Meandering Monday: volume 1

Meandering Monday is a revival of my first blog attempt ramblingsofacommonman.blogspot.com where I write about current events, everyday occurrences, random thoughts, etc.


I don't know what to say about the spill in the Gulf.  A horrible, horrible catastrophe that we will feel the impact of for a long time.

But I do know that a lot of people are going to use this as a springboard to diminish our use of fossil fuels (crude oil).  When we think of uses for crude oil, the primary use that comes to mind is gasoline used for cars.  But its uses also include Lubricants (oils and greases), propane, wax (like the ones used in frozen food packages), sulfur, tar, asphalt, plastics, polymers, solvents, chemicals, etc, etc, etc.  What I am trying to say is, you may be drive a Chevy Volt, but the car body is made of oil, the road you are driving on is made of oil (asphalt), the oil for the engine is made of, well, oil, the stop light you wait at is made of oil (plastic), the cell phone you are texting on while driving is made from oil,  the drive-thru speaker you speak into is made from oil, and on and on and on.

Before we look to demonize an entire industry for an accident (an accident of an unprecedented magnitude, but yet still an accident) think about what it could mean for our own lives.  I know I didn't like it when gas was $4.30 a gallon.  But that is just the tip of the iceberg.  The products that we have become so accustomed to, that have become staples in everyday life (cell phones, laptops, cars, trains, planes, food packaging, cleaning supplies, the keyboard I am typing on now) would not be possible without that gooey mess that is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Do companies need to better regulate themselves?  Absolutely! Should we explore ways to limit our dependence on oil?  Yes!  Should we jump to make wholesale changes to an industry that impacts our lives more than we could probably fathom?  I do not think so.