Let’s talk about oil. Black gold. Texas tea. The stuff Presidents are made of. People are up in arms over the topic, as well they should be, but very few of them have any idea of the realities of the situation.
In every debate about petroleum, you ultimately find people blaming the owners of big inefficient cars for our oil crisis. The truth is, however, that while cars may be the most obvious use of this natural resource, it’s far from the only one.
Not just for fuel
In addition to providing us with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc., we also depend on petroleum for numerous other things. For example, all plastic comes from oil. Think of how much plastic we consume every day — not just the stuff we keep, like computers and cars, but the stuff we throw away. I’m talking about the wrapper on your snack cakes, the lid on your coffee, the bag around your loaf of bread, the shopping bag you carry it all out in, the disposable forks in the cafeteria, the material in your wrinkle-resistant work clothes, the bottles for all of that soda (or water) you drink… all plastic, all comes from oil.
But that’s not all. From petroleum we get the asphalt for all of the roads and highways we drive on. We get synthetic rubber for our tires, and our shoes, and our wiper blades, and weatherstripping. We get paraffin wax, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, detergents, furniture, packing materials, paints. Every time a surgery is performed, or a baby is born, or blood is drawn, or a band-aid is applied, you have to thank “big oil”.
Hybrids aren’t enough
For those reasons, the oil issue is really far more difficult to solve than most people realize. Driving a hybrid — or even an alternate-fuel vehicle — is not enough to make oil go away. If you really want to make a difference in your footprint on the earth, and if you want your argument to carry any weight when you tell others, you have to seriously reconsider everything you do.
Just switching to a hybrid car isn’t enough to solve our dependance on oil. Everything in the hybrid car is made from oil, so by buying it, you’re still adding demand to that industry. Ironic, no?
But we buy cars long term. Let’s instead talk about the short term, such as plastic bags at the grocery store, or the plastic containers the food comes in. Add the morning trip to Starbucks for a coffee, and there’s not only petroleum in the coffee cup and lid, but what about all the supplies they used to make that coffee? Went through the drive-thru? That’s more oil.
Write to your congressman to complain about oil? Uses oil. Cast a vote? It takes oil. Make a picket sign… needs more oil! You can’t win. It’s not that easy.
What would it take?
You’d have to return to the days when meat came in paper. You’d have to spend the big money on a nice oak desk, instead of that $89 do-it-yourself computer desk from Wal-Mart. You’d have to have real glasses. Ceramic plates. Down pillows. Clothes made of 100% cotton, or wool, or silk. Cast-iron cookware. Fancy ink pens. Stainless steel cigarette lighters. Buses. Subways. And no more CDs and DVDs…
Honestly? It sounds better to me, but I can afford all of those things — many people can’t. The average Wal-Mart shopper has the niceties like a DVD player or a big TV precisely because their cheap construction makes them affordable to more people. If you had to spend hundreds of dollars on a vaccuum cleaner, you might not have money left over for a nice wristwatch. And I doubt that anybody would want to trade their Playstation for a nicer set of dishes. (Well, except mabye for Carson Kressley.)
So what can we do?
In short, I don’t know. If someone knew, we’d probably already be doing it. I think we need to pursue clean, renewable energy sources — both for vehicles and for electricity — such as wind or solar power. But we also need to find ways to replace all of those other things listed above. Some of those things would actually be nicer in wood or steel, but for the majority I think we need to find newer, more versatile building materials. And even then, those materials won’t make an impact until they can be produced and used at a cost near or below that of plastics.
In the mean time, I think we owe it to ourselves to stop fooling ourselves. Tax breaks for petroleum companies? Once you see just how much they’ve got their hands in, do you really think they need help? How about we let them pay taxes, and give breaks to the people trying to help us get off of the “addiction to oil”? How about we start giving research money to people with good ideas?
After all, any good idea is going to take many years to reach the point where production can meet demand. If the oil peak really is right around the corner, we should be working now to have something else in place by then.
