by Jonathan Hiskes. NPR reporter Brian Mann went talking to gas-station customers in upstate New York to find out what they’re thinking about the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and their own responsibility as gas-buyers. He gets some interesting responses, but I’d like to engage in some bloggerly quibbling with his conclusion. Mann finds that people are paying a lot of attention to the disaster, but, in his words, “they also don’t see a real connection between the spill in the Gulf and the decisions they’re making about the cars and trucks they drive, and the number of times they fill up the tank in the week.” Here’s what gas-buyers told him: “It’s to the point where I don’t want to watch it anymore,” says one. “It’s discouraging. I don’t feel that there’s anything that I can do about it.” “You know, we have to survive up here,” says another, when asked if he feels any personal culpability for the spill. “The truck is my livelihood. Without it, I wouldn’t have my business. So if those gas prices go up, we have to pay it.” Another says driving is unavoidable in the rural area. “It’s an everyday thing that you need in life,” she says. “We need gas, so it kind of puts us in a situation.” None of the three suggest they don’t see the connection, as Mann puts it, between buying gas and dangerous offshore drilling. Rather, they’re saying they lack good alternatives to driving.

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