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UHELSKI

MC3-16

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PT.1

Q: Is your personal consumption of oil part of the problem?

A: Everyone's personal consumption of oil is a part of the problem. It may not seem so, because each of us individually consume a small amount of oil, but it all adds up to a large amount. It only takes a few steps to reduce our consumption of oil. A not very wise man once said "I’m going for a drive, just for fun". It’s possible for us to do things like that right now, but due to the rate of global warming, we wont be able to soon. To help reduce our consumption of oil, we can carpool, use public transportation, or buy hybrid cars. Most of the cars on the road have one driver only, and no passengers. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. We can save tons of oil by simply carpooling. Buying cars with a high mileage per gallon is also very helpful, even thought those cars might not be perfect. Public transportation is a great way of reducing one's personal consumption of oil.

By Hania G. 12/8/07

Indegenious peoples rights Animal affected by oil spill Oil Spill

Pt.2

Q: What impact does oil have on our environment?

A: Oil has many impacts on our environment, both negative and positive, but mostly negative. One impact of oil which causes severe environmental damage are oil spills. Oil spills from ships bring death and sickness upon marine life. The extraction or drilling of oil itself destroys some of the world's most beautiful places. A major oil impact on society is that do we really have the right to barge into indigenous peoples' lands and destroy it in the process of getting oil? Royal Dutch Shell, a major oil company, invented a new way of drilling oil by inventing the snake well. The genius of the snake well is that it can get oil from all surrounding oil pockets from one location. This saves a lot of the environment from being destroyed. The main problem with oil is its toxic releases when it’s burned. These emissions cause air pollution, global warming, acid rain, and climate change. The only positive impact of oil which i can find is that it benefits our economies, and conviences us by supplying a source of energy and a source of transportation, indirectly.

By Hania G. 12/8/07

I want your oil

Oil drilling destroys beautiful places

Pt. 3

Are there any viable energy alternatives?

There are several alternative sources for energy being developed other than oil, along with technology, set as cars like the Chevy Volt, that use extremely little petroleum. Alternative sources for energy include wind energy, hydroeletric power, windmills, ethanol, solar and hydrogen power. Most of these are safe sources for energy, for both the environment, and for personal use. Solar power is used heavily in US states like Calafornia, but the unfortunate thing about solar power is when the clouds block the sun, or during the night where there is no sun to provide the solar power to the cells. Ethanol, is considered to be a popular alternative to petrol as fuel to cars, but ethanol takes more energy to produce, than the energy given out. Ethanol, currently however costs $2.43 compared to the over $3 a gallon of gas. But Ethanol is said to raise the food, and corn prices. If corn prices go up, there will be less corn planted for ethanol use, which could drive costs up. Also because of a growing investment in ethanol, farmers plant corn, and less other crops driving up other food prices. In Brazil, there is ethanol comming from sugar cane that is supposed to be more efficient. Ethanol also costs 30% more to produce than oil. It is also more unclean than oil. Hydrogen, is also viewed as another popular alternative to petrol but, it cannot be produced artificially fast enough for the demand. Hydroeletric power, on the other hand is growing with the help of dams. However the dams pollutes the river, and also blocks the flow of water, and destroys the wild life. Nuclear Power is slowly catching on, but the problem is that people are a little scared of it. There is radioactive waste that is the after effect of the power. However a company in France developed a reactor that uses the waste, easily solving that problem. But there are many people who are scared of Nuclear power, knowing the full power of the Atomic Bomb blasts, and Chernobyl. This form of energy has to handeled very carefully, and it a powerful source of energy. However we won't be having nuclear powered cars any time soon.

Also, there are someways where alternative energy growth is contributing to global warming. A Time story on biodiesal said that palm oil, a component of biodiesal, comes from palm trees. Indonasia produces the third largest amount of carbon dioxide, by cutting down trees, or burning them to create rooms for plantations of palm trees to provide palm oil. Without the air filter system, and the high burning of forest fires, this is a case where alternative fuel contributes to global warming.

In basic terms there is no alternative energy source without any major cons, that may obstruct our attempt to reduce our dependancy on foreign oil. Linkies:Article, Another Article

By Akshay Verma 12/15/2007

<=The new Chevy Volt.Nuclear Reactor=>Ethanol Plant under construction in Yuma

Pt. 4

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

One of the most earliest connection an average person can identify violence related to oil in the Middle East, is the Persian Gulf War. The cause of that war was simple. As you can see in the map below, Iraq and Kuwait are neighbors. Both of these countries have oil as a major source of money to there economy. The two countries shared some of the oil wells, so sometimes, Kuwaiti oil drillers would disregard any political boundries and start cross drilling, and taking oil from Iraq. Iraq, as a warning, began deploying it's troops, and began the invasion of Kuwait, hoping that the US had diverted its attention away from the conflict. However, the US lead coalition forces attacked Kuwait, begining Operation Desert Storm, and won the war, but withrew from capturing Iraq. The CNN video below shows when the US officialy announced the liberation of Kuwait.

However this would lead to a more important event in history. A figure that is known in the US as the face of terrorism. A man that is a legend within Al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden.

Bin Laden in his Fatwa declared war against the United States in 1996. The fatwa titled, "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places." was published. One of the main reasons Bin Laden declared war against the US, was a direct result of the Iraq war. During the Iraq war, there was a threat that Saddam may invade Saudi Arabia. Out of fear, the Saudi let the US put a base there for use of a fueling point to help free Kuwait, and to protect them. In the declaration, Bin Laden stated that "Ignoring the divine Shari'ah law; depriving people of their legitimate rights; allowing the American to occupy the land of the two Holy Places; imprisonment, unjustly, of the sincere scholars.".

Oil in many ways helps the recruitment of many fundementilist terrorist groups. In many oil rich countries, the situation is that the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The poor then start feeling anger against the US because of the US making the rich people richer. Through easy propoganda the fundamentilist groups are able to play with the anger, and use it for their purposes.

Many oil rich people fund the terrorists. For example, Saudia Arabia, while it may be an ally has many factions that are anti US. Several of these factions include portions of the royal family. The oil sheiks rich out of the money the US consumers pay them, in turn fund Al qaeda, or smaller terrorist groups against the US and its allies, which provides enough money for the groups to attack us. However as easy as it is to stop trading oil with these countries, the stop would result in a economic recession in several countries. We are in are own way financing our doom.

Despite that, oil is not the total cause of violence, but it does play a huge factor in the violence.

Bin Laden Fatwa

By Akshay Raj Verma 12/15/2007

Middle East Map:

CNN video as the the Allied Coalition enter Kuwait.