JWL.Freakwitch.net

bottled water and the price of gas

I stopped at a gas station today after hiking to get something to drink. I noticed that the bottled water was nearly as expensive as soda. Think about it: Maine is full of springs and bottlers. The cost to extract fresh water from mother earth, purify it, bottle it, and distribute it to the public means I'm paying $1.29 per half-liter, which converts to $9.77 per gallon.

This means, as my friend Yo has pointed out, that gasoline is still by far the least expensive liquid one can buy at a gas station, unless they happen to have big gallon jugs of windshield washer fluid for a buck or two.

Think about it: they are getting water from a well, and gasoline, despite everyone bitching about the price, despite the huge costs to drill deeply for crude, process it into gasoline, and distribute it, is still about 1/4 the price of water.

Even with gasoline prices higher than ever, it is important to remember that in America we do not pay what it actually costs to produce. Gasoline prices will continue to go up, since we are past the critical mass of peak oil. It is becoming more and more scarce, and the economic well-being of those in power depends on it. Eventually, it will get too expensive and the economy will crash until we can find alternative ways to ship products than by truck, plane, etc.

Hold on tight, folks. We're in for a rough ride, I just don't know how long it's gonna last.

posted by JWL at 1:54 AM |