Who remembers the Gas Shortages in the 1970s?

Even though the current Colonial Pipeline shutdown is not a true gas shortage—it dredges up long forgotten memories of the early 70s gas shortage that affected the entire US and much of the world. That gas crisis resulted from an oil embargo imposed by members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and led to fuel shortages and sky-high prices throughout much of the decade.

For a time, we could only get gas on even or odd days (your license plate number). The gas was rationed, and often, after sitting in your car for an hour or more—pushing your car forward so you weren’t running the motor, the pumps would empty before your turn. Gas prices went from about 50¢ a gallon to as high as $4 ($24 today) in some areas.

I didn’t have children back then, but just think what it was like for those parents with a car full of restless kids. Back then you couldn’t hand them a tablet and tell them to watch a Disney movie.

Americans continue to rely heavily on foreign oil. The United States consumes about 20 million of the roughly 80 million barrels of oil consumed daily in the world, and three-fifths of that is imported. So we are always under the threat of embargos. And now hackers, too.

I’m no longer letting my tank get below half these days.
I’m a “half-tank-full” kind of girl now.