When idealism meets pragmatism: the case of gas prices

I've often thought that the environmental movement's biggest liability was its association with images of hippy-dom and tofu, something that causes much of middle America to look with suspicion at projects designed to protect the environment. Much of the appeal of the Hummer, I'm convinced, was that people saw it as an "in your face" to those who they perceived to be elitist, self-righteous liberals from California and the like. Many average Americans have a view of environmentalists as holier-than-thou big-heads, and it doesn't help that many who subscribe to environmentalist views often take the tone of lecturer, criticizing the average over-consuming American in terms that can be mocking and abrasive. It is unfortunate that many progressives are unable to suppress the disdain in their voice as they mouth off about fat suburbanites with their cookie-cutter McMansions and mall-centric social lives. The thing is, it's these suburbanites, the Silent Majority, if you will, who we ultimately have to win over in order to change our culture's consumption habits.

That's why high gas prices are such a blessing. It's always been the case that our unsustainable consumption habits would eventually cause resource shortages. It's just that it's sometimes hard to convince the average American of this reality while the oil and the food flows so freely and cheaply. In prosperous times, claims of an impending resource crash can often be seen as so much "End is Near" fanaticism. If anything, we're lucky that the gas crisis is happening now, and somewhat gradually, rather than slogging through years more of an artificially deflated market culminating in a sudden, depression-inducing crash. As it is, folks are beginning to feel the pinch gradually, and they're (hopefully) beginning to realize that resources are indeed finite.

This article in today's New York Times presents a good illustration of this hope. The market for houses out in the suburbs is suffering, as people begin to realize that the cost of gas is too high to sustain long daily commutes into the city. More people are considering moving closer to town. It seems that economic considerations are beginning to outweigh people's desire for isolation (and segregation, no doubt) and a bigger house. Might the trend in gas prices lead to a renewal of our urban centers, a greater demand for public transportation, and a reduction in sprawl and traffic congestion? It is certainly possible.

The two greatest threats to the realization of this silver lining are (1) the possibility that the economic consequences grow broader, to the point of a crash, in which case the negative consequences of a depression would almost certainly outweigh the positives of less driving, or (2) some massive act of government intervention, subsidizing oil further, prolonging our oil dependency, and delaying the sustainability reforms that are our only chance to avoid an eventual crisis. Perhaps with an Obama presidency, the latter is less likely to occur. In any case, the curse of high gas prices is potentially a blessing in disguise, and I'll be watching with fingers crossed to see where the situation takes us. In the meantime, those who are concerned about the environment should take this opportunity to change the tone of their advocacy from an aesthetic, moralistic one, to one that focuses on the practical consequences of unsustainable growth.