Energy Irony: It's a Gas!

Here's what I find odd: The picture to the left was taken in the 1970s. I'm not a car buff, so it's hard to say which oil crisis this picture is from - the one in 1973 or the one in 1979.

Either way, somehow, us crazy Americans turned the two energy crises in the 1970s into the suburb and exurb crazes of the 1980s and beyond.

How did this turn into this?

It's been nearly forty years since Americans had to wait in long, winding lines to fill up their cars and it's been more than forty days since the Gulf of Mexico has been free of oil.

Of course, the current oil spill and real estate are closely linked; and not just because beachfront properties are now being affected. Every exurb and suburb that has been created since the 1950s is linked to this spill. The more we built out and created cookie-cutter neighborhoods that required more and more roads and cars, the more oil we needed to drill for. Every time a local community dismantled a streetcar or took away bus routes, we needed to drill a bit deeper to keep pace with our "lifestyles".

Luckily, more and more people are seeing the benefits of creating mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods designed for humans and not cars. Neighborhoods where people not only live, but work and shop as well. Only time will tell if we can find newer energy resources.

Ironically enough, this oil spill may just be the emergency we need to finally ween ourselves off of oil.