I'm pretty worried right now...

[Ryan H. Turner]

You know, I'm usually pretty level-headed about things (riiiiiiiiiiiiiight TURNER!), and I enjoy my weird sense of humor and general positive outlook on things. But I've been pretty "in tune" I would say over the last few months with the international current event scene, and well, in a nutshell, things ain't looking good for us when it comes to fuel costs. If you rely on mainstream media for your ONLY source of news, you're not seeing a bigger picture.

But, as far as I can tell through what I've learned over the last several months, it seems that there are MANY variables that determine the cost of gasoline. Obviously, the first thing people look at is the price of a barrel of oil. Do you know what SETS that price? If you don't, AND I DIDN'T, it could be real tangible things like a war in the middle east that affects distribution, or a damaged major pipeline. But it also could be based on nebulous things like rumors, and assumptions. Do you know how gasoline is made? I didn't, and I still don't know technically, but there's this thing called REFINING. Hence, the term refineries. If I'm not mistaken, MANY refineries were damaged during Katrina. That means refining capacity has been negatively affected. Hence, higher prices. Of course, much debate and speculation could go into this because we're aware of oil companies and their huge profits. There's another ominous topic on the horizon called Peak Oil (Google it--it's scarier than Y2K ever was). The gist of Peak Oil is that we are using more oil than we are currently able to pull from the ground, and that the gulf between output and need is widening. On top of that, many believe that oil is FINITE in its supply and that some day, we will simply run out.

ALL of these things put together don't paint a rosy picture for fuel prices. I don't forsee, nor do financial experts and others I've been reading up on, any change for the better, and actually, the "doom and gloom" of this topic is getting gloomier every week.

Now, I DISTINCTLY remember a few years ago when gas was getting expensive that DCI put out an "alert" and special requests to us fans to "help out" with some kind of fuel fund. I don't know how successful that was, but with gas well above $3.50 in many places in the country, with NO ANTICIPATION for it to get lower than $3 EVER AGAIN, are we looking at an "Armageddon" event for touring corps, even the all-powerful Top 8??? It seems to me that it would be difficult if not #### near impossible to NOT pass on the TRIPLING (in some cases) of fuel costs to the corps member. And I know how much corps fees are already. And what if the supplementary income to corps are affected negatively because Joe and Judy Consumer stop coming to the weekly bingo game because frankly, it's just too #### expensive? What then? What about Joe Blow the contra player who really really wants to march in his favorite Division I corps, but he has to fly in once a month or drive 2 states away? What then?

Are corps making contingency plans? I haven't seen it but then again, I didn't major in Being Observant in college, so did I miss DCI possibly having another "Fuel Fund"? Are we going to see a MASS EXODUS of corps from coming out to California next summer? What if gas goes up to 5 bucks a gallon (a theory that is REALLY being put forward by economic folks as a given in today's world)? What then? And what exactly WOULD a contingency plan be for a corps?

I'm seriously wondering about the future of corps.

Is anyone else, or are we as a community trying to look the other way and pretend it's not really there?

[ScribeToo]

I'm seriously wondering about the future of corps.

Is anyone else, or are we as a community trying to look the other way and pretend it's not really there?

well Ryan, I feel your pain.. I understand what you're saying, but the price spike of a few years back came sort of out of the blue.. what with the attack on American soil and all.. and while prices are ridiculously high, we've also had them hovering there for quite a while.. they got up there last year for a while, too.. so.. the smart money is that corps took that first ridiculous spike in stride.. took the hit and got over it.. but the second spike was sort of like a wake-up call.. and I'll bet the corps who are run by responsible BOD's (which, I'd have to say these days, is pretty much everybody.. not all, but pretty much) all planned ahead and budgeted for more fuel funds a while back.

I don't sense a lot of urgency like I remember seeing a few years back.. and certainly nobody is laying back on their lounge-chairs saying, "aaahh.. this is the life.. $3.50 a gallon.. aaaahhhh".. but it seems like they've had an opportunity to plan.. and most corps took it.

Stef

[AzEuph]

I wish America would become enegery indepent. I just saw something on Brazil and they are about too. They use sugar cane to make E100 and they have flexfuel cars that work on both gasoline and E100. I wish America would use our source of E85 and become more indepent. It would cost a lot of money but if corps could some how find a way to buy one E85 vechile at a time, starting with semis that would help a little bit. Or if worst comes to worst, I saw on mythbusters, corps could always use their cooking oil and filter it instead of using desiel. Feed the corps, gas the corps.

But in all honesty, I think corps are going to have to start traveling lighter. I have said this before in another thread, but staff members getting their own charter bus (coach) is really just a waste of gas!! If they really want the space then buy a trailer and haul the trailer around for them to sleep in. (taking a guess) I think using 2-3 vans for staff and volunteers would be cheaper than using an entire bus!! Plus it's easier for staff to use a vechile for quick errands. And this is when you could start to buy E85 vechiles. If I heard correctly, you do not get more MPH for E85....however, you get more HP and that will get you farther on the same amount.

[Carl306]

I did a paper on Peak Oil for my English Comp 1 class. Currently, we consume 6 barrels of oil for every 1 barrel of oil we find. It's actually a really interesting topic and I would suggest those who are interested do some research of their own on it.

[Schickmeister]

HP will not get your farther on the same amount...

[jake_the_hydra]

I think we're all pretty much screwed. But the world's ending in 2012 anyway, so . . . have fun! :P

[bawker]

But the world's ending in 2012 anyway, so . . . have fun! :P

Naw, we just hit the age of Aquarius then...the Mayan Calendar won't click over to straight 13's until about 4700 or so. :)

Edited May 15, 2006 by bawker

[Walter]

I think the world governments should do something about the oil companies.

However, do you think Bush is going to do anything as long as he's in the OIL business as well.

These oil companies are making billions of dollars and I don't see any letting up on the price of gas !!

Just be glad you don't live in Europe, the price of gas is $ 5-6.00 a gallon !! b**bs b**bs b**bs b**bs

Maybe if we all buy some EXXON stocks and get some of our money back in dividends. B) B)

[dbc03]

While I admit that the price of gas is a real problem for corps today, it's not as huge a thing as people make it out to be in the grand scheme of things outside of drum corps.

Yeah, prices are around $3 a gallon. I realize that, but when you adjust for inflation gas is quite a bit CHEAPER than it was in the early 80s. It's still a bit higher than the 90s, but not by much. Taking inflation into consideration, gas is about 90 cents a gallon in 1980 money.

http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html

[wayback]

Hey Ryan

I agree, and people are whistling in the dark if they think ANYONE will be powering cars(or busses) with combustion of any kind within 20 years. Peak oil is real (regardless of what the Bushies say - they're still debating the reality of evolution, forcrissakes!)

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