Louisville Magazine

MAY 2012

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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[Bob Hill] Adding Fuel to the Fire I t's long been apparent that the human race in general — and Americans in particular — have survived on two sustaining attributes: tunnel vision and denial. Add a robust sense of entitlement and we're pretty well defined. Tere are magnificent exceptions, of course: the great world wars this nation has fought to preserve gets enormously arcane, technical and political, but research indicates it takes about 98 tons of prehistoric plant material and plankton vegetating over millions of years to produce enough oil for one gallon of gas; said oil can take weeks, if not months, to be shipped to refineries and processed. Yet in four brief hours its price can rise, but never fall, almost 10 percent. Research indicates it takes about 98 tons of prehistoric plant material and plankton vegetating over millions of years to produce enough oil for one gallon of gas. freedoms; disasters such as the recent tornados, to which the response has been overwhelmingly sincere and generous; and, of course, our ability to rally to the national call and electronically vote nervous, sweaty candidates on and off the stage in Dancing With the Stars. All of this came into even more focus for me recently with events involving fast food, the price of gasoline and my math skills — a trio of issues that go to the heart, if not the stomach, of our national ills. Te first occurred as I pulled into the drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant and glanced over at a nearby mega gas station: Gasoline was $3.85 a gallon. When I emerged from my restaurant lap several minutes later the price was $3.99 a gallon. It had gone up 14 cents in the time it took to purchase America's favorite balanced meal— a cheeseburger and a Diet Coke. So OK, I have become much more diet-conscious of late, but being perfect just takes too much energy. I also invariably find on those fast-food trips about 25 cars tightly wrapped around the restaurant and 10 people standing in line inside. Tis once great nation has become unwilling — if not physically unable — to park the car and walk inside to gorge itself on processed beef, cholesterol and empty calories. And if you prefer some splendid irony, precisely at the time I was making my guilt-laden restaurant lap I heard a radio report lamenting the fact that 70 percent of American youth cannot now pass the physical and/ or mental tests required to get into the military. Tink about that. Who can we now trust to defend even our fast-food franchises against foreign intervention? Back to that mega gas station, whose gas, just a few mornings prior to my fast-food lap, had been $3.55 a gallon. By afternoon it was $3.89 a gallon — an increase of 34 cents in about four hours. Te subject [104] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 5.12 What am I missing here? Where's the YouTube video of the greedy oil company CEO or OPEC sheik tossing darts at the Oil Price Dart Board? Yes, there are real issues and wacky theories involved: stock market manipulation; a decision on whether we now should invade a nuclear-charged Iran or hold tight with two wars; the controversial use of fracking to get to the alleged zillions of gallons of untapped American crude buried beneath upper-Midwest fields. What about that delayed pipeline from Canada that will enable us to ship even more oil overseas, or demanding a rapid increase in off-shore drilling in the historical shadow of the Gulf Coast environmental disaster? (My favorite wacky theory is President Obama's wish to see gasoline rise to $8 a gallon to make him more popular and guarantee re-election.) Te believable figures say the United States has about 2 percent of the world's oil reserves and uses about 20 percent of oil consumed in the world every year. Although improving with age — we are increasing production while reducing usage — Americans still reserve the right to fight mandatory rules to increase gas mileage, still hurtle down the nation's highways at 75 miles an hour and still wish those darn Asian countries would stop using so much of our God-given gasoline, driving up prices. Tis all came together in another recent journey. With our gas gauge near empty, my wife suggested we drive to a box store five miles away to save five cents a gallon on discount gas — or about 70 cents on 14 gallons. I did the mileage math and learned that at our 20 miles per gallon — and with $4 gas already in the tank — it would take $1 worth of gasoline to drive the five miles to save the 70 cents. So where's some really ripe plankton when you really need it?

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