Addicted to Oil

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The discovery of oil in the late 19th century laid before the human species an unprecedented opportunity to draw on a rich but finite energy source capable of improving living conditions for all of humanity. In less than 150 years, petroleum and its byproducts have literally fueled previously unimaginable technological advances. We have moved from horse power to outer space travel; from local subsistence agriculture to a green revolution and international agribusiness; and from manual labor to mechanical and industrial power that serves our every need, especially if we are a member of the privileged and “blessed” part of society.

This same storehouse of cheap energy has been voraciously tapped by the developed world to produce consumptive goods and services that far surpass need and defy logic and imagination. The result is an addiction that itself feeds an unending necessity and increased efficiency and effectiveness in exploiting both human and natural resources around the world. Like addicts, nearly every behavior of ours is influenced by our overwhelming need for more.

It is ironic that the very resource that played a vital role in creating the most economically and militarily powerful nation in the world has now become its Achilles heel. The energy that literally drives our economy is drawn largely from a non-renewable and diminishing energy capital set aside thousands of years ago in the form of petroleum. Its production and use in vast quantities since the late 1800s has contributed to a looming crisis of global climate change and our insatiable appetite has resulted in great human cost as we have aggressively pursued our own energy security. As we look to the future, we must do so with the knowledge that our personal as well as national energy policies will exact a heavy human cost, for no matter how well we dress up our actions as the defense of freedom and democracy, our foreign policy is unavoidably shaped by a dependence on petroleum.

Click here or on the above image to read the Long Arm of Petroleum, a short, fun article that chronicles how much oil is integrated in and important to the U.S. lifestyle!

Did You Know . . .

Only 150 years ago, 85% of all work in the U.S. was done by muscle power.
One gallon of gasoline contains the energy equivalent of six weeks of human hard labor.
Even at $4.00 a gallon, gasoline is less expensive than bottled water.
Today, petroleum accounts for nearly 40% of our total energy use and provides 97% of our transportation fuel.
The world produces over 82 million barrels of crude oil per day. The U.S. consumes nearly 21 million barrels of crude oil per day or approximately 25% of the world’s supply.
Nearly 10% of oil consumed in the U.S. is used to make plastics and another 17% or more is used for food production.
If Congress had continued to increase fuel efficiency standards over the last 22 years, the U.S. would currently have more than 16 times the savings in oil consumption than current proposals to drill in offshore areas promise in the next 20 years.
Despite predictions of imminent production decline and incontrovertible evidence of the link between fossil fuel consumption and global climate change, petroleum is expected to remain one of our primary energy sources.
U.S. demand for petroleum is forecast to rise 0.8 percent a year, from 21 million barrels per day in 2008 to almost 23 million bpd in 2030 - or a 9% increase.
Addicts usually can adapt to change.. let's move to conserve, reduce our consumption and support renewable energy sources whenever we can!

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Eco-Justice Collaborative

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