Police in Georgia are ticketing for traffic violations and the gas it took to nab the offender. Even worse news for the lead-footed among us: police stations across the nation have been calling for advice on how to implement a similar “fuel surcharge”. The surcharge -- $10 or $15 -- is added to the cost of the ticket.

The station that started the trend claims that two thirds of their annual budget goes to affording fuel. Query why they don’t act to mitigate, by getting onto E85, using hybrids, not driving SUV cruisers and by making similar sustainable investments  that are likely pay themselves off in a short timeframe.

The police-fuel-surcharge news may not sound good, but it is. In 2007, when gas prices really started to get "interesting," shall we say, it marked the beginning of a new era: an era of consumers truly feeling their own costs. In the past, people have been insulated from the financial implications of their behavior by mispriced and undervalued natural resources -- gas, water, space and energy were plentiful. Now, we are being charged more accurately for the costs we incur due to environmental degradation and scarcity. Economists call this “absorbing negative externalities.” Before now, the environment or society absorbed the negative costs of our habits.

This type of pricing better fits idealistic models of capitalism, whose fundamental assumptions include consumers possessing perfect information and accurate pricing to help them make purchasing choices that send purposeful market signals. The more closely the price signals we send reflect our actual priorities, the better and more representative the political and economic results.  So, sure, your ticket will cost more, but your ticket is part of a larger economic movement.