Quit whining and walk

We can whine and complain and finger-point all we like.

We can even discuss our own pet conspiracy theory about oil prices and how it's the little people who are always being taken advantage of at the pumps.

But most of us simply shrug and say, "There's nothing we can do about it," or put our faith in some unknown and unseen group (commonly referred to as "they") who will eventually act on our behalf to lower the tariff being charged to fill 'er up.

It appears that we'll be waiting for a long time.

So, maybe we should begin concerning ourselves with what's right there in front of us: what we drive and, most importantly, how we drive it.

Nowhere in the great gas-price debate do we dare accept or attach any responsibility for our fossil-fuel woes. We've all been bombarded about the measures we should undertake to save this precious commodity, but many pople still steadfastly refuse to adjust their habits. On cold mornings we remotely start our vehicles and let them warm up so we'll be nice and cozy when we're darned good and ready to leave for work. We then motor past the public transit shelter, most of us alone in our seven-passenger sport utility vehicles or minivans, without a care in the world. On the freeway, we drive in a state of perpetual hurry, which usually means well over the speed limit. We'll sit in stop-and-go traffic with the air conditioning on full blast. And, of course, our cars are such fail-safe appliances that we rarely, if ever, bother to check such mundane things as tire inflation or adhere to the tune-up schedule in the owner's manual that we've all never read from cover to cover like we should.

In the evenings or on weekends, we drive our families everywhere they need, or want, to go and pick them up again when it's time to come home.

What's my point? The cost of topping up the family sled still has had little impact on what, how or where we drive. It might be our inalienable right to own the biggest four-wheel-drive on the block, but, for some reason we don't think we should have to pay when sky-high-octane threatens our wallets. We're the victims and "they" had better do something, we loudly proclaim.

And when was the last time we actually got out of our cars and checked the air in the tires? Aside from taking it easy on the gas pedal, doing a tire-pressure check once a month is one of the simplest and most effective things we can do to make sure we're getting good fuel economy.

Likewise, other modes of transportation -- in the form of the bicycles in our multicar garages -- sit, forlorn and abandoned. Those two-wheeled wonders are perfectly capable of running errands, going to soccer practice or handling a myriad of other short trips. What's more, they're cheap to buy, create zero emissions (if you discount the grunts and groans from their out-of-shape-owners) and are actually -- heaven forbid -- good for us. Instead of two-hour pleasure drive, how about one hour in the car and one hour on a bike? How much gas (and money and carbon dioxide emissions) would you save?

Then there's walking (you remember walking, right?). People used to do it all the time. You might be surprised how many miles per insole your barely used cross-trainers will get you.

Until some of these apparently radical alternatives are tried, we don't have a right to complain. It's not the price of the gas that's the big problem, it's our ability to use it at such an alarming rate that we actually do care when the price goes up.

The price of our consumer-based lifestyle is worked into everything from the transporting the goods we so desperately crave to our taxes for road maintenance. Would that not all be cheaper if we didn't choose to drive absolutely everywhere and anywhere? People used to hike in the woods. Now they take their sport utility vehicles and their cell phones.

Clearly, the gasoline issue is not a price issue, but a lifestyle issue. It's a shame to think that price would be the driving force, but in a competitive and capitalistic world, that's the way it works.

The fact is the price will mostly likely continue to rise. If not now, then maybe in six months or in a few years.

History has shown that we can't control the pump prices. It's a matter of supply and demand, the latter of which is within our power to change.

Perhaps it's time to take charge of what's really within our control: the way we live, as well as our outdated, wasteful habits. Who knows, we might even literally feel better for it.

Among her numerous accomplishments, Courtney Hansen is the author of the "Garage Girl's Guide," the host of Spike TV's "PowerBlock," the former host of TLC's "Overhaulin'" and a writer with Wheelbase Communications. You can e-mail her by logging on to www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html.