last updated 14th September 05
By 4ecotips

Environmentalist Porritt says "era of cheap oil is over

The BBC's financial editor Evan Davies says, of the latest oil price hike, the "we have to face the possibility that the high price is actually telling us something useful - to use less oil! They are a problem but they are also a spur to a solution. Hate them we might but resistance to high prices is futile!

Environmentalist, Jonathon Porritt, chair man of the Sustainable Development Commission, agrees, "The era of cheap oil is over. Consumers, as well as their governments, are going to have to realise that the period we have been through over the last 15 years has been underpinned by access to very cheap oil and gas has gone. We have got to think differently from now on."

He suggested the last thing the Government should do was to think of reducing fuel duties to lighten the burden of rising prices. "That would be a very bad decision indeed. The Chancellor needs to stick to his guns about this predominantly by saying that this is not necessarily a bad thing. High oil prices are not necessarily a bad thing if we plan for it.

"There are a lot of people are out there thinking about what is the next car is they are going to buy. They certainly should give thought to buying the most fuel-efficient car on the market instead of the pathetic SUV gas guzzlers.

"People should not sit around moaning about the inadequacies of The Chanceller. They should think to themselves, ' fine, we are through that era and we are into a new era of high energy prices. What are we going to do about it to protect our own quality of life.'"