As we prepare to relegate the tumultuous year 2021 to history, we confront a sobering question: Is our RV lifestyle doomed? Is it sustainable? Is there hope for an RV future?
Since the Westward Migration that began in the colonial period and lasted well into the 20th century, America has been a nation on the move. Pioneers left the eastern coast and eventually spread the population all the way to the Pacific shores 3,000 miles west. We have never quit the trail, the road, or the interstate highway.
As technology and affluence matured, we created a lifestyle and an entire industry out of road travel – first automobiles and trucks, and then motor vehicles in which we could live. Though we generically refer to the industry and lifestyle as built upon “recreational vehicles,” or RVs, there is much more involved than recreation. More than one million people live full-time in RVs. More than 11 percent of U.S. households – 9 million – own an RV.
As many of us built our style of living around spending as much time as possible on the road, multiple public policy issues arose. For instance, the availability of adequate dedicated campground space has not kept pace with demand. RV parking on public lands, i.e., dispersed camping, has triggered controversy. Staying overnight in the parking lots of commercial businesses like Walmart and Cabela’s, etc., has been curtailed due to overuse – and abuse. Local governments are now increasingly seeking to regulate the RV owner’s private property in terms of RV parking. Collectively, we have grappled with these issues and arrived at more-or-less acceptable solutions. However, in early 2020 the world was suddenly plagued with a pandemic that changed lives across the globe and which profoundly affected the RV lifestyle.
When the initial reaction to the COVID-19 contagion spawned social distancing, isolation, and closures of schools and businesses, many individuals and families sought alternatives to a life spent sequestered at home. People sought the freedom and adventure of the open road – an impulse Americans have been following since the days of the Frontier West. They sought open spaces, far from the contagious crowd. Campgrounds suddenly had to turn away campers. RV dealers sold out of new and used RVs. RV manufacturers struggled to keep up with the demand amid shortages of workers, raw materials, and components resulting from supply-chain constraints due to the pandemic.
By the spring of 2021, the RV industry news was abuzz with reports of overcrowded campgrounds, difficulty with campground reservations systems, reservations not being honored upon arrival, as well as buyers waiting months for new RV deliveries and repairs to poorly manufactured or defective new coaches. In addition, gasoline and diesel fuel prices dramatically rose. Walmart ended its well-known policy of allowing RVers to park overnight in many of its store parking lots. Searchlight Pictures released Nomadland with Frances McDormand playing the lead in the story of “A woman [who] in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.” “Quartzsite” became a household word.
The RV Industry Association (RVIA) says there is a 170-percent increase in first-time RV buyers. In 2020, there were 430,412 new RV units shipped. There are expected to be 507,200 such shipments by the end of 2021.
Imeet lots of people who live a wide array of lifestyles on the road. Sleek million+-dollar Class A Prevost and Foretravel coaches stand in stark contrast to the thousands of older Class A’s, Class B’s, C’s, fifth wheels, and travel trailers in camp. There are van conversions and pickup campers, pop-ups, and tent trailers. The RV “demographic” covers most of the entire economic spectrum. We all suffer in one way or another the inconveniences and privations of the RV lifestyle.
I hear many travelers just barely avoiding the “elephant by the campfire”: Will we be able to keep traveling if campgrounds become unavailable; if boondocking becomes regulated out of existence; if gas or diesel prices rise another dollar or two a gallon; if our RV insurance cost increases another 20-30 percent; if one or both of us contract the virus; if we can’t buy food, or it becomes so expensive we can’t afford it; if we have a major mechanical problem? All these questions and more are on every RV traveler’s mind, even if they do not wish to acknowledge them. Before the pandemic, some of the questions were there, but there was less apprehension overall.
There is hope, though … always hope.
I think back to some of the worst economic periods of the 1970s and ’80s when deep economic recessions stalked the land and drove gas prices to record highs and interest rates on homes and business loans to penurious levels, some above 20 percent. The economy, for a time, seemed to grind to a halt. There were massive layoffs and high unemployment. There was economic and political unrest. I saw a man shot at a service station in Las Vegas due to a dispute over a place in line to get gas. Unemployed people could not find work before their modest unemployment benefits expired. Nevertheless, there was an underlying, persistent thread of optimism across America. There was hope.
