I was reading Plan B 2.0 by Lester R. Brown, which I recommend to everyone, It is available online in pdf form, but you can also buy it. In it he proposes many concrete policy shifts that can bring about real change (for the better) in the environment.
He points out that the price of gas (in the us) bares no relation to the real cost, when you factor in the medical costs of resperatory damage, the cost of securing and transporting oil, the ecological impact of extracting the crude, etc. These externalities add roughly $9 per gallon to the real price of gas. So on top of the $3 per gallon we are paying now that's $12 a gallon. The other $9 we pay in lost of life, destruction of natural assets, higher medical insurance, government spending (from our taxes) etc. If the government were to tax gas to cover the real cost of it and reduce income taxes to make up the difference. The revenue from the gas tax could go to building more public transit and change the market to incentivize alternatives to driving.
He makes the case that the same type of tax was used on cigarettes to both pay for the medicare costs of cigarettes and to get people to quit smoking.
This is not a dream it is happening in other countries, Germany, and many other EU counties are also is doing this very thing. So when you fill up think of how much you are not paying for when you pay $3 a gallon.
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