[Falcon News note: This is an opinion piece that reflects only the opinions of the writer and not necessarily the views of Falcon News or any of its team members.]
With gas prices soaring to the highest they’ve ever been in U.S. history, it becomes more and more apparent that a continued dependence on fossil fuels for energy is not only bad environmental policy, nor only bad fiscal policy, but also bad national defense policy.
According to AAA Gas Prices, gas prices in the Eugene area rose at the beginning of March to an average of more than $4.74 per gallon as of the writing of this article. That is up by 60 cents from the previous week’s average and almost a dollar from February.
According to interviews conducted by EHS Falcon News, many people are growing increasingly concerned as they have to dip deeper and deeper into their funds to be able to continue using the roads, with carpooling and alternative modes of transportation being talked about more frequently.
Over the course of the month, the price of gas has decreased somewhat in the Eugene area, according to GasBuddy. At the time of writing this article, gas stations in the Eugene area were selling gas for between $4.30 and $4.45 per gallon, which is still much more than residents have had to pay for gas in the past.
With that in mind, many might wonder how this problem could be solved. Of course, one way would be to bow down to Russian President Vladimir Putin and continue to fund the authoritarian regime by buying Russian oil. Anyone with a conscience cannot support such a course of action, especially now as the Russian military is engaged in an illegal war against the Ukrainian people, aiming their artillery at people’s homes, hospitals and kindergarten schools.
So, the alternative should be clear. In order to not finance the wars waged by the four authoritarian regimes that control more than half of the world’s oil, including Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran, freedom-loving people worldwide must forgo the consumption of petroleum products, which will include switching to electric vehicles, weatherizing homes to maximize fuel efficiency, and investing more in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal and geothermal power.
It was always the sensible option to switch to a more environmentally sustainable energy grid. With the threat of a global warming-related catastrophe looming closer each year, and the reality that oil held in the ground is far from infinite and will one day run out, clean energy was both the smart choice economically and ecologically.
Now, though, with a direct military threat from the Russian Federation, abandoning our reliance on oil is also the smart choice for national security.
