Is Oil Evil?

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

Yes, humans in general consume too much oil which causes many problems within global relations and with our environment. As students, we use the most oil for transportational purposes. Just getting to school each day requires us to use gasoline in our cars.

As you can see, the most oil used daily is for transportation. This line graph also predicts the amounts that humans will consume until approximately the year 2020. As a human in todays world, it is extremely difficult not to use oil in our daily lives.Also, as Americans, in comparison with the rest of the world, we consume a far greater amount of oil.

The bar graph above illustrates the amount of consumption, production and reserves for each of the large countries. North America has the highest amount of consumption, with about 32% of the worlds total. Yet, the Middle East has the most reserves by far. Americans generally use more oil than any other nation.

 

 

2.  What impact does oil have on our environment? 

Oil spills are extremely harmeful to our environment. Inside each barrel of oil that is imported or exported, many chemicals are exposed. Mostly, oil is transported through methods of shipping. Each year, approximately 14,000 oil spills are reported to the United States. During oil spills, the animals and habitats are harmed because of the various amounts of chemicals inside crude oil. One of the most harmed species are the marine birds. Because birds rely on their feathers to keep them warm and dry, oil causes the feathers to stick together, thus exposing the feathers to the cold water and harsh surroundings. This is just one example of the effects of oil on our environment.

Also, when gasses are used for work such as transportation, chemicals in the form of gasses are excreted from the vehicle and let off into our air system. Not only does this make it smell incredibly nasty, over time, the abuse to our ozone layer can be accumulatively astounding. Because of the decay of the ozone layer, our world is further exposed to things such as too much heat and sunlight given off by the sun. This is also speeding up the process of global warming, which indeed is occuring whether humans except it or not.

 I know you have all heard of this, but solar power is our next best thing to oil. Because fossil fuels can run out in a matter of time, we humans can depend on solar power in our day to day lives. Solar energy is a great way to power human inventions such as vehicles because it is never too short of supply. There is no day where the sun will stop shining. Although at the moment many people believe solar power to be too inconvienient, humans will make solar power a more efficient and beneficial way to power our sources. This is extremely good for the environment since we reduce the amount of oil spills and reduce the amount of harmful gasses expelled into our environment.

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