On Facebook, there's a nice little trend where people will create a group that goes along these lines: "[X, an arbitrary number] [for/against] [stated cause]". I think it caught on because of a group entitled "1 Million Strong for Barack" that subsequently got written up in the Washington Post as an example of the power of social networking (ironically enough, the group will never attain its goal; it currently has 561,640 members as of this entry. The official Facebook fan page for Barack Obama has 981,207 members now and will reach 1 million members in 1-2 weeks - despite the fact that the unofficial group had a huge head start).
Anyways, to the main point: there's now an incredibly foolish Facebook group entitled "15,000,000 for lower gas prices", which apparently has attracted 1,292,382 people. Lower gas prices might make everyone's wallet hurt less, but it will not help out the environment - nor would it make auto firms realize that they must start producing vehicles powered by alternative energy sources. In all seriousness, I'm all for higher gas prices, in the form of increased gas taxes. Aside from the fact that any politician uttering such a pronouncement would be political suicide on the spot, it would force an investment in mass transportation - something that would help reduce carbon emissions - as well as lead to more research for other sources of energy.
The point is that higher gas prices should make the focus be more on generating energy via environment-friendly ways. If you just want lower gas prices, you may as well be signing the planet's death warrant - that will simply increase the use of gas-guzzling monstrosities like the SUV and push us further and further towards the point of no return as far as global warming is concerned.
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