2008 Woodie Awards
The High Price of Oil Addiction
Is Is fueling up at the pump worth our country's sacrifices?
Seda Terzyan
Issue date: 2/15/06 Section: Opinion
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More than 30 percent of U.S. oil and petroleum imports come from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, according to trade analysts. These unstable and potentially unsafe countries have contributed to the high prices of oil, which are destroying our economy and challenging the budgets of many families.
The cost of depending on these regions of the world is the high price of maintaining a military to keep the oil safe and flowing. Measures must be taken to cut back this reliance on foreign oil and work to localize American sources of energy through technology already at our disposal. Oil is not worth the monumental sacrifices this country appears to be making, nor is it worth the well being of our entire planet.
"America is addicted to oil," said President Bush during the State of the Union Address. Yes, America is addicted to oil; I guess the first step is admitting that you have a problem, but then what's next?
Making generalized statements about alternative forms of energy will not work until America first dramatically cuts down its oil intake. The way to do this is to start small by pushing for fuel-efficient cars. The government should push car production companies to making only hybrid vehicles, powered by both gasoline and electricity.
Then slowly, they can be powered only by electricity and hydrogen. If this were achieved on a grand scale it would cut our oil needs down significantly. Then work can be done to localize American energy using wind, solar and nuclear energy instead of burning fossil fuels. Cars, especially SUVs, are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, which cause global warming. Mother Nature never wastes anything, nor does it tolerate having too much of something. The excess of greenhouse gases is causing global warming.
Global warming is a process that will allow the Earth to once again come into equilibrium with its natural gasses. The ice caps will melt, causing the sea level to rise. This will cause catastrophic flooding and tremendous rains. The result: a major atmospheric clean up will have taken place, restoring balance at the expense of coast lining land masses, according to environmental studies.
Just because something may not happen tomorrow, does not mean that nothing should be done today.
America is only 5 percent of the world's population and it uses a quarter of the world's oil. The only people enjoying the American addiction to oil are the oil companies.
Henry Ford once said, "Show me who makes a profit from war, and I'll show you how to stop a war."
I think we all know who is turning out the profits from the current American war in Iraq. These oil empires need to be shut down, and the only way to do so is to stop depending on them. If the people push for the organization of the government, changes can be made to break our oil addiction.
If we don't, it is bound to break us.
Ignorance should never be willingly chosen, we need to stop complaining and start making a difference, we are the future of this country and it's up to us, the youth, to clean up the mess made by those before us.