Slowly, the economy began to recover. Interest rates came back down, and the staggering inflation rates receded. Gas prices and mortgage interest rates moderated, and though they never returned to the levels seen in the halcyon days of the 1960s, they returned to relative affordability. I see the same thing for the RV lifestyle in the months and years ahead.
CAMPGROUND OWNERS ARE ALREADY responding to the increased demand on their properties by rearranging camp layouts and investing in newer, better technologies for campground reservations systems. It will take time for the campground problems to diminish, but there is hope for a better time ahead.
RV manufacturers will eventually catch up to the supply-and-demand-related issues that have dogged them since mid-2020. They’ll have to. Buyers will demand improvements in both product quality and after-sale service.
Local, state, and federal governments are all working to address the issues of where to park all the RVs – be it on private land, in dedicated parks, on the public lands – and whether those public lands can be reserved or not. (These issues will be part of an upcoming series of examinations of legal issues that affect RVers.)
The marketplace will push fuel prices back toward relative affordability, though this is arguably the one factor in the RV lifestyle that is the most difficult to forecast. What I can predict, though, is that there are and will be more alternatives in powering RVs in the immediate future. We can count on that, given the exciting developments emerging daily from the alternative energy technologies. Look for more electric, solar, hydrogen, and other energy sources to flourish in the months and years ahead. These advancements have already happened in the aerospace and passenger-car spaces, and the RV industry will not be left behind.
Americans have always looked down the long open road toward that far horizon and gained a sense of hope for the future. Our time will be no different.
##RVT1022
Wow just scrolling the comments indicates to me a deep and troubling flaw in our national fabric. Folks looking for someone to blame, or even someone to hate. We will never succeed unless we can learn to understand one another and work with one another. The RV lifestyle we enjoy is only available to us because a lot of those who came before learned to work together to build a better union. Not perfect, but better. I wonder if we can give up a little of our own needs to help someone else anymore. We go around the country enjoying so much this country has to offer and often pass right by folks that are homeless, and children that don’t have enough to eat each day. We need to stop for a moment and consider what we can do to make things better for others. Open your fist and lend a hand.
The just as big issue is fossil fuels. Will there be no renewable fuels to power RVs in the future?
Not sure why I tried to explain anything to an obvious bigoted idiot. (Only tossing insults since you decided to…) Evolve or die. You can either get with the changes that are coming, or be plowed under by them.
You answered your own comment.
I’m glad the author, Randall Brink, closed his article with a message of hope. Life has been difficult this past year and a half and the world is changing and adjusting. But, the world has certainly made it past difficult times before and we will again. There is always the sun beyond the cloud. We need to be patient and appreciate what we have now and stop pining for what we had before because that is gone and it is not coming back.
We need to be thankful we have RVs to either live in or use recreationally. Be thankful that if you plan a little bit ahead, you can still get a campsite at a popular place and that those popular places are still there to visit. Be thankful that there are still millions of acres to boondock on. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
I wish RV Travel could go at least one week without a negative article about the sad state of RVing. There has got to be something positive in the RV world to write about. Isn’t there?
Amen
Hear, hear! I like to think the growth of the RV population could be a plus if we voted as a block, do what we can as a mostly unified group to promote political & infrastructural change that’s beneficial to the RV lifestyle. So that’s something.
Vincee, the climate has been changing since the earth formed. Were not any people alive in the northern/southern hemisphere 10,000, years ago, yet, the ice age ended, cannot blame fossil fuel for that, you tell me what caused that temperture change. Like every climate change advacate alive, you blame people. How about looking at the bright thing hanging in the sky, you know the real bright disc above. Let that sucker go dark, and in week everything is dead. If you need map, it’s call the SUN.
Where did you get your degree in Climatology? Fox News and OAN do not count.
You are completely wrong. Yes, solar output, planetary orbit and other factors affect climate – but not in a 80 year period, and not without pumping CO2 and Methane into the atmo, like humans have been doing for the last 200 years – an the rate has been accelerating like crazy over the last 40 years. Solar output HAS NOT CHANGED in that period – only pollution, deforestation and more humans consuming more and emitting more.
