We have allowed oil to become vital to virtually everything we do. Ninety-five per cent of all goods in shops involve the use of oil. Ninety-five per cent of all our food products require oil use.
The three main purposes for which oil is used worldwide are food, transport and heating. In the near future the competition for oil for these three activities will be raw and real. Reliable supplies of cheap oil and natural gas underlie everything we identify as the necessities of modern life - not to mention all of its comforts and luxuries: central heating, air conditioning, cars, airplanes, electric lights, inexpensive clothing, recorded music, movies, hip-replacement surgery, national defense - you name it.
Imagine a day of your life without oil! Well its almost impossible to escape oil’s influence for even a single day in our lives. Did you wake up to a plastic alarm clock after a restful night? Thank petroleum for the mosquito repellent, both bottle and liquid. And did you put on your eye glasses? Then you started your this day with petroleum too. The frame and plastic lens owe their origin to oil. When you get ready to shave, your shaving cream, razor body and deodorant contain petroleum products as important ingredients. Your bathroom pvc door and toilet seats, where do they come from? You guessed it right. Then comes toothbrush, an outright petroleum based product and toothpaste, with petrochemical-enhanced artificial coloring and mineral oils. You are living with oil in your mouth if you are wearing dentures as they are mostly petroleum based. After shower when you put your lip balm, you have used a petroleum product once again.
While still in shower, you rush to answer a phone call and it is all oil based plastic. Suddenly your tiny tot requires a change of diapers and its linings are fathered by petroleum. After shower, when you put on your formals, you are again draped in oil because all synthetic fabrics originate from oil. When you put on your leather shoes with synthetic soles, once again you step into the realms of oil . Then you quickly spray perfume. Of course, its oil. Then to avoid drizzle, you put on your raincoat and lo and behold! You have added another layer of oil on your existence.
But what about streets. You guessed it right! Streets are paved with asphalt, a sticky by-product remaining after refining crude oil. Of course no need to discuss what goes in your car to run and lubricate it. In your office canteen, your breakfast comes off a non stick pan and this too is a petroproduct. Of course food production and transport is also at the mercy of petroleum because most of the fertilizers and pesticides are harvested from oil. Then as you insert a CD or DVD, you have handled oil once again. So is with your credit and debit cards, bunch of which your wallet holds. And yet same again with your wallet whether it is leather or rexine. Leather too requires petrochemicals for tanning and processing. Well if all this is beginning to give you a headache and you would like to pop in an aspirin, guess where it comes from. Answer again would be the same.
Petroleum follows you when in the evening you head for a round of golf. Golf balls are practically oil solidified. We are merged or shall we say drowning, fro m toe to head, in an ocean of oil. Unfortunately this ocean is limited in its dimensions and full of fearsome waves of uncertain supplies.
Thus almost every current human endeavour from transportation, to manufacturing, to electricity to plastics, and especially food production is inextricably intertwined with oil and natural gas supplies.
“Oil is like a gun, one’s perception of it is very much dependent on which end of the barrel one finds oneself.” ~Juan G. Carbonel
Let us look at the world of transport and its tryst with oil. Following are a few examples from a list which is practically interminable: Brake Fluid Boats Oil Filters Car battery cases Car Bodies Motorcycle helmets Gasoline Jet Fuel Diesel Tyres Paints Wire Coating Asphalt Highways Seats
You can clearly perceive that our involvement with oil is deeper than most of us perceive. Now let us have a look at another area of household items. Candles Shower Doors Roofing Vinyl Wallpaper & Floorings Trash Bags Ice Cube Trays Blankets (synthetic) Toilet Seats VCR & CassetteTapes Shampoo Curtains House Paint Fan Belts Telephones Detergents Bowls Glue Flooring Carpets Sofa and Chair Fittings.
Well, if still in doubt, do look at another list of day to day items, which are hand in gloves with petroleum industry. Toothbrush Deodorant Eye Glasses Nail Polish Hair Spray Sweaters Shoes Sunglasses Crayons Pajamas Pillows Combs Lipstick Shampoo Medicines Containers Clothesline Fertilizer Insect Repellent Artificial Turf Herbicides & Insecticides Awnings Containers GardenHose PVC pipes Glue Umbrella
The simple fact is we cannot plant dead dinosaurs underneath our continental United States to create oil. It is simply not there. ~ Jay Inslee