By Prasanna P. And Nicholas L.

1. Is your personal consumption of oil part of the problem?

          Our personal consumption of oil is part of the oil crisis that exists in the world today.   Although, as individuals, we consume little oil quantities, the fact remains; millions of people in America use oil every day.  There is not a single second left on earth in which oil is not being consumed.  This is most unfortunate, and is the leading cause of the problems oil creates, especially environmental issues.  Although we have thought of solutions to our personal consumption of oil, such as participating in carpools and reducing the use of so many cars, it is would be an intricate plan to attempt to rid the entire country of oil consuming machines.  After all, one of our major industries is the automobile industry, and, taking away this fruitful industry would surely cause further problems to our already problematic economy.  Thus, I believe that our personal consumption of oil is adding to the rapidly-growing problems that oil consumption causes for the world.  We have a solution to the problem, but the true difficulty is carrying out our solution.And every drop of Oil we use add up to a large amout, ending up saying that US is a Top oil consumer like this...

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2.    What impact does oil have on our environment? 

         When the word oil is spoken, it usually brings about the thought of pollution and environmental destruction, and rightly so.  Oil is a convenient source of energy, known as a fossil fuel.  Oil was created thousands of years ago, when the remains of plants and animals were compressed under thick layers of rock.  This long process formed oil, which is likely the most sought after resource in the world.  However, does the convenience and usefulness of oil have any flaws or downsides? Of course!  When oil is burned to create energy, it releases gases.  These gasses are known as greenhouse gases, and destroy the ozone layer of our planet, as well as the rest of the atmosphere.  Clearly, the convenience of oil is not worth its weight in repercussions.  In future years, that are not so distant from now, the Earth will be in traumatic turmoil from the effects of our over-usage of fossil fuels.  When this occurs, the damage will be unable to fix.  However, there is little action occurring to prevent this devastating event from happening.  We believe that the only way to protect the environment from oil’s dangers is to completely eliminate oil usage in the world.

 3.  Are there any viable energy alternatives?

• Discuss and include a live link to a credible website. 
• The link must show how this is being addressed in a specific country. 

         Although oil has many negative effects for the environment, it is not our only option for energy production.  Oil is heavily relied on today, but it is a nonrenewable resource, and thus cannot be mined and employed forever.  To solve this problem, alternative energy sources have been developed.  Some of these options are solar energy, hydroelectricity, Nuclear Energy, Geothermal energy, and synthetic fuels.  All of these energy sources are much cleaner and even more efficient than fossil fuels are.  For example, Nuclear energy requires only a small mass, which produces tremendous amounts of energy.  Also, solar power is an energy source that is extremely clean, and transfers light energy directly into Electric energy.  There are many possibilities to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.  An excellent example of a country making an effort to reduce fossil fuel dependence is, ironically enough, the U.S.  The United States is the largest oil consumer in the world, but we are also at work developing new cars that run with very little or no fossil fuels at all. There are many european countries, like Germany, that uses hydrogen powered cars. Many of the people find it easy to use a hydrogen powered car, the video(below this response) shows about the hydrogen car.  If you follow this link, http://planetforlife.com/h2/h2vehicle.html you will discover one of the newest and most developed hydrogen-powered cars.  Hydrogen power is a unique energy source that derives its energy from the energy the hydrogen nuclei.  It uses no fossil fuels at all, and is believed to create no pollution for the environment.  The cars on this website may be very expensive, but are still continually under research for improvement.  This is likely the most advanced attempt to reduce fossil fuel consumption in the world, and is a solution that may prevent wars over oil, and prevent our environment from deteriorating any further. And we should, start using a new resource, because of the increasing gas price like this....

This video shows, how easy it is to refuel a hydrogen powered car.

 4.  Is there a connection between oil and violence in the Middle East?

     There is an evident connection between oil and the Middle East.  This is evident by the wars that have occurred in the Middle East over the last decade.  In 1990, Saddam Hussein, dictator of Iraq, launched an assault of 500,000 troops on the small nation of Kuwait.  Kuwait, rich in black gold supply, was in the sights of Saddam Hussein.  This is only one of the wars fought over oil, however.  Oil is a resource that is able to fuel any nation’s war machine.  For this reason, many nations sought this resource to add to their own stockpile.  The Middle East has the largest supply of oil in the world.  At the same time, many wars have occurred in the Middle East.  Clearly a connection exists.  The war in the Middle East has all occurred over that precious oil under the ground.  These wars occur over a material that presents benefits to that nation’s military and economy, but neglect to help the environment.  Not only does oil not help the environment, but it aides in destroying the environment.  Therefore, oil is not related to the problem in the Middle East, but instead it IS the cause for the war in the Middle East.  When you trace back the origins of the war in the Middle East, you find a common reason for war.  A key example of this is Saddam Hussein attacking Kuwait in 1990.  If oil was not such an important resource in the world today, there would be little or no war in the Middle East.  It is unfortunate that people have to die for the useless cause of nations attempting to increase their stockpiles of oil.             

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