Forbes magazine senior staff writer and Evanston resident Christopher Steiner addressed Citizens for a Greener Evanston at the Fireside Grill tonight to discuss his new book “$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better.” The main message of the talk (and, I assume, the book) was similar to that of a number of other pundits addressing the same issue: peak oil is coming, and it will change how we do everything.
His prognosis of how we’ll deal with high energy prices appears to be a bit rosier than those of some of his contemporaries (e.g. James Howard Kunstler, Matt Simmons), due to his belief that energy price increases will be gradual enough for us to respond to in an organized and constructive way. In his own words, “…many people's lives… will be improved across a panoply of facets. We will get more exercise, breathe fewer toxins, eat better food, and make a smaller impact on our earth. Giant businesses will rise as entrepreneurs' intrepid minds elegantly solve our society's mounting challenges.”
In Mr. Steiner’s view, Evanston is well positioned for these changes due to our proximity to a major economic center, a well-developed and well-used mass transit system, mixed use zoning, and the possibility of a burgeoning high-speed rail system, of which Chicago would likely be a hub. He noted the beginnings of a trend toward a devaluation of auto-dependant development (far-flung suburbs) relative to areas with human-scale transportation options (city centers and neighborhoods). This, I believe, raises concerns about displacement of low-income residents due to gentrification as cities become fashionable places to live again. He advocates the implementation of an increased federal gasoline tax, pegged, for example, to inflation, at a level high enough to affect behavioral change. The logic, he claims, is that since we will be soon enough paying high prices for gasoline from foreign shores due to market forces, we may as well do so voluntarily today and retain some of the money domestically in our government coffers. This way the money could be put to good use at home, perhaps in making infrastructure changes to anticipate the coming paradigm shift.
Among the attendees at tonight’s event was Jeff Smith, an NU alum and Evanston-area resident, who is an independent Democratic candidate for state representative from the 18th Representative District of the Illinois General Assembly (the election is next Tuesday, February 2nd). He has a strong platform related to energy and environmental issues, which may be of interest.
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