IN THEORY

As gas prices continue to rise and evidence about the damage humans are doing to the environment appears to mount, is there any growing moral or ethical reason for us to reduce our use of gas? Perhaps more to the point: Do we need to stop driving our huge SUVs?

Yes! But the answer is much more complicated than that. Recently, as we went to purchase a new vehicle, I really wanted a hydrogen car, which of course is not available yet. So we then looked for a hybrid that would fit our family. They don’t make hybrid minivans or anything larger than a five-seater. We ended up with a normal, poor-mileage minivan.

There has always been a moral and ethical reason to reduce our use of gas. When God gave the stewardship of the earth to Adam and Eve, his intention was not to for us to pillage the planet for all it is worth but to use and maintain it. We would not set our children loose in our house and allow them to destroy it, but expect them to use it and take care of it. It is the same principal with the planet.

The pollution caused by fossil-fuel-burning vehicles causes environmental and human damage that is unacceptable considering the fact that there are better alternatives. Currently the alternatives are more expensive because they are not in demand. If more people demanded clean or green energy, the costs associated with the demand would drop. Hybrids would be more affordable and alternate fuels would be more readily available. Maybe the new gas prices will force us to confront the issues and make switch to fuels that were once considered too expensive. As much as I hate ? can I use that word? Yes ? to pay $3 a gallon for gas, it is my hope that people, including myself, will begin to walk, bike and be more thoughtful about how often they use their vehicle.

I am no fan of global warming theory, but neither am I a fan of asthma caused by pollution or the rising costs in the other sectors of life inflamed by dependence on fossil fuels. Nor do I like the way it affects our politics. I don’t like that oil production subsidizes and determines the fighting in the Middle East. It is also funding the exportation of that violence around the globe. Our dependence on that oil makes us complicit in the violence. If we didn’t depend on it (our addiction as President Bush rightly says), we would be free to confront it, and the money would not fuel their efforts.

These issues make the necessity to reduce our use of fossil fuels a moral issue. So, we should do our best to drive vehicles that reduce the need and make sure auto makers know that they need to produce more efficient if not alternative-fuel vehicles.

We have dillydallied with this for far too long. Had previous generations made the hard decisions, this would not be such a big issue now. The only question is will we have the courage to make sure that doesn’t happen again.