The big thing, is the quality of the person’s buying the said RV’s, or not. We stayed in CG in Bristol, TN. Two woman, camping (or living in tent) with 5, yes 5 dogs, 3 inside tent, 2 outside tent. No, not breaders, if that is what camping is coming down to, count me out. Fuel prices, are in many cases the single most expensive cost associated with RV (not counting the RV itself). If those continue to rise, I refuse to pay it, and will stop and or quit RV’ing period. Not that I cannot spend the money, but, for my level of enjoyment, being a slave to the greedy fuel people is not one thing I am going to do. I believe food prices is the second most expensive thing we are all going to deal with, so it’s eat, or fuel the RV, which is it for you? Our leaders want us living in communal apartments like Russia did during communicism. I suggest all get ready for that. CA has passed law/rule, outlawing all small fossil fuel engines by 2025, i.e., weed whackers, gas lawnmowers, etc.
First things first Mr Bonner, please turn on your Spell Checker or buy a pocket dictionary as your spelling is terrible. Who did you and your family and friends vote for in 2020? We are in this situation due to the president in the White House now.
“Now”? How do you figure that?
👎 to Bob reply
Please turn on your spell checker
The ugly elephant missing in this article is the impact of climate change on life on earth and the future of RVing. It is already impacting our recreational destinations with forest fires, flooding and wildlife habitants. The world will have to go all electric without CO2 emissions with new safe nuclear base production and renewable technologies to make up the balance. We do not have a choice if we want our next generations to enjoy the world we have lived.
The RV industry will also go through big changes. The manufacture of steel is the second largest emitter of CO2 behind cement as a result of the chemical processes, not the energy to operate tooling as it can be produced from green power (electricity).
Climate Change has no political affiliations or geographical limitations or care about how we treat Nature so lets stop blaming the other guy and look in the mirror. We will all lose if we don’t educate ourselves and do what we can to mitigate the damage now.
Most of the forest fires are the result of poorly managed forestry’s. Politicians skim off money allotted to cut and clear underbrush that is the tinder of forest fires. The current political party in charge now want us to go back 200 years where solar was the way of life. The green energy you speak of is mostly created by fossil fuel as solar and wind only accounts for a small percentage of electricity production. Most steel mills are fired by electrical furnaces. As back 200 years ago the solar that is preached today only shines so many hours a day, the wind only blows constantly along the sea shores. As I write this there isn’t one leaf blowing outside. The sun is shining but that will stop by 6 PM. Then according to environmentalists we will rub two sticks together to light a fire, oops I forgot that will release CO2, never mind we’ll just shiver.
Go back to sleep
Sir you need to research! Most forest fires are due to politicians skimming off funds allotted for underbrush removal which is the tinder of fires. Your idea of the world going electric is a pipe dream as most electricity is generated by fossil fuel, our “friend” China is the largest user of coal, they’re buying it by the ship loads from Vietnam. Solar only works during the daytime, wind only blows constantly along the coastlines, as I write this there isn’t a leaf blowing on my trees. Most steel mills use electric furnaces to make the steel, I use to deliver carbon to them for the manufacturing process. The current administration wants nuclear power plants shut down. They are the problem! We were doing great for 4 years, gas was reasonable, so was food, so was everything else. Now we are in panic mode and inching ever so close to becoming a socialist country. Personally I don’t want to stand in line to get a loaf of stale bread to eat tonight. I have enjoyed my freedom.
Forest fires are fueled by dead wood. Dead wood that is caused by invasive insects and diseases that are killing the trees. Warmer climate that does not kill off those insects and diseases in the cold winters.
The true elephant missing from this conversation is the root cause of climate change. When I was born there were 3 billion people on earth. That is a lot! But now there’s nearly 8 billion, and we are adding another 80 million people every year. We all by necessity pollute to some degree to live, so we simply cannot keep growing our numbers without consequence. The good news is that when given a chance, people will voluntarily limit their family size. All we need to do is stop applauding/rewarding the choice to reproduce.
Or we can limit life span to say 30 years. Abortion for the unwanted. Didn’t Star Trek have an episode about this.
