by 120. :-)
2. Fleamarket shopping is going to explode.
   
3. People will begin to find more enjoyment in *being at home*, and figuring out all sorts of things to do *at home*. Heck - maybe you will even meet your neighbours ;-)
   
4. The internet is going to be even more powerful - with spending curbed, entertainment is going to come in many forms.
5. You will have nice big trees in 10 years. Who know - you might end up needing them to keep you warm in the winter!
   

Technorati Tags: gas, commuting, environment

Comments

[Matt]

Basically... we will become more European. We've built up a society that takes advantage of cheap fuel;
- Large personal vehicles for day to day use in which they were not intended (SUV for the Soccer Mom)
- 'Interstates'
- Big Box Stores instead of local walk-to shops
- Lack of real public transit solutions for longer-than-local travel. (think trains in Europe)
- Engines that are bigger than we need (my Sister's Mazda3 in Europe has a 1.6L engine, not even available here, they start at 2.0L)

This will change. People will consider what really qualifies as a need. Those that don't care will be charged what equates as a Tariff.

However, we're still relatively 'cheap' compared to the rest of the world.