Editorial ~ Marilyn Hempel

Population and Oil — Our Urgent Task

The impact of growing numbers of people and what they do.

By the time you read this, BP may have managed to stop the flow of oil spewing from the exploded Deep Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. Will we then breathe a sigh of relief, return to 'business as usual', and lose the teachable moment?

Experts say this Gulf oil gusher is the worst environmental disaster of our time. It is easy to rage at BP—their bungling, their greed, and their attempted cover-up. It is much more difficult is to take an honest look at ourselves—our energy consumption, our addition to oil, and our addiction to growth, including population growth. All these increase our need for oil, and the rate at which our rampant consumption uses it. This addiction is not sustainable. Oil is a non-renewable finite resource. When it's gone, it's gone. And that will be sooner than we dare admit.

Fact: The U.S. has about 3% of the world's oil resources, but we consume 25% of the world's oil. We cannot get off foreign oil without lowering our addiction and reducing our consumption massively.

Fact: The United States is the only industrial nation that is still growing rapidly. Every added American typically becomes an added over-consumer of oil.

Fact: The impact of oil use is monumental. All extracted oil contributes mightily to climate disaster. As Jan Lundberg says in this magazine, "All extracted and refined oil is eventually burned or spilled."

Meanwhile the Gulf oil gusher will continue to cause a tremendous amount of destruction and death for years. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, "This is no simple spill on surface water. This is an ongoing deepwater catastrophe in one of our planet’s richest marine environments. The potential toll on vulnerable species—from bottlenose dolphins to sperm whales, from sea turtles to bluefin tuna—is truly frightening."

The latest figures report that thousands of animals have already been found dead, including over 500 sea turtles, a species on the brink of extinction.

As a first step, we must hold ourselves accountable. It's not enough to just feel sad. After all, oil companies like BP are drilling 5,000 feet beneath the ocean for one simple reason: we’re desperate, as a nation, to keep feeding our oil habit. We have 250 million gas-guzzling cars on the road yet we seem surprised when our pollution-fueled joy ride leads to a runaway oil gusher.

There is no more urgent task this summer than waking Americans from their collective state of denial and beginning the difficult task of breaking our addiction to carbon-based fuels before it’s too late.

Step two, we must change our behavior. This Population Press provides cause and effect analysis, and presents ideas for how we can change. Would you like to give up oil? What is made from oil? Read the list on the inside back cover of this publication (page 23). It's not just about cars. Oil is not just the source of gasoline. It is the basis of an enormous amount of the stuff we have come to need every day. Oil is so deeply embedded in our lifestyle in so many ways, it will take a major reorientation of our minds to make the change.

Breaking the Oil Habit

Would you like to get off oil? What is made from oil?

Here's a partial list:

all plastics and styrofoam, all appliances, automobiles (not just the fuel), polyester, asphalt, ammonia, anti-histamines, antiseptics, artificial turf, aspirin, balloons, bandages, boats, bottles, bubble gum, butane, cameras, candles, car batteries, carpet, cassette tapes, caulking, CDs, chewing gum, cold, combs/brushes, computers, contacts, cortisone, crayons, cream, denture adhesives, deodorant, detergents, dice, dishwashing liquid, dresses, dryers, electric blankets, electrician’s tape, fertilizers, fishing lures, fishing nets, fishing rods, floor wax, footballs, glues, glycerin, golf balls, guitar strings, hair coloring, hair curlers, hearing aids, heart valves, heating oil, house paint, ice chests, ink, insect repellent, insulation, jet fuel, kitchen appliances, kitchen containers, life jackets, linoleum, lip balm, lipstick, loudspeakers, lubricants, medicines, mops, motor oil, motorcycle helmets, movie film, nail polish, nylons, oil filters, paddles, paint brushes, paints, parachutes, paraffin, pens, perfumes, petroleum jelly, plastic chairs, plastic cups, plastic forks, plastic wrap, plywood adhesives, printer ink cartridges, refrigerators, roller-skate wheels, roofing paper, rubber bands, rubber boots, rubber cement, rubbish bags, running shoes, saccharine, seals, shirts (non-cotton), shoe polish, shoes, shower curtains, solvents, spectacles, stereos, sweaters, table tennis balls, tape recorders, telephones, tennis rackets, thermos, tights, toilet seats, toners, toothpaste, transparencies, transparent tape, TV cabinets, tires, umbrellas, upholstery, vaporizers, vitamin capsules, volleyballs, water pipes, water skis, wax, and wax paper.

So much of what we use is made from oil. It would be wise to prioritize, to plan ahead, and to save some precious oil for those items most important to societal and personal well-being (such as that used for medical purposes).

What you can do

It is not likely that you can do without—or find a substitute for—all of the items listed above, but you can cut back on some things. Whether it is driving less, or using cloth shopping bags, or refusing styrofoam, or living without plastic bottles, it is important to start breaking the addiction to oil.

Every one of us can contact our elected officials and ask them to insist on clean renewable energy now. Send them Chris Nelder's letter or write one of your own. As Lester Brown says, "Saving civilization is not a spectator sport. Each of us has a leading role to play.