Commuting

Oil prices are at an all-time high. Summer’s coming up, so don’t expect a dip anytime soon. The US is threatening war with Iran, the war in Iraq is dragging on and the Saudis are scrabbling to maintain control over an ever-more-agitated populace. Prices are going nowhere but up. This makes the “car culture” deeply ingrained in American culture (and growing quickly in Europe as well) problematic. The notion that everyone has a car has led to decades of residential design depending on just that and led to one of the biggest blights on the first world: the commute. A lot of people don’t live where they work anymore. An increasing number live uncomfortably far from work, sacrificing anywhere from 2 to 3 hours of their day to a commute. Many of them do it in a car—not using public transportation.

That relatively long segue leads us to Exhibit A, documented in Is working at Cisco worth a 7-hour commute? (The Register) This guy has a “daily 372 mile trek” that is, at best, a “seven-hour roundtrip”. He just won a contest for longest commute in America and won $10,000 worth of gas.

Yosemite WaterfallOk. Some people get a new job and haven’t moved yet. That’s understandable. Or they moved and didn’t get a new job yet. Also understandable. The fact that leaps off the page and elevates this guy to the status of carnival freak is that he’s been doing this commute since 1989!. He leaves his “horse ranch at the edge of the astonishing Yosemite National Park” at 4:30 in the morning and comes home by 20:00 or 20:30. He’s got a few hours for family time and some sleep and then he’s off again.

If the article were published on April 1st, it would be easy to dismiss. It was published on the 13th, so we’re left to ponder whether someone foolish enough to “pound… more than 30 cups of coffee by the end of the day” actually exists or whether someone invented him to make us all feel a bit better about our own lives.

Here at earthli, we can’t help but mention the environmental angle and shudder to think about what kind of car he drives. A car with decent gas mileage would use almost a tank of gas per day. An SUV would need two. That’s a lot of pollution, a lot of time and a lot of cash. He must be making a tidy sum at Cisco (his employer), but still, talk about completely twisted priorities. He’s promoting a lifestyle that will ensure that the scenery he loves so much won’t be around for his grandkids.

There are other reader reactions (The Register) to the story. Synopsis: most people think he’s an idiot. Highlight: one person met someone who commutes from outside of London to Geneva, Switzerland (though the urban legend alarm went off on that one).