Odessa

I wonder, will history repeat itself? It has so far, but will that cycle continue. Stop the insanity and be smarter this time America

In the crazy 80's, gas prices were out of sight in comparison to what people where earning and people bought littler cars to cope with the reality. I remember those days fondly because I was in college. The current spiraling gas prices and concern about how to feed the car is a bit of dejavu for me. Then as now, people were very concerned about finding alternate energy sources.

I eyed a particular college class and I was fascinated. It was something I could be passionate about. Maybe even pursue as a career. I finally got the prerequisites just to find the class canceled! The class was on alternative energy technologies.

What had changed? The price of gas had fallen significantly. We had dodged the bullet. It was time to party and make V-8 sports cars and behemoth trucks again. The the reign of the SUV began, too. Meanwhile I shook my head saying to myself: "Wake up people! It WILL happen again! Don't stop looking for other ways to power stuff. Don't stop making little cars."

Hopefully we can avoid making the same mistake again. We have come farther this time - hybrids are a reality not a dream. There is so much farther to go, though. We are still import the majority of our petroleum from parts of the world that are not very stable. We trust the fuel for our means of transportation to countries and people who hate us and prefer us wiped from the globe. Domestic drilling may help. but it is not the solution. We need to look at our transportation differently.

I don't know if the answers include alternative fuels for our current cars or getting away from internal combustion engines completely. Perhaps, like hybrids, the answer is a little from column A and a little from column B. What ever the answer is - Please lets keep looking!