Better Than Boycotting BP: Getting Out of the Car

Moving your money from one oil company to another doesn’t really do much to affect the voracious appetite we have for oil that drives companies like BP to make risky and reckless decisions about where to drill.  Blame BP all you want — and you should — for lax safety systems, but they wouldn’t be there in the first place if it weren’t for our demand for gas, and our demand that it stay cheap.

So, if you want to act in a way that really has an impact, there are two main things I would recommend:

Drive less:  This is the obvious one, the harder one, and the one that has the most impact.  The more you can stay off the road, or replace oil-powered trips with human-powered ones, the more real impact you have on reducing our dependence on oil.  Not only that, but driving less has additional positive benefits that a boycott, even a successful one, wouldn’t; you’re polluting less, helping keep the air in the Roanoke and the New River Valleys clean. You’re contributing to the conservation of our amazing green space — less driving means fewer roads, less sprawl, fewer parking lots, and more parks, trees, greenways and other greenspace.  You’re reducing your carbon footprint, and you’re probably going to get physically healthier at the same time .…

Go Local: Perhaps not so obvious as driving less, but still important. The energy required to get goods from one side of the country to another is incredible and a significant component of

the country’s transportation fuel consumption. Shopping locally is not only good for fresher food and more local employment opportunities, it means that the stuff you’re buying didn’t travel nearly as far to get here. Bicycling to the local farmer’s market and filling your basket with fruits and veggies is a double-punch to BP’s gut; neither you nor the food you’re buying took much oil to get to the market.