$20 a Gallon: How Rising Gas Prices will Spur Waste into Resources.

When things become scarce or in demand, prices rise, and we use less. Caviar sells by the ounce or pound, not by the ton. Gold sells by the ounce, not the pound. Jewels sell by carat, not kilogram. Right now I can buy a gallon of water, essential to my daily life at my local grocery for $1.50 a gallon. The gas station next door sells charges $2.49 for a gallon if it, at last year that gallon cost me over $4.



In Christopher Steiner’s new book, $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, he lays our a future where gas soars, to 6, 8 10, all the way to 20 dollars per gallon, and the changes that we will have to make along the way. It’s not a bad future at all. Most of us will eat more locally, drive smaller cars, fly seldom, take trains (fast ones) for more trips, live nearer our families, attend college closer to home, and oh yes, breath cleaner air, drink better water, and fight fewer wars.

Last year, when gas topped $4 a gallon, the Amtrak from Boston to NYC was usually sold out. Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles than the year before. And SUVs began to look like albatrosses around our necks rather than a must have suburban car.

Over the next week or so, I’m going to pull excerpts form Steiner’s book, and walk you through what our lives will begin to look lie at 6, 8 10 12, 14 16, 18 and 20 dollars per gallon. It’s a challenging journey in some spots, but like al epic voyages, we wind up in a better place than we started, maybe a little scarred, but wiser and deeply satisfied. And it’s time we began. For future generations, maybe just in time.

$20 a Gallon, Part 8: $18 Gas – A Renaissance of Rail!
$20 a Gallon, Part 7: $16 Gas – Local Food Rises Again!
$20 a Gallon, Part 6: $12 Gas – Bye ‘Burbs, Hello City Life!
$20 a Gallon, Part 5: $14 Gas —Small Town Renaissance
$20 a Gallon, Part 4: $10 Gas — Drive Small and Clean
$20 a Gallon, Part 3: $8 Gas Clears the Friendly Skies!
$20 a Gallon, Part 2: $6 Gas Kills SUVs dead!