I have spent too much time replying to friends and family members that send me stupid garbage like this May 15th “gas out” that I have had enough.

In today’s postcrescent.com editorial, Long-term conservation the real answer to gas prices, they put it all out there. For all of you that think this is “gas out” is a good idea, read this editorial carefully:

Avoiding gas stations next Tuesday is just a silly idea with no real common sense behind it.

American consumers have been buzzing about this so-called "gas out" on May 15, with rampant e-mails and Internet posts championing the cause.

The theory is that if everyone boycotts gasoline purchases that day, it will play havoc with the economic principle of supply and demand and make Big Oil rethink high gas prices.

We'll take some pleasure in bursting that bubble.

People buying gasoline is not nearly as important to oil companies — and the "demand" half of the equation — as people using gasoline. In other words, if you fill the tank the day before or the day after the "gas out," the oil companies have still sold you a tank of gas and earned a profit. Whether it happens on Tuesday or Wednesday is largely irrelevant to them.

Stunts like this are an impediment to progress on the energy debate. If you really want to perturb oil companies, try not driving at all on May 15. Or the day after.

As a matter of fact, start biking to work daily. And the next time you purchase a vehicle, buy a hybrid or a "flex fuel" car that burns ethanol.

We have to fundamentally change our dependence on oil to have a tangible, long-term effect on gas prices.

Anything else is driving in circles.

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