NO GAS DAY, ALL DAY, EVERYWHERE – Thursday March 31, 2011

As posted on the FaceBook event page “NO GAS DAY”, Thursday March 31, 2011 is a global “Don’t buy gas / Don’t use gas day” for 24 hours all around the  world.

The FaceBook page also clearly exemplifies the debate about the pertinence of such initiative:  Can it really make a difference ?  Does it really mean something ?  How can we turn such endeavor into a lasting success beyond just another feel good, disconnected act of defiance ?

On a collective level, a “don’t buy gas” day will end up being either a show of force or a show of weakness.  As individuals, we have no control on how it is going to pan.  What we ought to have control over however is our resolve to make a lasting difference, not once every blue moon but every single day.

Not buying gas for a day might be well meaning (even though… who fills up everyday anyway ?).   But now how about considering that every time we give gas towards a red light, or we start fast from a red light, or we don’t respect speed limits, we are wasting precious energy that will never come back.

Yes, let’s not buy gas on that day, just for the heck of it.  But banning every trace of wastefulness from our life is what will make a lasting difference in our wallet, in our general outlook on the world and in our level of readiness for the time that is coming when there will simply be nothing left to waste anymore.

Therefore I suggest to not buy gas on Thursday, perhaps, but especially TO NOT WASTE GAS IN THE CAR OR ELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSE ANY DAY OF THE WEEK AND ANY WEEK OF THE YEAR.  Let’s use what we need;  let’s not waste what we don’t.

Gerard Ungerman