Green Party's #GasolineBoycott is virtue signaling

I saw this call for a "gas boycott" from Earth Day to May Day in my email last Friday.

Here's what the call is for:

We must hit profiteers where they feel it. Let’s slow the cash flow through the economic pipeline that fuels the banks, oil barons & war makers from Earth Day to May Day – ten days to steer away from war and climate crisis!

• Use public transportation, or bike or walk where feasible.
• For those with no alternative to driving, consider carpooling and reducing non-essential driving.
• Demand elected officials – from the local to national government – prioritize alternative transportation: sidewalks, bike paths & public transit. Run the war makers and oil-igarchies off the road.

Demand alternative transportation.

Pledge to Join the Gasoline Boycott Now.

Uhh, pass.

"Use public transportation" is the biggie. Those buses run on gasoline, or diesel. There are hybrid drive buses here and there, but they're few and far between. Ditto for LNG buses or propane ones, and both are still fossil fuels, anyway.

Ditto for putting "public transit" under alternative transportation. Plus, upper-middle-class white neoliberals think that "public transit" includes and starts with light rail, which doesn't help working-class people.

And, there's the time factor of virtue signaling.

Like by Cassiday Moriarty, a national GP muckety muck of some sort.

She talks of her personal involvement:

For the duration of our Earth Day to May Day boycott of gasoline, I’m taking a leap that feels a little risky.

I’m riding the bus to work.

Now, I know that to many, many people that does not seem like a big deal — and if you live in a place with great public transit, I'm happy for you!

But I live in Indianapolis, which only just recently began real, desperately-needed investment in our bus lines after many years of neglect. Taking the bus stretches my usual ~20 minute commute to at least 1.5 hours (a best case scenario that assumes no delays).

That's all nice, but ...

If you're working two jobs, that's simply not feasible.

Even more so if the jobs aren't that close to each other. Plus, beyond money, having time to burn is a luxury.

And, I doubt Moriarty is going to continue this after May Day. After all, she hasn't been doing it up to this time.

Let's also remember that gasoline, and fossil fuels, are only one tranche of the climate change battle.