Enduring the worst of Maine’s winter means waiting stoically for spring, which administers antidotes to winter’s wounds: longer days and warmer temperatures. The tradition is time-honored.

“Everybody gets through the winter somehow in Maine,” says Jamie Py, president of the Maine Oil Dealers Association, according to a recent Associated Press article. “It’s always been that way.”

It’s a facile solution, though. Spring will arrive, sure as the dawn. Then summer’s rapture and autumn’s colors distract from the coming cold. By the time we realize, or admit, the winter is back, the season hits with a wallop.

Like right now. Mild temperatures in late fall have belied the economic hardships promised for Maine this winter, as heating oil reaches unprecedented and unforeseen prices. As oil cracks the $3-per-gallon mark this month, the word “emergency” has started to pepper the official rhetoric.

Maine is too vulnerable to oil fluctuations. Eighty percent of homes here use oil as heating fuel. Our percapita income is lowest in New England. And some of the most shiver-inducing spots in America are within Maine’s borders. These are the ingredients of a crisis, which the customary resolution – the spring thaw – could come too late to stop.

But we’ve looked toward spring too much and, therefore, done little to help ourselves. Opportunities to reduce our energy costs and reliance on petroleum products – wind projects, solar panels and, most recent, a coal gasification plant – are criticized and/or rejected for potential harms to people and the environment.

Or from old-fashioned “Not In My Backyard” sentiments, another time-honored tradition.

Maine’s dependence on heating oil is a blessing and curse: when prices are low, Maine can prosper. As prices skyrocket, Maine is crippled. In response, there’s growing pressure on federal lawmakers to restore regulation of energy markets to stem speculation, which is accused of artificially inflating prices.

This is a duct-tape approach, however, when considered against the basic economic solution afforded by embracing alternative energies – lessening the overall demand for oil.

Today’s work is rightly focused upon helping people stay warm this winter. Social service agencies, faith-based groups and the other providers of heating oil assistance are going to be stretched, perhaps more than ever. Gov. John Baldacci is wisely preparing an emergency response for the inevitable crises to come.

Emphasis on security against future woes, however, cannot wilt come spring. In his quote in the AP article, Py correctly describes the legendary hardiness and benevolence of Maine’s people; if petroleum becomes any more unaffordable, however these cherished characteristics honed over centuries of winters could no longer be enough.

Come spring, as hard times fade, Maine can relax and enjoy the weather. Or, we can finally address our addiction to petroleum and endorse policies and projects to reduce it.

Yes, everybody will get through the winter. Yes, it has always been that way.

It shouldn’t be this way for much longer.