Seth Borenstein, science writer for the Associated Press, wrote a very interesting article this past Friday that dovetails nicely with the series of posts now being featured here in Peak Oil Matters.
Although written from the perspective of those who may wish to “punish” Big Oil as a result of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Borenstein nonetheless shared some incisive observations about how pervasive is crude oil’s impact and effect in our daily lives. Shampoo, for example, was noted as being “100% chemical,” with crude oil serving as the source for almost everything that makes up a bottle of shampoo.
It’s a nice, concise look at how utterly dependent we have become on crude oil to do so much more than just fuel our automobiles.
Even more distressing an observation, however, is how crude oil now rests within us. According to the article, “When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested humans for environmental chemicals and metals, it recorded 212 different compounds. More than 180 of them are products that started as natural gas or oil.” As was further observed, these chemical cocktails are messing with the human body.
No chance that the increasing rates of all kinds of cancer over these many recent decades has anything to do with the chemicals we ingest, right? Aren’t we fairly certain that all the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez or now in the Gulf of Mexico is harmless to wildlife? No chance of any long-lasting impact on the hundreds of species in the Gulf coated with or ingesting all that oil, right? No harm to them, no harm to us.
How much more evidence do we need before we’re convinced that we must change how we live our lives and grow our economies?
What the hell are we doing to ourselves and our planet?
