Petroleum gasoline has become the single most important source of fuel for developed nations in the last century. But this gas is not limitless. The U.S. Department of Energy predicts oil availability will peak around the year 2037, yet some environmentalists say that the peak has already passed. If the predicted peak is reached, the oil-dependent global economy will collapse if a solution is not discovered.

The United States must overcome its shortsightedness. It should aim for alternatives, but more importantly, American consumers must reduce their use of oil and increase the efficiency of vehicles using gas within the next decade. In doing so, we can lead other countries away from the same oil addiction.

Yet little is being done to wean the United States from oil. The United States has options available.

The most promising solution would be to replace petroleum with a similar but renewable fuel. However, none of the current options are perfect. For example, while corn ethanol appears practical at first glance, cars running on ethanol fuel may not run as optimally, and the ethanol may even damage the engine, according to a recent report by the Australian government.

Hydrogen fuel, which has also been proposed as an alternative to oil is highly combustible and is also extravagantly expensive to manufacture. The problem with constantly trying to find a new energy source is that once a source dries out, the demand for another one comes up.

The most promising solution is to reduce our dependence on automobiles, whose fuel demand depletes the largest portion of our nation’s supply.

Like other cities around the world have done, U.S. cities need to discourage the use of cars. While the idea of reliable public transportation may seem foreign to anyone who has waited over an hour for the 29 bus line, city-dwellers in places like Tokyo, London and New York enjoy buses and subway trains that arrive on a preset schedule. As a result, many residents in these areas prefer the punctual public transportation to the gridlocked highway and street systems.

This answer, however, will work only if public transportation becomes more convenient and efficient than automotive transportation. As the price of oil skyrockets, the punctuality of public transportation would be a welcome and necessary change. Unfortunately, many Americans are still unwilling to look into the future and act proactively. A recent example of shortsightedness among Americans was the proposed Tacoma-Seattle-Everett corridor light rail system, designed to reduce congestion as an alternative to automobiles. Because taxpayers were unwilling to pay the costs needed to build the line, voters rejected the plans.

The public needs to make decisions to look beyond their own convenience and make difficult choices, sometimes sacrificing individual wants for the needs of the country as a whole.

The government needs to launch a campaign promoting public transportation, inundating the public with messages promoting buses and subways. Local governments should also provide strong incentives to encouraging public transportation over automobiles. Incentives like reduced fares and increased reliability of the entire transit system will benefit taxpayers in the future more than it will inconvenience them now.

Local and state governments need to respond to the desires of the public, and sometimes look beyond the immediate response of their constituents so that the future will not seem so bleak. Apathy is not a solution; the problem that our country’s addiction to oil presents is very real and it must be addressed.

Only by overcoming our lack of foresight in ceasing to hope for a solution to our oil dependency and taking real steps to reduce an individual’s need for gas will this country end its voracious addiction to oil.