Date:         Sun, 14 Apr 2002 04:46:01 -0400
Reply-To:     "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject:      Re: Lowering Gasoline Prices
In-Reply-To:  <F37LtQ5A8JB0ipO6ANB00004989@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

And not to poo-poo it for another more logical reason, but follow me for
a moment...

American suburban sprawl is reliant completely on cheap fuel. Many
Americans have no current alternative but to purchase the quantity of
fuel they do to complete their daily errands. Not long ago, outside the
door many homes there was a palette of transportation options: walking,
biking, horseback, trolley, train, passenger ferry, airplane, or car;
each one appropriate to different distances, or reasons for traveling.

Few can walk to the barber shop, ride a bike to pick up the evening's
veggies, take a trolley downtown to work, or catch a train to the next
town for dinner.  It isn't that you should HAVE to use these other
means, you should just be ABLE to, safely, and at the distance
appropriate to that mode of travel. For most of us, our options have
dwindled to one, the petroleum-powered car.

We've built our schools out in the boondocks, so kids can't walk to
school, and Mom or Dad are required to plan their day around their job
as chauffer. Our workplace is in one area of town, completely remote
from daily shopping, further separated from where we live. It isn't
uncommon for someone to spend $1.00 in gas if they have to run out for a
$1.50 loaf of bread.

Although statistically, due to age, infirmity, finances, or inability,
about 50% of the population can't drive, if you don't have a car in
America, you're screwed.

People aren't buying fuel and pouring it out on the ground for
entertainment, (although SUV's run a close parallel to this). Sadly, the
amount of fuel people are purchasing is tied to our automobile-dependant
lifestyle and municipal infrastructure.

So skip buying your fuel on Tuesday, if you want. You'll just buy twice
as much on Wednesday. Besides, oil companies are at the whim of
producing nations. The US has about 2%% of the existing petroleum
reserves, OPEC has a little over 70%. So hold your breath if you want
to, eventually you'll have to breathe, and people who don't like the US
have all the air.

There are groups of people working toward long-term solutions to
America's addiction to cheap fuel, while repairing the damage to
community/social problems caused (almost directly) by our
hyper-dependence on car-travel. The solutions to our cheap-fuel
addiction are far more complicated than boycotting your local fuel
vendor a couple days a week.

If you are interested, a good place to start learning is at
http://www.cnu.org

Developing business and guiding change since 1996,

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Corporate Communications
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
Alliance: www.ntara.com
Phone: +1.919.658.1278


-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Bob Stevens
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2002 9:36 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Lowering Gasoline Prices

Stop and think for just a minute. About 25% of the population have
computers, and less than that have access to the internet, unless I'm
grossly mistaken, which would not be the first time. Not trying to put a
poo-poo on your idea, just use reason.
You wouldn't be from the marketing department of the "other" oil
companies,
would you?
Bob Stevens
'91 Westy
Happy is he who bears a god within.
-- Louis Pasteur
http://communities.msn.com/BobsPhotoShare

----Original Message Follows----
From: The Lecrones <saljel@NFDC.NET>
Reply-To: The Lecrones <saljel@NFDC.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Lowering Gasoline Prices
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 21:15:39 -0400

Subject: Lowering Gasoline Prices


 >            MIGHT WORK, MIGHT NOT?
 >       **********************************************
 >
 >       Subject: Lowering Gasoline Prices
 >
 >       I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the
summer.
Want
 > gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent,
united
 > action. Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good idea: This makes MUCH
MORE
 > SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was
going
 > around last April or May!
 >
 >  The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't
 > continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of
an
 > inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever
thought
of
 > this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read
it
and
 > join with us!
 >
 >  By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is
super
 > cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.97 for regular unleaded in my town.
 > (California)
 >
 >  Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us
to
think
 > that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.75, we need to
take
 > aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the
marketplace....not
 > sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we
consumers
need
 > to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas
come
down
 > is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing THEIR gas!
And
we
 > can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How?
 >
 >  Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we
CAN
 > have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price
war.
 >
 >  Here's the idea:
 >  For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two
biggest
 > companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not
selling
any
 > gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce
their
 > prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
 >
 >  But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon
and
 > Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on
me
at
 > this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach
millions
 > of people!!
 >
 >  I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send
it to
at
 > least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least
ten
more
 > (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the
sixth
 > generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
consumers!
 >
 >   If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends
each,
 > then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level
 > further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! .
 >
 >  Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If
you
 > don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do
is
send
 > this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a
mathematician.
 > But I am... so trust me on this one.)
 >
 >  . How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out
to
ten
 > more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could
 > conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!
 >  .
 >  I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did
you?
 >  Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to
you,
 >  please pass this message on. PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR
PRICES
 > AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. YOU KNOW THEY LOVE HOLIDAYS
AND
 > SUMMER TRAVELERS.
 >       =====
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > --
 > "The only disability in life is a bad attitude."
 >
 > --Scott Hamilton.  Olympic gold figure skater who recently retired
after
 > successful treatment for cancer.
 >
 >


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx