A couple of years ago a co-worker and Prius driver asked me why I didn’t own one (I drive an 18 year old wagon that gets around 20 MPG city.) He commuted every day from Elk Grove, around 20-25 miles round trip, while I commuted from the edge of East Sacramento/Midtown, around 5 miles round trip. So even with a Prius he’s using twice the gas I was. These days I live even closer to work, so I walk or take light rail 3-4 times a week. So my gas use for work comes to about half a gallon a week.

Shallow ecology is necessary and important: it’s the basic level, and it gets people into the idea that using up resources at a ridiculous rate isn’t that great of a strategy. But changing the way we build cities means more than just changing to a more fuel-efficient car–it means building more fuel-efficient cities.

I do transit/bike to work when I’m working in town, and I could even walk.

Still, we’re a society that is still built on driving and it takes a very, very deep ecologist to overcome the challenges such a structure poses. If we didn’t have a child, we could make much better environmental choices, I guarantee. We’re getting better, but it’s going to take a long time before we can work that out.

Meanwhile, historic homes in the same neighborhood *are* selling for those kinds of prices, even though many are the same size or smaller, with similar lot densities.

(Shallow: Buying a brand-new infill house with “green” features built on the wreckage of an old building. Deep: Buy an old house made of century-old old-growth redwood, within walking distance of your job, and take simple steps to make it even more energy efficient.)

Expensive gas is suddenly making people realize the value of living close to work–and, potentially just as important, the value of using farmland at the edge of cities for farming instead of suburbs.

As much as it pains me to pay almost 50 bucks to fill my Saturn, higher gas prices are a good thing environmentally because you’re right — higher gas prices are making people redefine what is “comfortable.”

I don’t think driving is bad per se (says the guy who lives in the suburbs) - it’s more distance and efficiency that’s the issue. It’s better to drive a truck 3 miles than a hybrid 30.

I’ll admit to being a total cynic, but I’ve always believed that money is the only thing that would push most people into responsible environmental decisions. I feel for people who genuinely can’t afford $4.50 per gallon, but I actually think it’s good for everyone else. People are getting rid of fuel inefficient cars and using mass transit. The political climate is ripe for spending money on building transit rather than roads. None of this would have happened without gas prices increasing like they have.