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Deep beneath the earth's surface, nature's most powerful substance lies in shiny black, sticky pools. Many people think that oil is made by the bones of dinosaurs and plants. This is not true. In fact, oil is made by rust, marble, water, time, and intense pressure deep within the earth. Over the ages, it forms into the mighty black brew from which we make gasoline and other "fossil fuels." Oil powers our buses, motorcycles, trains, cars, planes, trucks, power plants, and factories. Oil is used to make many different things. Tires, chewing gum, plastics, and even some clothing, are made from oil.
Oil causes many problems around the globe. Some nations have vast underground lakes of oil. Other countries have no oil of their own and must buy it from other places. Japan and most European counties have little, if any, oil of their own. The nations with the most oil control the oil market and set the prices. Four countries: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Russia control almost 70% of world oil reserves. This gives these countries much control over others who rely on their oil. If these countries raise oil prices then all the countries that buy oil from them are forced to suffer the high prices. This means that gas prices, electricity for your home, bus fares, and many other important parts of our economy become more expensive. The United States uses more oil than any other nation. Most is pumped into our 200 million cars in the form of gasoline. On average, an American burns through twice as much oil in a year than almost any other country in the world. This makes us dependent on other countries, sometimes countries that can't be relied on, like Iraq.
Even more important than oil being expensive and dangerous to use, because it forces us to be dependent on buying oil from other countries, is the fact that oil is terrible for our environment. Our worst pollution problems in the United States are caused by our use of oil. Oil is a very messy fuel. When fossil fuels burn, they release carbon dioxide and other polluting gases. The gases are bad for our health and our planet. They can trap heat near the Earth's surface, contributing to the rise in temperatures known as global warming. In addition, ships carrying oil have accidentally spilled millions of gallons, polluting our oceans and killing sea life. If oil is so bad, why do we depend on it? To begin with, nearly all of our cars and factories are designed to use oil and gas. Changing them to use other fuels would be very costly. Also, the oil industry in the United States is very powerful and has some control over energy policy. Both our President, George W. Bush and Vice-President, Dick Cheney have become very rich from oil. It is hard for our government to quickly move our economy away from oil when so many powerful people in our country rely on money from this industry. Hydrogen fuel cells look like a promising alternative to oil, but it will take our government making it a priority to find an alternative fuel to stop our oil dependency.
In 1973, a few oil-producing nations got angry at the U.S. and tripled oil prices in just a few months. Gasoline was in short supply, and there were long lines at gas stations. U.S. leaders vowed to cut our reliance on foreign oil. New rules forced auto companies to build cars that use less gas. In 1975, the average car could go just 12 miles on a gallon of gas. By 1990, many cars got more than 30 miles per gallon. But in recent years, with low oil prices, Americans have gone back to buying big gas-guzzlers. About one of every four cars now sold is a sport utility vehicle (SUV), which get as little as 10 or 11 miles per gallon. SUV's are very bad for our environment and economy. They pollute much more than any other automobile on the road. In April of 2003, President Bush called for a $1.2 billion program to develop a pollution-free, hydrogen-powered car. Such a car would solve many problems, but with today's funding and limited interest it's at least 20 years away. Other options are available right now. Hybrid cars that run on both electricity and a little gas, like the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius, are already on the market. And if consumers or our government demanded it, the average SUV could go from 20 miles per gallon to 40 miles per gallon using available technologies. Not enough people are aware of this and our government seems to be unconcerned. This is why it is important for everyone to informed and take a stance that will force our government and car manufacturers to build cleaner cars.
