My friend just bought an SUV and I want to cringe. I bicycle to work or carpool, I'm waiting to buy an electric vehicle and I am an advocate of a $5 a gallon tax on gasoline. I wonder: what are the indirect consequences of my friend's increased gasoline use? What is the impact of buying an SUV -15 miles per gallon, 750 gallons per year? Let's assume 11,000 miles of driving, approximately.
Until there is such a thing as a "democracy bond" to pay for the consequences of using oil, people can pay for their own cleanup. How? By sending funds to private organizations to clean up the mess.
If I use an electric car powered by solar-electric charging of the batteries, my impact and demand for oil is much less. If my car runs on gasoline, I have to face facts: my gasoline use has extensive side effects.
I came up with the following consequences of the use of gasoline. The calculations to support the conclusions are 1 tree that absorbs 40 pounds of carbon dioxide a year can absorb about a ton of carbon dioxide over 50 years. In general, I estimated the amount of the damage (granted that economics cannot fully account for losses endured by families), then divided by 100 million U.S. households to arrive at a per-household "self-tax" that gasoline-powered SUV owners in particular might want to consider imposing on themselves. I then identify a possible organization that could be supported.
Consequence: Carbon dioxide from burning gasoline. Cost: $45 a year to plant-trees.org.
Consequence: Soldiers kill and injure innocent civilians while protecting oil pipelines. Cost: $120 per household, covered by CIVICWorldwide.org.
Consequence: United States presence in Iraq and elsewhere causes refugees to flee. Cost: $90 per household in USA - Americare.org .
Consequence: Continued use of gasoline does not build the demand for alternative fuel inventory. So a remedy is "pay for the equivalent amount of alternative fuel." Cost: $240 in alternative fuel cost. An organization is needed to be identified (perhaps a switch grass or biofuel provider) to help lower the cost of providing the alternative fuel or build the infra structure for more fuel.
Consequence: Using fuel distracts from building the battery demand that an EV would deliver. Cost: $110 a year, payable as a deposit toward owning a future set of batteries for the next car that the SUV owner will switch to. Ampmobiles.com is coordinating a battery purchase.
Consequence: Loss of hearts and minds. So we need to create H&M; schools and clinics to "give back." Cost: $200, www.redcross.org.
Consequence: Hearts and minds operations during disasters. The next time there is an earthquake in Iran, are we ready to send in supplies? Cost: $20 a year (to redcross.org?) .
The total per household: $825 for an annual "Hearts and Minds" self-tax.
Any comments? These calculations are rough and conceptual, not definitive. I received a comment from an analyst who notes that "I think it is a pretty tough concept to link gasoline used to civilian deaths. There just is no concrete information to support a causal linkage. I wouldn't suggest telling Americans that because they drive an SUV they are responsible for civilian deaths, there is just no way to support that."
Still, the total comes to roughly $825 a year. I'm getting out my checkbook.
Steve McCrea, an alternative fuels analyst, resides in Fort Lauderdale.
He manages a digital portfolio website for educators: TINYURL.com/CPPPSite
He gives recommendations about carbon dioxide offsets as a consultant to HossDesignUSA.com. Steve founded the Global Cooling Center to promote tree planting as a way to offset carbon emissions.
NOTE: a study by Greenpeace in 1990 pointed out that the "plant your way to zero emissions" works for a few decades but then the available space for tree plantings gets used up. Until then, consider programs like plant-trees.org
