I really wish everyone would stop moaning about the rising cost of gas. No, I don't like paying for it either, but sooner or later someone had to realize this was going to happen. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable and we've been lectured to by scientists for years saying that in our lifetimes, gas would run out. But no one listened because everyone wanted their SUVs and their first class tickets to Bermuda and we're much too lazy and selfish to care about anything besides our own instant gratification.

Exorbitant gas prices are probably the best thing to ever happen to America. Whether or not you want to admit it, global warming is real and the only way people will even begin to care about this issue is when their wallets are being drained. When gas was $1 a gallon, nobody though twice about CO2 emissions, the ozone layer or any of that hippie tofu organic bullshit. Now we have no choice but to face the music.

It amuses me when people think that boycotting Exxon Mobil for a day will lower the cost of gas. These people obviously never passed 8th grade and anyone who has taken ten minutes of an economics class knows this is about as valid as receiving a chain e-mail that promises bad luck for ten years if said e-mail is not forwarded to 80 people by midnight. The only real way to lower gas prices is to permanently reduce demand and that will not happen until an alternative fuel source is created. Boycotting a gas station just means twice as many people will go to that same gas station the next day, and building refineries to tap domestic oil is the worst. idea. ever. Not only is that a quick, ineffective fix but it will permanently destroy land that has remained untouched by greasy human hands. The technology is there to create an alternative, clean fuel source; companies just need the incentive to do so. The technology was around in the 90's with the creation of EV1, GM's electric car, and probably even before then. Unfortunately GM destroyed every EV1 ever produced and the world went back to SUVs and sports cars. Thankfully, cars like the Prius are making alternative energy a reality, and an affordable one at that. A Prius ranges from $21,000 to $29,000 for a fully loaded model, and this is no more expensive than any other well-equipped new car and probably cheaper than many. Then there are the people who say that the money spent buying a hybrid can be used to fuel a cheaper, less efficient car. Yes, for a time. But gas prices will only continue to rise and eventually the hybrid will have paid for itself.

It also bothers me when people complain about fuel efficient cars being ugly tin cans. Fine. If you don't like the way they look, go buy a Hummer and shut the hell up. Hummers should all be destroyed. There is no reason a vehicle meant for roaming treacherous terrain in Afghanistan should be cruising down suburbia lane. Anyone who has a Hummer deserves to go bankrupt from fueling their hungry beast and has no right whatsoever to even breathe a word about rising gas prices.

Right now, this country is in a time of crucial change. I grew up in the 90's when everything was good, but good things don't last forever and neither shall the bad times. The media puts so much effort into reporting on how horrible the economy is, how tragic gas prices are and how wretched the world is that you'd think existence is coming to an end, but it's nothing this country has not seen before. As a result of current gas prices, car companies will scramble to create fuel efficient cars if they know what's good for them. Scientists and eager engineering majors will fight tooth and nail to be the first to develop sustainable alternative fuel sources and when the gas-reliant infrastructure of the country needs to be rebuilt, it will create jobs that will boost the unemployment rate as a result of so many factory jobs being outsourced. Good times will rise again.