So why does Chadwick Matlin focus our attention on what is, as his own data shows, an admittedly tiny fraction of total personal transportation?

Zipcar may be a neat idea, but its success or failure is, by no stretch of the imagination, either a dealmaker or a dealbreaker. Its members are about 1% of adults licensed to drive in the US, and by the very nature of its business, is confined to urban settings, where alternative means of transportation exist. Zipcar barely registers on the radar screen of transportation in our nation.

As this article in the NYT reveals <link># , the effects of high energy costs are not uniformly experienced. While Zipcar may get squeezed by higher fuel costs, which are a small fraction of the cost of the purchase, maintenance and insurance of the vehicles in its fleet, people in rural areas are getting hammered. And adding to their woes are the closing of gas stations in their towns, forcing residents to drive considerable distances to fill up their tanks.

Former Gov. King of Maine has said that if oil hits $300/barrel, Maine will become a vast national park, because no one could afford to live there. During an average Maine winter, most residents fill their 200-gallon heating oil tanks six times. If heating oil, which now goes for about $4.40/gallon, goes to the $10/gallon range, that means the winter heating bill will hit $12,000! That's far more serious than the fate of Zipcar.

Independent truckers are going belly up because of diesel prices. The cost of growing food is soaring because of diesel prices (for tractors and irrigation pumps). School budgets are being strained because of diesel prices.

But Matlin chooses to talk about Zipcar.

Revrick: Former Gov. King of Maine has said that if oil hits $300/barrel, Maine will become a vast national park, because no one could afford to live there.

LeRoy: Sounds good to me. In fact, if I were in Congress, I think I would submit a bill to declare Maine the next national park.

In the true, full-blown energy crisis that we are headed for, it is probably exactly right to say that no one (except millionaires, maybe) can afford to live in Maine. Kennebunkport is probably safe. Bangor is probably not.

Revrick:

I assigned and edited this story; thanks for your feedback. I take your point, I'm pretty sure. I guess my response would be: We wrote about Zipcar because we think Zipcar is interesting. You are completely correct to say that there is a very long list of businesses, sub-businesses and cultural niches affected by the high price of petroleum. But you imply that to write about the effect on Zipcar is to somehow ignore or denigrate the others.

I don't think that's the case. One of the challenges of journalism is to find a specific way to tell a generic story. While it's undeniably true that other industries are affected, most or all of the examples you offered have been, we feel, adequately covered elsewhere. Zipcar and car-sharing allowed Slate an opportunity to cover the effects for a fascinating business that had not been elsewhere documented as a victim of expensive gas.

I thought the story was interesting. Just because a story only effects 1% of the population it is unworthy? There is always something to be learned from stories like these. Slate is good at finding an interesting ways to report on the same news everyone else is.

There's just this small problem of refugees. I suppose we could house my sister- and brother-in law. Their kids would have to make other arrangements.

James,

Fair enough. But it just seemed to me that this story has a large shrug factor to it. If you want to go into something not-too-well-known with a potential great impact, how about a story on indium?

The good people of Texas and Oklahoma took in refugees who were fleeing from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and our government's incompetent response to that catastrophe.

I am sure the good people of the Bronx will be equally happy to take in refugees from Maine who can no longer afford their heating bills.

We're running out of it. Very fast.

But shhhhh!!! Don't tell anyone!

End of story.