So:
An one hand, the skyrocketing price of oil is a good thing. It promotes innovation, and will hopefully lead to better, more efficient, less polluting ways to store energy.
On the other hand, it’s generally the poor who are going to suffer the most because of this, as they have less expendable income to devote to rising gas prices, as well as the fact that gas prices are a larger percentage of their income to begin with.
As a poor enviornmentalist, I see both sides of this issue.
Discuss.
Masses are more influenced by economics than “doing the right thing”. Therefore, alternative energies will only receive mass adoption when they become cost effective. This happens by either lowering the cost of alternative energy, or raising the cost of oil. So yes, this is good in that regard.
However, it is difficult for transition to happen quickly. Especially when there is so much infrastructure built up around using oil as an energy source. So quickly skyrocketing fuel prices are bad, especially with how it will influence economic growth.
In other words, we’re going to end up with more unemployed people in the near term due to quickly rising prices, and that’s bad.
Gas is up? You’re kidding. I just thought the dollar was down. Oh, it is.
When you earn your income in dollars, it’s the same thing.
When I’m filling up, I’m pretty sure it’s a bad thing.
When I get my electric car I’ll start to be able to smile…
(But yes, I know petroleum is used in plastics and industry and all sorts of other stuff. But if we can stop using it for transportation before it runs out, there will be plenty left for those applications)
When you have a floating mass of toxic-to-sealife plastic the size of texas floating in the pacific, I’m not sure leaving petroleum left over for more plastic is a good idea.
Its a bad thing. I can barely afford to put petrol in my 1L car let alone in my 1.8 when I get it on the road.
You yanks still get it dirt cheap compared to us though. I saw normal unleaded for £1.15 a litre the other day.
Edd
In thailand its 0.56 euros per liter of unleaded, may be a smart move to go live there.
have you seen the standard of living…
but you can hire a person to shop for you whilst you enjoy the resorty bits 
we are paying about $1.60 here… 
although i have not had to buy any for a few months!
I stayed at lebua (who have lost there chef) and up north, the diffrence was massive so I would have to agree with you there.
Rising gas prices don’t just raise your cost at the pump though, they raise the cost of logistics and transport. This makes EVERYTHING you buy cost more.
I bike almost everywhere, but raising gas prices will still make me even poorer.
gas is actually 12 cents per gallon in Venezuela
In most countries, gas is way more expensive.
I think that high gas prices is a good thing. Yes, I pay for my own gas. Though it doesn’t cause people to stop driving altogether, it does help people to drive less, just a bit. We need all the help we can get when it comes to protecting our environment.
By the way, just to throw this out there, Me and my sister drive a prius, my dad drives another prius, and my mom drives a hybrid lexus SUV (just so that we have an SUV available), so my family is pretty green.
I drive a green car.
let me guess, a green hummer? 
Hmmm, er…nope.
From an environmental standpoint, switching to driving a Prius is like switching from beating yourself over the head with a hammer to beating yourself over the head with a mallet and then asking your children to thank you for it.
High petrol prices are indeed driving technology for more efficient engines. I sat through a lecture given by a chap from Shell on the benefits of a not-quite homogenous form of HCCI. This means putting petrol in diesel engines essentially, and the figures were really quite staggering, talking about NOx and smoke levels dropping by an order of magnitude and a three-fold increase in IMEP for the same energy input rate.
I can’t honestly say that the price of petrol affects how much i drive, but then i drive absurdly little anyway. I guess it does affect which car I take off the drive when i do though.
I think its a good thing overall but not good for me or my family!
If everybody drove hybrids, that would slow down global warming and such drastically. I still do think that driving too much is bad and i do try not to do it when it isn’t needed. It’s not like we are doing something good for the environment, it’s just we are doing a whole lot better than most people. We are making some kind of effort, unlike the majority.
(basically i’m saying its like switching from a hammer to a paperback book, it’s still going to hurt, but not nearly as much.)