I went to Ozark Christian College in Joplin MO from 1986 to 1990, and I remember being able to by gas for 69 cents a gallon. I had a ‘79 Honda Civic and I could fill that thing up for about 7 bucks. Those were the days.
For about the last 18 months I have already been adapting my driving habits, mainly just by combining errands into one big one instead of running a bunch of little ones. If I can put off an errand for a day or two or three in order to combine it with something else, that’s what I do.
Lately I have been wondering how the rising gas prices are going to change our way of life. The obvious thing is everything else is going to get more expensive, but I think a much larger issue is that people’s sphere of activity is going to shrink dramatically. We’re going to become a much smaller society. Recreational activities and vacations are going to be closer to home. Neighborhood stores will become more important. People may even find jobs closer to home, or move closer to their jobs.
I’ve been especially interested in how this is going to affect churches. I’ve talked to some pastors and they’ve already seen the effect through lower offerings. I think people will start to find churches “closer to home” rather than driving many miles to a particular church. Here’s an interesting article about gas prices and the church.
How has the high gas prices affected you? Have you made any changes?
You are right about shrinking. I was a missionary in Brazil for nearly three years and also made several trips there before that, and was always impressed by how compact the cities were compared to the U.S. You are either in the city or in the country, with not much in between. Not a lot of “urban sprawl.” The reason? I really think it’s primarily gas prices. It’s always be A LOT higher in Brazil that in the U.S., even though Brazil does refine its own oil. People take buses and drive minimally. There have to be parks and stores in a neighborhood for it to be really livable. I never owned a car in Brazil.