No… 30 year lifetime was Logan’s Run. Star Trek, it was a planet fighting a war by computer. After a simulated attack, the people “killed” voluntarily reported to the disintegration booths and were killed for real. Kirk of course put a stop to that!
@RV Dreamer: think your thinking of the 70’s sci-fi Logan’s Run. Don’t worry, Joan, the ruling class have planned for this & have their McMansion bug-out shelters ready. Our population problem is already being taken care of as you speak. Sleep well.
CO2 is needed for life. I don’t know why many people don’t realize this. It is what we need to live. This is a copy and paste for you.
Carbon dioxide is a gas consisting of one part carbon and two parts oxygen. It is one of the most important gases on the earth because plants use it to produce carbohydrates in a process called photosynthesis. Since humans and animals depend on plants for food, photosynthesis is necessary for the survival of life on earth.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar.- national geographic.
Without this we would die. I learned this in science in school when I was a kid. And this “global warming” thing is just stuff they have made up saying we are too populated. Not true. Cities are too populated, true. But what about the country? It isn’t overpopulated. They is still plenty of room for people.
The main thing I don’t like is how industry gets to pollute the environment. It isn’t good. Control that and things will get better.
I have waited since high school for things to go solar. We still haven’t got there yet really.
Our planet was made to last forever and it will. Yes it does need to be cleaned up.
Our planet is constantly evolving and growing. There are many things people do not realize still. CO2 is not a bad thing. Least not from cows lol. I laugh when I hear that story. Think about it. Everything is logic.
We find another disturbing fact about future RVing is the increase in traffic and road construction. We have found that the roads have become disturbingly busy and uncomfortable to drive anymore. Many drivers now seem to be in such a rush that they “duck and dive” which is a recipe for an accident in a large class A. No longer can you move back into a lane without making sure someone is not flying by you on the left, not wanting to wait for you to return to the right lane. The constant delays due to construction or accidents on the road make it even more a miserable trip and why we are hanging up our traveling plans and just parking the motorhome. It is certainly NOT the enjoyable trip we use to take!
This also goes back to politicians skimming off highway fuel taxes to pay for mass transit in the larger cities. There are enough fuel taxes collected each year to make every road in America smooth as glass. The politicians would rather take care of the mass transit systems because that’s where their voters are. It would be terrible to ask someone in the city to pay more than $.50 to ride mass transit all over the city using transfers.
More like politicians skimming off funds to give money back to the billionaires. Then there isn’t enough to fund infrastructure improvements. A lot of those highways are crumbling due to the constant pounding of heavy trucks loaded with goods shipped from factories, ports, and warehouses. That highway infrastructure that was built with tax dollars but now politicians only want the little guy to foot the bill for fixing them. Corporations get a free ride since they aren’t paying taxes at the rate the little guy is.
Thankfully, out here in the rural southwest, we just aren’t experiencing the issues others are reporting from other parts of the country. We’ve always looked for the remote boondocking spots in 100% the opposite direction of the crowded “tourist” spots, and that hasn’t changed. We can still pull our travel trailer a couple hundred miles in any direction, on a whim, and count on our favorite spot, or new favorites close by, being available, with plenty of scenery, exploration, and adventure nearby. In some cases, remote spots are even MORE readily available precisely because the modern crop of RV’ers are looking for resort-type settings, with all the modern conveniences, in which to live, rather than actually “camping” experiences. In an age where folks increasingly can’t seem to live without being “connected” to something, I don’t see the trend changing.
The last several years in particular, every young person wanted to experience the “Van Life” before they embarked on the rest of their life’s journey. I think because of the Gabby Pepito news coverage those numbers will soon drop. I will say that since the legalizing of marijuana, the ones who wanted to camp in public campgrounds was low. A more communal situation was desired by the new hippies.My knowledge of RV living where I am from is that those who owned RV’s were traveling more often this last summer because of Covid bonuses and being off work to quarantine.Quite a few of my friends went “fishing” while they were quarantining. Even more were selling their campers and RV’s because they needed the money to pay bills because they had been off work.In short, this last summer’s numbers were an all time high and should level off.
