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Pain at the pump
By Joanna Meade ’06
STAFF WRITER

“Hess has the cheapest gas.” All over campus these days, statements like this from Sarah Hart ’06, can be heard commonly in conversation. After Hurricane Katrina hit early this month and gas prices skyrocketed members of the Sweet Briar community have been more willing to find ways to save gas and cut back on driving.

Many have simply tried to cut back on their driving, such as Meredith Newman ’09, who hasn’t driven since last week. Others, including Lindsay Woodward ’07, have opted for carpooling.

To save gas, Teresa Papaleo ’07 caught a ride home one weekend instead of driving herself. And instead of driving to Wal-Mart, she bought her school supplies at the bookstore.

For some, avoiding the gas station is relatively easy. Many students, especially fellow seniors, can relate to Jill Frier ’06 who said, “I don’t ever drive, I’m too busy!” Those with shorter commutes, such as Coordinator of Campus Student Employment Carolyn Brazil, who only has to drive five miles to work every day, can also avoid the strain on the pocketbook easily. Brazil said she has opted to drive her car to work instead of her V8 truck, because of the better gas mileage.

“I have a new appreciation for my tiny little Honda Civic that gets great gas mileage,” said Hart.
However, others with longer commutes and “gas guzzlers” have been hit pretty hard. Director of Financial Aid Bobbi Carpenter has a 40 mile commute one way. She said she is always on the lookout for who has the cheapest gas and tries to do everything in one trip. Another trick she has is obeying the speed limit. Optimum gas mileage is right around 55 miles per hour, so even though the speed limit has been raised to 60 on route 29, she stays five miles under to maximize the number of miles she gets to a gallon. Kara Evans ’07 drives a big van and says she hasn’t let the gas prices change her driving habits much. “I drive every day,” she said. “I have to save money on other stuff so I can afford gas, but either way it costs a lot – about $70 per tank of gas.” When the price peaked, she said it only went up $10 or so per tank. When already paying $70, $10 more doesn’t make that much of a difference.

On such a small campus, news travels fast. The usual gossip has been replaced with an enthusiastic “the price of gas at Sheetz is $2.69 now.” Many can give you a price estimate of the nearby filling stations, including Abby Adams ’06, who always seems to know what the price is at Sheetz.

Associate Professor of Economics and Business Eugene Gotwalt said he didn’t fill up his tank when prices were at their highest a few days after Katrina hit. He reasoned, “I knew that there was going to be speculative increase in demand that, together with the decrease in supply, was going to affect the price. I reasoned that the spike in demand would decrease, and thus, the price would fall - still higher than immediately after Katrina, but less than the $3.29.” In other words, for those who don’t speak in economics, he knew the price was going to go back down, so he tried not to pay for a full tank until then.

Once prices in the area broke $3.00 people really started to take notice of how much gas they were using. Carpenter said she started keeping her receipts and keeping track of her mileage, when she had never given it much attention before. She’s trying to be more conscious, but now that prices are going back down, will she and others in the community keep up their newly adopted thrifty ways? Carpenter wasn’t sure if she could, even though she would like to be
able to “do what we can for our environment.”

Allison Ross ’08 thinks it is highly ironic that people complain so much about prices, yet fail to really do something to change their habits of consumption. Very few people are seriously considering investing in Hybrid cars like Hart, or consolidating their errands into one trip like Brazil. When asked if she would give up her gas-saving ways once the price had fallen,
Newman said, “Most def, dawg.”

Cutting back consumption of gas is simply not going to be an easy thing for Americans. Suburban sprawl and a lack of convenient, cheap public transportation, among many others factors, make driving a necessity for most. Americans are undoubtedly hooked on oil. For many years it has been cheap and plentiful and has been used in excess. Our society is built upon its use and availability to an extent that the average citizen doesn’t even comprehend. Tons have been written on the subject. Billions of dollars have been spent and thousands of lives have been lost to secure our imports of foreign oil. Even though our mini gas crisis is fading in our memories, there is a much bigger picture to grasp. There is a finite amount of oil in the world, and one day we will run out. Our failure to recognize our dependency on oil as
one of our society’s greatest weaknesses could possibly be our downfall. We are not all that far removed from myriad examples of other societies, such as the Easter Islanders who cut down every tree on their island causing their flourishing society to collapse. Keep that in mind the next time you hop in the car to drive to the mail box or out to Guion, decide not to car pool to Hampden Sydney, or fill up your tank at the cheapest filling station.