Getting Worried About Gas and Oil

Getting worried about how I'll get to work as prices rise

It was already expensive. | Photo by Ali Mkumbwa on Unsplash

Locals are complaining about the price at the pumps.

Our price is currently sitting a little over $2.00 a litre in Canadian dollars. For reference, that’s about a third of a gallon by U.S. measure. With gas prices surging due to the closure of the Straight of Hormuz, both of our countries are getting absolutely smashed by rising costs.

Canada has oil reserves we can fall back on for a while, so our situation is not quite apocalyptic, but the rising cost of everything from transportation to import goods is going to hit us like a freight train.

Everything at the grocery store that is shipped by truck — that is to say, literally everything in there at any given time — is going to increase in price. I talked a bit about how companies price their goods back when I wrote about Trump’s tariff plans in 2024.

It was a marker of how badly the education system has failed in the U.S. that almost none of the people I spoke to back then had a clue how tariffs work. They just took Trump’s word.

It’s not a complicated thing. You don’t need to be an economist to understand it, for goodness sake!

But then again, a lot of Trump’s promises were outright lies that too few people believed. Like his ‘Peace President’ bullshit. And now here we are, with World War III a distinct possibility because of the deranged lunatic’s behaviour.

And of course, the cost of gas is shooting through the roof as the Strait through which 20% of the world’s oil supply moves is held closed.

There is now a major risk of shortage that’s going to slam smaller, less wealthy countries like a ton of bricks.

I find all of this especially frustrating because we are so fucking dependent on fossil fuels these days. It didn’t need to be like this.

Imagine if we’d taken even a fraction of the time and energy we’ve spent propping up the fossil fuel industry, and directed it at renewable energy infrastructure and sustainability measures.

We’d be a lot more robust right now, wouldn’t we? Our climate would certainly be in a better position.

I wouldn’t be terrified of wildfire season like I have been for the past two years. By the way — if there is a major shortage of gas coming down the pipe, what is my family supposed to do if we are caught in a major fire?

How are we driving away without gas in the car?

That’s just a snapshot of my concerns right now. Like, how the fuck am I getting to my barely-above-minimum-wage-job if we wind up not being able to afford to drive?

This is all fucking frustrating, and I just hope things get better soon.

Solidarity wins.

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