The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should remind the world that oil is not a good resource to rely on to move into the future. First, the fact that we have to go to such lengths to harvest black gold shows us that we are running out of it. The tar sands in Alberta are actually bitumen. In its natural state, it's thick, cannot move through pipelines and cannot be used for anything else except patching up canoes. Now, we're also drilling deep underwater to get at oil. When we go farther to get oil, there will be more accidents and disasters such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico. There will also be hits for the economy. Oil is great for now, but if we don't switch to sustainable forms of energy soon, there will be a big slap in the face for oil-dependant countries. By switching now, we create a transition phase which allows us to be leaders in the future.
Relatively easy to find, extract, process, store and transport - and above all cheap - liquid oil quickly became our most important energy source to cook, heat, cool and transport things.
From plastics to supermarkets, and from globalised industry supply chains to the layout of our towns and cities, almost every aspect of human life has been radically altered over the past 150 years by oil.
Read more at the
BBC.
Oil sands look better every day.
ReplyDeleteObama dropped the ball on cleanup.