Marc, capitalism and a free marketplace will dictate and make obsolete the energy sources we have relied on the last hundred years plus. Innovation will lead us into new sources of power that today may just be dreams, you know, similar to the Dick Tracey watch of the 1930’s. The use of fossil fuels will as old as we know of the transistor radio.
I’m all in with Dana, and Cathleen, you need to wake up! Is there climate change, Absolutely! Has there been climate change since the beginning of time, Absolutely! How in the Almighty’s name can anyone say “Man” is affecting climate when “Man” can’t accurately tell you tomorrow’s weather, or maybe even tonight!
Man of today’s hindrances in the pastime we love, camping or RV’ing, if you wish, is political no matter how you look at it. Not long ago, perhaps in 2019 we were energy independent and had the greatest resources of oil in the world. Saudi Arabia was in convulsions over oil stores we possessed. Uncle Joe took care of that. The U.S. had the greatest stores of natural gas, thanks in large part to fracking, in the world. Uncle Joe took care of that. Let’s not forget nuclear power, yeah, Uncle Joe’s killing that too. Maybe the coal industry was dirty, but boy when you needed power on demand it sure was readily available. Uncle Joe took care of that. Yep, government is ruining RV’s
I think you are wrong on all counts.
And I think you’re wrong and he is right.
Agreed, 100%, Vincee. I sure miss $2 gasoline and $6 ribeye steak.
(Thanks, Joe!!)
This is simply factually uninformed. And, I get the sentiment. It’s hard to face the complex realities of climate change – especially since some make it a blame and shame game which remains damaging, mean, and unhelpful. And, yes, climate is constantly shifting but that’s not what “climate change” is speaking to currently. And, it’s not your fault, or anyone’s “fault”, it’s simply part of our current human history, the result of causalities all of which were started a long, long time ago to obtain stability. We’re just learning about the cost of this kind of stability, and will need to innovate and change our systems to learn from this, not simply fear it. And, we might find ourselves in a mass extinction, yet even that doesn’t have to be “bad”. Human time is very skewed. Earth time is different. I’m with you, really, and for RVing to exist, it also will change, and maybe evolve into something even more beautiful. That’s the future I’m working towards, not going backwards. Backwards doesn’t exist ever, at least future has possibility. Be well, and happy travels.
A renowned climatologist 50 years ago now when everyone was predicting the coming ice age said the earth has a cyclical 100 year cooling and heating. For 50 years the earth goes through a cooling period, then it reverses and starts warming for 50 years. Anyone who is old enough and still has their mental faculties should remember these cooling and heating periods. I can remember back when I was in the first grade in 1949 walking knee deep in snow down the farm lane to catch the school bus, and I remember about 25 years later having to buy my first A/C because it was so hot. This was in the same area. Watch and see this global warming will reverse itself and you’ll see this is a political ruse.
I totally agree with you.
There isn’t much of anything new about our planet. It has cycles it goes through and always will.
But we do need to take care of her too.
I believe in the ” leave no footprint”. Leave it as you found it. No trash, etc. I was taught that as a kid.
And yes it is a political ruse.
Logic and common sense should tell us that. But so many people let others think for themselves.
Pollution and greed are the worst things on earth today.
“$2 gasoline”? I miss the 18 cent gasoline of the 1960s gas wars. Which political party got us from 18 cent to $4? Come on guys, there is life outside of politics. I have never once thought that any party would ever get us back to 18 cents. Mom would send me to the store with a dime to get a loaf of bread. Which president screwed that up? Life goes on. I just learn to live with it. If one can afford to RV, then RV, if not, then adjust your priorities. I camped at 18 cents and still at $4. Good Golly Miss Molly!
Folks who attach politics to every aspect of their life are really uninformed and angry. Sad but true.
I agree in principle, but overturning everything your predecessor enacted is not helpful. Gas and diesel are up over $1 a gallon, inflation has hit over 5%, people are being paid not to work, etc., all in less than 9 months. When this all plays out and kids are back in school full time in person, parents return to the office and the Covid infection rates drop to the lowest levels..I predict there will be a glut of barely used RVs on the market. My guess is that ia a little over a year off.
