25.5.10

10 Ways to Stay off Oil

As more and more oil pours into the waters, beaches, and wetlands, poisoning the ecosystems and crippling the communities around the Gulf of Mexico, a feeling of outrage emerges. Citizens around the country are becoming enlivened with a need to take action, to help mediate the unfathomable disaster of the massive BP oil spill, and to make sure it never happens again.

The truth is, while it is impossible at this point to undo the terrible tragedy in the gulf, it is entirely possible to prevent similar spills from happening in the future. The global demand for oil is effectively fueling the drive for offshore drilling (no pun intended). Unless something changes in the public demand for oil, then oil will continue to be drilled with enormously volatile consequences, such as the one we are now witnessing every day in our waters. In order for that demand to change, some changes must first be made in our day-to-day lives. Below you will find 10 simple ways to reduce your personal consumption of oil, to make the individual impact that is necessary for large-scale change to occur:

1. If you don't absolutely have to, don't drive cars. This is perhaps the simplest and most well-known item on most "reduce your dependence" lists, but it is the also the most important. I know we all have hard-ons for autos in this country, but seriously. Just think about how many unnecessary trips you make in your car to destinations that are less than a mile away, when you could just as easily hop on a bike or take a peaceful stroll to get to that same place. It's so important: Get outside! Move your body! Interact with the community around you! Plus, with the abundance of public transportation in our world, the necessity of personal cars is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.

2. BUT, if you absolutely MUST drive (I know those summer road trips are hard to pass up), be a little smarter about your gas use. This means that you should A.) Coast as often as possible, instead of constantly breaking and then accelerating again (don't be an auto-spaz). B.) Drive slow (not like grandma- just keep to the speed limits). According to Fueleconomy.gov, driving at faster speeds reduces your fuel efficiency between 5 and 23 percent! C.) Check your tire pressure and air filter regularly to make sure they're up to standard. Dirty air filters reduce your miles per gallon by 10%! You don't want that. D.) Don't idle your car. It's just silly. Basically, turning your car off and then back on again uses about the same amount of gas as idling for 10 seconds. So, if you know you'll be sitting for longer than 3 deep breaths, turn that engine off.

3. Eliminate plastic bags from production. It takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce and distribute the amount of plastic bags used in the U.S. each year, since they are not only shipped using petroleum, but made with petroleum as well. Not to mention that they are non-biodegradable, highly toxic, and one of the top polluters of our oceans and shorelines. So, we're faced with a no-brainer here: eliminate use of plastic bags, and instead switch to handy re-usables! It is completely possible to do this, when we stop to think about how unnecessary plastic bags are. I mean really, truly, sincerely, profoundly unnecessary. Reusable canvas bags are sturdier, often prettier and more interesting, and... oh yeah! They are reusable!

4.Buy Local! This means eating seasonal produce and other food items that have traveled no more than 100 miles to get to your plate. Preferably, these items should be bought from a Community-Supported Agricultural project, or from your local farmer's market. Ideally, they could be grown in your backyard! The heavy environmental burden of transporting out-of-season fruits and vegetables from other parts of the world is largely due to the amount of oil used to ship and truck these food items around. Plus, think about how much better the incredibly fresh food will taste, knowing that you're supporting local farmers.

5. Buy yourself a nice stainless steel water bottle. Just the production of plastic water bottles alone uses 1.5 million barrels of oil each year- enough to run 100,000 cars uninterrupted for a year. And that's not to mention the oil used in the transport of our simplest resource within these plastic containers over thousands of miles, when we could just turn on our tap and have the same crisp cool water, minus the oil. Staying away from plastic water bottles is also a nice way to guarantee BPA-free drinking.

6. Loose the Packaging: Buy products that are loose and not unnecessarily wrapped in excessive packaging. Food items such as bulk grains and fresh fruits and vegetables are always available at the grocery store, and don't involve overwhelming layers of plastic packaging. For other products, buying items second hand definitely helps to cut down on packaging and production, two aspects of our consumer culture which heavily intensify our dependence on oil.

7. Say no to nylon and polyester, since both items are petroleum based. Instead, choose natural fibers and textiles such as cotton, wool, and hemp. Or just go naked, whatever.

8. Don't be putting petroleum on your face. What? Ew! Well, it's true that many skin care products such as makeup and moisturizers are made from compounds extracted from the same refineries that your auto fuel is coming from. For help deciphering which products are safe, use the Environmental Working Group's database, Skin Deep, and make sure your products aren't oil-based.

9. Weatherize your home, and cut down on home energy use! Home energy audits are a great way to figure out what your home consumption looks like, and to pinpoint solutions for making your home more environmentally sustainable. For every million homes weatherized, three million barrels of oil are saved. Not to mention, it's a great way to cut down on your utility bills!

10. Call for accountability- at all levels. Sure, it might be a great idea to boycott BP. After all, they are the face of the largest and most devastating environmental disaster in the U.S., and directing our outrage at them seems almost instinctual. However, it's important to remember that BP's misbehavior took place within the context of limited government oversight and a lack of direct accountability. It's as if BP is the onerous young child who is never disciplined for his misbehavior, and so acts out destructively, and all you can wonder is... where are the parents?! It has been revealed in the month since the gulf oil spill that the government showed a sickening lack of regulation over the issuance of a multitude offshore drilling permits, and that BP's Deepwater Horizon project was one of those lucky ones that squeaked by without a full review. And still, in the face of this disaster, and despite a temporary moratorium on offshore drilling permits, the Obama administration has issued 7 new permits in the past month. So it's important to remember that our responsibility lies not only with our own personal behaviors and lifestyle choices, but with our power as a people to influence our leaders, keep the pressure on to hold them accountable for their actions, and demand that our future not be compromised by short-sight and greed.

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