As you well know earlier this week, executives from five top oil companies (Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP America, Conoco Phillips and Chevron) testified before Congress to explain how it is that these companies continue to need government subsidies (to the tune of $18 billion) when they have been enjoying record profits while we, the American public, have been “enjoying” record-high gas prices.
My favorite quote from those hearings, held on April 1st, was from Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts. He was quoted on CBS News saying, “On April Fool’s Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil.” My least favorite quote? How, according to NPR, the oil company executives pretty much said, “It’s not our fault.”
If one of my kids admitted to doing something that she knew was wrong, and then threw, “But it’s not my fault” at me, that kid would be in a ton of trouble. But what can we do to punish the oil companies? What they’re doing is definitely wrong, even in our free-market economy. I mean, if they’re making money hand-over-fist from American drivers, why aren’t they passing along any savings to us?
I think it’s time to figure out how to protest this despicable corporate behavior. People need to find a way to drive less. They need to determine how not to buy as much oil and gas. They need to come up with ways to stage a protest any way that they can.
Forget going green for the good of Mother Nature. Now is the time to go green to stick it to the man–the big, bad oil company man.
That’s why earlier this week I pushed so hard to show how, with a little effort, you can figure out a way to use your car less during a typical day.
That’s why last year, I posted about how you can figure out how to carpool in the real world, even if it’s just to and from your kids’ sporting events or religious classes.
That’s why, if I had my druthers, we would get rid of our fully paid-off SUV and get that hybrid we’d considered but decided against buying last summer. Just this morning, with news that gas prices will likely climb past $4 a gallon this summer (it’s already there in places like California and Hawaii), my husband and I crunched the numbers on how much we’re spending on gas each month. And it dawned on us that we’re spending more on gas than we do on our car payment. But right now we can’t afford to give up a car we own outright to take on another car payment to save money on gas. That math just doesn’t add up for us. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t find ways to be economical with the vehicle we own, such as driving less and walking more.
What else can you do to formulate your own protest against the big oil companies? Because just as we don’t let our kids get away with “It’s not my fault” as a valid excuse, we shouldn’t let these millionaire CEOs get away with that kind of lame excuse either.
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