One cannot ignore the effect of government policy on economics. Well, one can, but that’s akin to hiding one’s head in the sand while the world falls apart around them. I can trace increases in prices to specific government policies that created the conditions that lead to those increases. Conversely, I can also point to specific policies that resulted in reducing prices to the consumer. And that’s across the board, not just regarding fuel. Equating that to simple “politics” is oversimplification of the subject at hand There is no escaping the fact that the policies of the current administration, which include signaling the curtailment of both domestic petroleum production, and inexpensive domestic petroleum transportation, have directly resulted in the nearly 50% increase if domestic fuel prices over the last year, just as the policies of the preceding administration resulted in marked reductions in fuel prices.
Amen!!
I’ve bought it as cheap as 15 cents a gallon.
Couldn’t disagree more. You appear to be linking the fact that markets change, tastes change and the fact that the only constant in the universe is…. wait for it…. change – to Joe Biden. (Seriously, whos the snowflake here??) You probably also miss the days of lead in gasoline, smoking in airplanes and restaurants, toxic waste dumps in future housing developments, etc… As a species, humans have the ability to learn from our mistakes and move beyond them. If you look at top-end RV’s from 1975 and compare them to the ones from 2020 they are pretty much light-years apart. Fossil fuels are killing us – and that’s something that your grandkids have to live with (guess what, fires, floods, high farm prices are already affecting YOU!) everyday. Solar, wind and battery systems are becoming cheaper, and will become the norm for houses – especially after the nightmare that Texas had last winter. So, embrace the change – or embrace the suck. Just quitcherbitchin….
I agree with everything you stated. A bloated government will stifle all that is good about our way of life.
There was more government oversight during the Reagan years than today believe it or not.
Money talks. Camping will become a commodity. Similar to farming, campgrounds are being bought by big business. Their money and political influence will inevitably make them the main, if not only, players in town.
Their reach will allow them to influence Federal, as well as state mandates on land usage for camping. Competition will decline, prices will increase and algorithms will determine the best usage of the land to maximize profits.
Change is not easy and it is usually not welcome. The RV industry will continue prospering because there is money in it. The user experience will be controlled by the big players, similar to how Apple knows what is best for their minions. In 40 years, these will be the good old days of camping as time marches on.
This story reminds me of the movie ” Die Hard”, where the news reporter is remotely broadcasting from the airplane bathroom up in the air, causing chaos and widespread panic in the airport below, as he is going on and on, fueling the fire with words and babbling incoherently…
You’re thinking of ‘Die Hard 2’, in which our hero saved everyone from a conspiracy of a drug kingpin and his lackeys. The reporter was just reporting – but the corporate mindset of the news organization (and this is as old as ‘the news business’) is that ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. Don’t blame journalists for the flaws of human nature. And, look beyond the reporter to what was going on in the story they are reporting.
Not touched on was failing infrastructure and overcrowded highway and byways traffic. Interstate 40 is a parking lot with half the number of lanes required to handle the number of cars, semi trucks, and RV’s. I build in half hour delays into trip planning.
“The marketplace will push fuel prices back toward relative affordability, though this is arguably the one factor in the RV lifestyle that is the most difficult to forecast.”
I disagree. We were energy independent in January 2021. The fuel prices are a direct result of the President’s actions. Stopping the pipeline, and more importantly stopping exploration/drilling on public lands. Then he asked OPEC to produce more oil. Hey Joe, from where are the materials for all those batteries powering electric vehicles coming! Hey Joe, how many electric-powered 18-wheelers do you see on the road? Hey Joe, how many electric powered trains do you see on the tracks! Yes, I know trains wheels are driven by electric motors, however it takes diesel fuel to power the motors.
We get what we vote for!
This happened to thousands of people after the hurricane this summer. Some people had no power for weeks. On the other hand many people were able to clear roads and help get the power company in to get the power restored because of gas and diesel fuel. Some neighbors would run to the next state with gas cans in hand and keep the tractors, generators and chainsaws running. Electric cars and electric trucks were $80,000 door stops. People who think we can get along without oil are blind. Elect cars are OK for in town and short drives but will never completely replace oil.
