Still ranting on sacrifice.

In the June National Geographic, there is piece on a day without driving. Using Pittsburgh as an example it claims that if more people use public transportation, carpools and drive the speed limit they would save 213,700 gallons of gas. It was unclear if this was for a day or a year. Now I'm not to sure how realistic parts of  "eco-friendly" driving are in real world commuting traffic, but overall the suggestions seem to be such  miniscule changes to ones life that at worst they would qualify as inconvenient.

Inconvenience does not equal sacrifice. This is sacrifice.

Energy:Some Americans do know how to sacrifice.

Thinking long and hard, I've concluded that I should temper my earlier remarks about Americans and sacrifice. Coming from a working class background filled with first responders, service members (I was once both), and people who took whatever job available to get their families the necessities, it was inexcusable to forget that large numbers can and do sacrifice. This includes sometimes risking the ultimate sacrifice for others. However, the burden of change that must be made in terms of energy sources and usage in this country cannot be placed solely on the backs of these, my people. First of all without everyone contributing, efforts are likely to fail. Second, I would hazard a guess and say that per capita usage of electricity, heating/cooling and transportation from fossil fuels rises with income level. The exurbanites commuting daily by themselves from their McMansions with 2 acre lawns and so on cannot expect to continue to live their wasteful lifestyles while others who already sacrifice are expected to do more.