02/08 (LWN-Commentary) People who are addicted to tobacco products often say that they can quit any time. Others say it's impossible. Either way, people who smoke cigarettes become dependent upon their continual supply, and must keep paying for them, no matter what the cost. Meanwhile, cigarettes pollute the air and the many places people discard them.

In one of his more insightful statements, former President George W. Bush once said that we are "addicted to oil". We're also addicted to coal, uranium, and other fuels. Nonetheless, people like to imagine that we can easily change to electric vehicles and renewable energy, make coal "clean", or create our own "sun" in a fusion power plant.

There are many ways to quit smoking cigarettes, including prescription drugs, patches, and nicotine gums. People can also try to stop smoking them gradually or immediately. But quitting smoking requires a lot of effort, persistence, and sacrifice. If someone only tries briefly or always puts it off, it will never happen.

Just like there are deceptive "quick fixes" marketed to smokers who want to quit, some individuals have claimed that pumping a certain gas into the atmosphere would prevent climate change at little cost. Others say that drilling for oil in protected areas would make the U.S. substantially more "energy independent".

Establishing adequate local and long-distance public transportation systems, restricting the sale of large automobiles, limiting population growth, and seriously regulating the power consumption of electronics would do much to end our addiction to fossil fuels. Gradually phasing out cigarette sales would have an equivalent effect.

Yet the major governments and businesses have always had more important concerns; war, manufacturing profits, corporate freedom, sales tax revenue... And when the world's supply of oil has been depleted, we will be no more prepared than the chain smoker who can't find $5.25 for another pack of cigarettes.