And in the case of Tesla, it was “found” during previous hurricanes that when Tesla owners needed more range to get out of the way of a storm, Tesla could “turn on” that extra ability remotely, and then turn it off again.. Unless one wanted to pay Tesla an extra service fee for the continued use of that “hidden feature” already existing within the vehicle.
No thank you.
You are wrong, we were not energy independent in January 2021. In 2019 we were energy independent for a short time, but it did NOT last long. Bottom line is we need to STOP relying on oil, as it WILL run out eventually. Contrary to your belief, we are in a massive climate emergency. This has NOTHING to do with Joe, it has been going on for years. Sadly too many people are in denial and they will blame those they don’t like. The fuel prices are going on because the demand is high now, this is economics 101. If you vote for trump our planet will continue to decline. Educate yourself and you will see.
Agreed!
I’ve been hearing the mantra of “running out of oil” for over half my life, and I’m 57 years old. How many times have we reached “peak oil”? Yet it’s never actually occurred. There is more oil sitting there underground, discovered, but not yet utilized, than we’ve used yet. And the “climate emergency”? In my short 57 years I’ve also lived through the threat of ice ages, “global dimming”, then “global warming”…and when “they” were wrong on all counts, and none of it actually occurred, “they” settled on the term “climate change”, because that can cover anything and everything..no specific data needed. Every normal, and quite natural, weather disaster can be laid at the feet of “climate change”.
Nothing personal, but it’s all hogwash. People are easier to control when they are fearful, and make no mistake: There are people in power who want to control you.
You stole all my thunder. I’m the same age as you and heard all the same claims. We were all supposed to be dead by now. Yet, here we are.
Agreed 100%
Agree entirely.
Oil won’t run out for several hundred years.That’s just the shale oil. Natural Gas is clean. Since the beginning of earth when it was a molten mass of rock, the weather has changed and as long as it continues to cool the weather will change.It won’t matter if man is here or not, it will continue to change. I don’t know if man is a cause or not because the Government lies to gain power’ Don’t you wonder about the fact almost all the wether sciences are paid by the governments in one way or another? For me, Most of the changes started about the time Obama came to town. I mean life was a bit messed up before Obama but SOOO MUCH changed after he came to power.
He did say the Constitution was flawed and he was going to fundamentally change America.
Thanks Obama and Joe. Your almost there.
WAKE UP AMERICA. Fight for what the Constitution, The Pledge of Allegiance and the right to your Bible and gun gives you. Freedom for all.
I am glad I am not living where you want to be.
Ah, yes… ‘energy independence’. That fabled point where we actually imported environmentally hazardous shale-oil from Canada and called it American. Then, exported the refined fuel to China, after ‘Big Oil’ took both US and Canadian tax credits and pocketing all the money.
Shouldn’t expect more from someone who obviously supports a proto-fascist like Cheetolini.
LOL!! No vaccine for TDS. Pity.
Hey Henry, you think that Model T will pull a plow? You think it will get you to California? Where are you going to get that gasoline stuff along the way?
Looking at the article and down through the comments, I found a great deal of observations that I could agree with. One only has to look back at forgotten American history to see that this country goes through periodic and tumoltous periods of growth. Letting go of what we are comfortable with and embracing new tech and ways of doing things is never easy. As long as we remain a free people and are rewarded for our ambitions we will continue strive for the American dream and seek to explore what is just around the next bend.
Nicely stated Marc!
As long as we remain a free people and are rewarded for our ambitions, Well that’s another big question.
well said
Thanks,,, Wouldn’t it be nice If it was illegal to lie if you were working in Government?
The virus may have started all of this, but it’s the horrible policies that have been mandated and implemented that have made everything much, much worse, ie: complete, radical shut down of our economy so small businesses can’t stay in business and people being told they must stay indoors, supply chain problem due to long term government handouts so people don’t want to work, higher fuel prices due to the shut down of our domestic pipeline, etc. Until common sense and intelligent economic plans come back, things will not improve.
Spot on assessment of the current situation regarding RV lifesytles.
Unfortunately park owners often responded by dramatically raising prices, sometimes to double.
‘In chaos, there is opportunity’ – LTjg Holden – USS Sea Tiger (Operation Petticoat)