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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to shout out 'OIL is not a never ending resource and it IS going to run out'

164 replies

beaniesteve · 28/05/2008 16:05

Because I am fed up with all the emails I am getting about this Boycott and that protest. Before long Petrol will be so expensive that people will have to start looking at alternative methods of transport. We will have to get on our bikes, or use public transport regardless of how rubbish it is or how far away it is.

Am I being unreasonable to think that people just need to get real?

**NB this is in no way a comment about the other AIBU thread about Deisel, I only just noticed that one was at the top of the page)

OP posts:
mrsgboring · 28/05/2008 16:07

I'm with you. But you have to sympathise with the pain it's causing short term.

Mind you, if petrol is so hideously unaffordably expensive, why does my next door neighbour drive the five minute walk to school with her DC's four times a day (one is in nursery so half days)???

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:08

Agree in that oil is going to run out at some point. But, until they sort out rural transport, people are not going to be able to afford to get to work.

(My dh works only a 25minutes drive away, up over the mountains. But, for him to get a bus, he needs to travel 60minutes away to get a bus that comes up the other valley.)

nervousal · 28/05/2008 16:08

YABU - I don't think that many folk don't already know this - its just too scary to think about.

noddyholder · 28/05/2008 16:09

we are going to have to look at alternatives

expatinscotland · 28/05/2008 16:09

Hello? There is no alternative to a car out here.

The government refuses to put more money into improving or even putting in public transport around here.

So what's my alternative?

We cannot afford to rent in the city, much less the council taxes there.

It's not that public transport is rubbish here.

You DO realise it doesn't exist in MANY areas, don't you?

expatinscotland · 28/05/2008 16:10

'we' are going to have to look at alternatives.

like what?

isn't that what the government is for?

TigerFeet · 28/05/2008 16:11

In theory yanbu but in some areas cycling/public transport is not an option.

I would love to give up my car, I really would, but dd didn't get into our local school so I will have to drive her to one further away. There are no buses. I then have to get to work 15 miles away so no time to cycle.

We make less unnecessary journeys now - the days of a ride out in the car just for the sake of it are long gone - but the necessary journeys are getting increasingly expensive these days.

Lauriefairycake · 28/05/2008 16:12

yanbu

I cannot believe how many people make so many unnecessary car journeys around us (south-east)- we deliberately only allow ourselves to shop once a week and we combine things we have to do for when we go somewhere.

My dh is saving a fortune this week by not having to drive to work.

Original poster
beaniesteve · 28/05/2008 16:13

"Mind you, if petrol is so hideously unaffordably expensive, why does my next door neighbour drive the five minute walk to school with her DC's four times a day (one is in nursery so half days)??? "

because she (or her OH) is either paid a rediculous amount or in debt?

Thing is, this isn't short term AFAICS, it's going to be long term. I read an article about Africa and how Oil was basically rationed (Because of the politics not the fact the world is running out) and it described the chaos involved when people got wind that tehre was petrol in town, and decisions people had to make. 'Do I walk to get the petrol, or drive to get the petrol (using more petrol) because it may have all gone by the time I get back there and then I will have to walk the 5 miles back with no petrol' kind of thing.

OP posts:
stitch · 28/05/2008 16:15

you can shout, but tbh, the domestic usage of petrol isnt as much as the commercial. so walking to the shops, or cyclijng is fine and well, but if it is to buy potatos imported from south america, then it is a bit of a pointless excercise.

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:15

It is easy to say stop using the car when there is transport near by.

But it is not so easy when there is nothing close to you. That is the thing that needs to get sorted out.

Original poster
beaniesteve · 28/05/2008 16:15

expatinscotland - I do sympathise. I was raise in remote Ireland and my mum couldn't drive. My dad did but we didn't always have a car. It was horrible for my mum and made her feel trapped. But many people just walked everywhere, and I mean for miles.

if they don't sort out a public transport system and/or a new way to fuel it then people will be stranded. Everything will have to change.

OP posts:
poorbuthappy · 28/05/2008 16:15

Please explain the level of tax and duty on fuel with oil running out.

We really are all fooling ourselves if we think that the government are taxing us into oblivion to save the environment. They are doing it to make sure they can still claim ridiculous expenses, give themselves payrises etc etc...

As I put on the other thread, more C02 is emitted during the manfacture of the car than it emits during it lifetime...

I do agree that we need to find alternatives to oil because we should never be dependent on one specific "thing" (for want of a better word), but I work in the oil and gas industry and the amount of oil which still hasn't been found but does exist in the world is vast. The only difference is that it is harder to find, and harder to get out.

Perhaps we should open the coal mines up again ....

sarah293 · 28/05/2008 16:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

TigerFeet · 28/05/2008 16:18

It costs me £20+ a week to get to work now. Usually just less than £100 a month if I don't have any holidays . I am hoping to cut the number of days I work, saving money on childcare and travelling expenses. All I have to do now is get a bike with a tagalong thing for the days when I'm not at work to get dd to school with. Not that I'm really looking forward to cycling on some of the roads I will have to go on with a 4yo in tow but as it happens it will actually be quicker to cycle as the roads are so clogged up around here due to everyone having a car due to the buses being virtually nonexistent... [ramble]

sarah293 · 28/05/2008 16:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

gem1981 · 28/05/2008 16:19

my husband cycles to work and I only use the car when it is necessary.

I feel that we are lucky that we live in an area where we can do that. (we are in walking distance of most things like the doctors and post office etc)

we went down from a 2 car family to 1 car 2 years ago and we did not notice much difference.

But it has got to the point now that even for the necessary journeys we are making the car is costing too much in fuel - I go to the supermarket once a week and maybe visit friends/family who live in a rural area twice a week and this is costing us in excess of £20.00 in fuel bills a week!

Yes we have buses but they run irregularly and often sail passed full and the train to major cities is far too expensive round where I live.

cluelessnchaos · 28/05/2008 16:19

agree with cutting out unecessary journeys, my FIL drove me mad by , in the midst of the scottish fule crisis, driving in my car for a pint of milk and then for a paper and then again for some bread, and now I think I will go to the tip. FGS work out what you have to do and do it in one trip, you silly old fool(can you tell I actually didnt say that)

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:20

Poorbuthappy, there is a new coal mine (opencast) being built / made (? lol) about half hour away from me.

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:20

Poorbuthappy, there is a new coal mine (opencast) being built / made (? lol) about half hour away from me.

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:20

Poorbuthappy, there is a new coal mine (opencast) being built / made (? lol) about half hour away from me.

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:20

Poorbuthappy, there is a new coal mine (opencast) being built / made (? lol) about half hour away from me.

jofeb04 · 28/05/2008 16:20

Lmao, theres only one coal mine being made ... not 4

(Computer froze)

cluelessnchaos · 28/05/2008 16:21

btw i do know how to spell fuel, just really crap at typing

southeastastra · 28/05/2008 16:29

they'll just find oil somewhere else. or we'll all go nuclear

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