Finding Ulysses

It is now week 8 of the energy crisis, and we’ve all seen a great deal about the impacts in other places on television and in the newspaper. There have been some dramatic events elsewhere. Here in the town of Ulysses, however, life continues much as before, although with some additional anxiety.

The sun still shines, and our cars are still running, with fuel easily available, if expensive, at the Shur Save and in at the gas station in Jacksonville. The lines for gas are not much longer, given that most people who are trying to save money on gasoline are going up route 89 to the Lakeside gas station run by the Seneca-Cayugas up near Seneca Falls, tax-free. I haven’t done the math, but I wonder if driving up 30 minutes to get to that gas station, and running the engine in line for an hour or more, really saves any money.

On the coast, in places like Cape Cod, there are reports of brownouts, but here we still haven’t had any out-of-the-ordinary power outages. People are uncertain of the impact that the shortages will have on natural gas availability. So far, NYSEG isn’t naming certain price hikes, and there are no interruptions of service as with the West. People seem hopeful that the energy crisis will be over by the time that cold weather arrives, which could be quite late, if it’s at all like last year, when winter didn’t really arrive until late January. Climate change plus energy shortages equals uncertainty, but people are trying to be more optimistic than pessimistic.

Back to Democracy is changing its scheduled monthly talk, delaying the previous speaker until next month, so that a discussion can be held about the impact of the energy crisis on our community. Budgets for the schools and local government infrastructure are going to have to be dramatically increased to deal with rising fuel costs for transportation. Administrators have been talking about eliminating some bus routes to keep costs under control and organizing parent volunteer networks for escorting children to school on foot, by bicycle, and by carpool.

There are problems with the TCAT bus that brings people from Trumansburg down to Ithaca and back, with more people waiting for a ride on the bus than there is space available. More than once, fights have broken out among people competing for space in line. TCAT has no more extra vehicles available to deal with the demand, and so a group of residents are beginning to organize their own shuttle service, using their own trucks and minivans to take people down to Ithaca. More than an ordinary number of people are taking their bicycles instead of driving.

Yesterday, a small group of people began an unplanned demonstration on the road next to the fairgrounds against the alleged American military incursion into Canada this week. Holding signs reading, U.S. Out of Alberta and No More Blood for Oil, the group quickly grew to the size of at least 100 people. One counter-demonstrator also showed up, holding an old sign that read, We Support Our Troops. “Our troops are in Alberta to defend the right of these people to stand here and complain,” he explained.