Oil Change

A campaign to reduce our dependence on oil

Become an Energy Patriot! Here are the three main reasons for U.S. to reduce its dependence on oil (foreign or other):

1. It is a threat to national security. The United States imports nearly half of its 20 million barrels per day of oil. The money goes right to the Middle East and that is not safe for the U.S. Democrats and Republicans can both agree that the more money that flows over the Middle East creates an increased security risk to the United States as foreign terrorists and state sponsors of terrorism continue to profit from oil sales.

2. It is and will continue to cause cataclysmic changes to our world. Glaciers will melt, increasing the amount of fresh water and increasing the temperature of the water. Current ocean streams will slow causing our current climates to change, such as the mild weather of Western Europe. There will be more extremities such as drought and stronger hurricanes and floods. Sea levels will rise.

3. It is economically beneficial. The U.S. has always been a leader in innovation and has the man power and will to take the lead on clean energy technologies. The research and mass production of technologies to clean our current coal plants, build more efficient wind turbines and build more efficient solar panels to help reduce base load requirements in cities will spur a new industry for people to find jobs in and make money. U.S. car companies can make new jobs with innovations in fuel efficiency technologies. They could make GM and Ford the giants they used to be and put more people back to work if they could make a more appealing AND fuel efficient fleet. There are a plethora of opportunities out there just waiting for people to make money on.

The Root Cause:

Recently, this discussion is reaching a peak with featured articles in Time April 3, 2006), U.S. News & World Report (June 5, 2006), WIRED (May 2005), the release of The Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, and several stories in the papers and nightly news. With the rapid melting of glaciers, longer, more severe droughts, and higher on average temperatures, this seems like a topic we need to address on all government levels, including locally.

The root cause of our issue is the increase in CO2 Concentration which has increased from 280 part per million (p.p.m) to 380 p.p.m, contributing to 19 of the 20 hottest years on record occurring in the 1980’s or later (TIME-April 3, 2006) As fresh water glaciers rapidly melt into the saltwater ocean, the concentration of the water drops, which has caused the Gulf Stream that keeps most of Western Europe’s climate mild, to slow approx. 30% since 1957 (TIME-April 3, 2006)

As the cause of the problem is an increase of CO2 concentration, we should be taking 2 steps: 1) Reduce the amount of CO2 we output 2) Take steps to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere.

Quick and easy solutions to step 1, reducing the amount of CO2 we emit:

1. Change a Light Bulb - for every incadescent light bulb that is switched to a comparable compact flourescent light (CFL) is a reduction of around 600 pounds of coal a year. If you put in an LED light the reduction is around 780 pounds of coal a year.

2. Increase fuel mileage requirements. The U.S has about 5% of the world’s population and 30% of the automobiles in the world yet, U.S. automobile exhaust accounts for nearly half the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere each year, according to a report by the Environmental Defense.

3. Demand U.S. companies increase fuel efficiency and remind them it is no longer in America’s best interest to be so dependent on foreign oil.

4. Demand your local utility company to purchase more renewable energy sources to reduce base load demand, including Solar, Wind, and Hydro.

5. Install renewable energy and/or use less energy through energy efficiency.

Quick and easy solutions to step 2, absorbing more CO2 from the atmosphere:

Request your City Council or Utility company to:

1. Encourage tree planting initiatives

2. Encourage City Council to put restrictions on builders when clearing land for construction. For example, require them to leave a certain percentage of trees per square mile.

3. Encourage and promote the preservation of our rainforests. Rainforests absorb a majority of CO2 released into the atmosphere. If these rainforests are destroyed there is a compound effect of 1) less tress to absorb future CO2 and 2) the release of stored CO2 in the cut down or burned trees in the rainforest that was storing many years of CO2.

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