Americans are driving less, burning less gasoline, and buying fewer cars, and the feds have the stats to prove it. New numbers show that Americans drove 4.7 percent less in June 2008 than they did in June 2007, shaving off some 12.2 billion miles. For those keeping track at home, that makes a total 53.2 billion fewer miles driven between Nov. 2007 and June 2008 than in that eight-month period a year earlier. As would be expected, gasoline and diesel use have also fallen: In the first three months of 2008, Americans burned 400 million fewer gallons of gas than they did in the first three months of 2007, as well as 318 million fewer gallons of diesel. And easing off the gas pedal has eased oil demand as well: In the first half of 2008, U.S. demand for oil fell by an average 800,000 barrels per day compared to the first half of 2007, the biggest decline since 1982. Not to be left out, sales of cars, trucks, and vehicle parts fell 2.4 percent from June to July. So dust off that bike and join the trend.
source: Detroit News, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse
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archigeek Posted 3:04 am
15 Aug 2008
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Wolverine Posted 3:21 am
15 Aug 2008
The problem is that humans have been far too successful for the good of the rest of the planet, and without exercising some constraint on their behavior will continue to pollute everything, destroy ecosystems, and force species to extinction. This is what a real leader would be telling people. Instead of real leaders, we have politicians who do nothing but pander and appeal to the lowest common denominator. McCain is worse than Obama, but they both make me sick.
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