In the on-going conversation about sustainability, it’s easy to become a bunch of Dr No’s (don’t do this, don’t do that…), and pretty quickly the notion of environmental and social responsibilty becomes a negative movement. At Love Tomorrow Today, we’re driven by the idea of positive change and that substantive change takes hold one degree at a time. In the context of real life (life in the year 2008), it’s not realistic to trade in your lifestyle, but it can be easy to tweak it!
With that in mind, here’s a piece we saw on Earthfirst.com about how slowing down on the highway can be a simple green tweak, by reducing oil consumption by millions of barrels, and, oh by the way, it’s safer.
National Speed Limit Could Save Millions of Barrels of Gas
August 3, 2008 · from Earthfirst
If anything could keep speed demons from screaming down the highway at 85 mph, maybe it’s gas prices. Each 5 mph you drive over 60 is like paying an extra $0.30 per gallon for gas. Considering that slower speeds could save a sizable amount of gas, lawmakers like Senator John Warner (R-VA) and Representative Jacki Speier (D-CA) are calling for a 55-mph national speed limit, similar to the one set in the 1970’s during a previous gas crisis.
From Yahoo! News:
The National Maximum Speed Limit of 55 mph was created in 1974, when Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Energy Highway Conservation Act. Prior to that, states had been free to set their own speed limits, but the new law threatened to strip Federal highway funding from any state straying above the national standard. The ostensible purpose of this limit was to keep down gas prices, which had been driven through the roof by an OPEC embargo touched off by the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. And with gas-prices once again sky-high, Warner isn’t alone in talking up a cap on speeding.
Jackie Speier, a first-term Democratic congresswoman from California, is already on the case. Earlier this month, she introduced a bill that would cap highway speed limits at 60 mph - 65 in rural areas. It’s currently awaiting a hearing before the House Committee on Transportation. Warner says he hasn’t contacted Speier, but adds that he’d be willing to “stroll out on the floor” in favor of a speed-limit bill. He has yet to propose a similar bill in the Senate.
A congressional study showed that the1974 law resulted in a savings of 167,000 barrels of petroleum a day, and the volume would be even greater now that there millions more cars on the road.
Of course, there’s always the question of whether motorists will comply. This is a nation of people who feel entitled to doing whatever they want, regardless of the consequences. Sure, lower speed limits – if people actually followed them – could not only save gas, but make the roads safer for all of us. Unfortunately, most people just don’t care. Those of us who do, though, will happily drive 55 mph and enjoy the extra money in our pockets.
