Oil and Our Planet (Part I: A brief history of Oil and Its Economic, Cultural, and Social, Impact)

What do you think we should do?

“We Are Addicted to Oil.” George W. Bush January 31,

2007

• I’ve often said one of the worst problems we have is that we’re dependent on foreign sources of crude oil, and we are…It is clear that when you’re dependent upon hydrocarbons to fuel your economy and that supply gets disrupted, we need alternative sources of energy. Sept. 26, 2005

Oil - The Early Days

Oil The Early Days – Edwin Drake Titusville PA - 1859

Oil Formation and Extraction

Formed Remains of tiny sea plants and animals that died millions of years ago

Conditions Buried under sand and silt and must be trapped under non-porous rock

Extraction Many methods offshore, to tar pits (Canada) significant drilling

and costs.

Oil Formation and Extraction

Why is Oil important? Economic, Social, Cultural Impact America’s key Economic ingredient to becoming a

superpower.

Automobiles -Airplanes - Malls -Sporting Events

Why is Oil Important? Economic Impact

Petrochemicals/Oil Products Products derived from petroleum

Why is Oil Important/Military

“Oil fuels military power, national treasuries, and international politics.”

Robert E. Ebel – Center for Strategic and International Studies April 2002

US has less than 5 percent of the World’s total population – consumes about 25% of the world’s total supply of oil.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy International Energy Outlook 2003

Why is Oil Important/Vermont Perspective Tourism -Maple Sugaring

Oil as An Energy Source in the United States

Nation’s total Energy Supply

40% Oil of the nation’s total energy supply

24% natural gas 23% Coal 8% Nuclear Power 5% Others

Source U.S. Department of Energy – Annual Energy Outlook 2004

Oil Reserves Major Producer Proven Reserves Percentage of

World total

1. Saudi Arabia 261. 8 25

2. Iraq 112.5 10.7

3. United Arab Emirates

97.8 9.3

4. Kuwait 96.5 9.2

5. Iran 89.7 8.6

6. Venezuela 77.8 7.4Source: U.S. Department of Energy International Energy Outlook 2003

Oil and Our Planet US Foreign Policy and OilPart II

Oil and US Foreign Policy After World War II – Oil would influence American

foreign policy decisions.

Cold War Cold War and Oil .

“It was to the strategic interest of the United States to keep Soviet influence and Soviet armed forces as far as possible from oil resources in Iran, Iraq, and the Near and Middle East.”

Source: Klare, Machael. Blood and Oil. Henry Holt and Company, New York: 2004.

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline)

1945 (Feb) - Roosevelt Doctrine – Promised Saudi King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud protection

for oil.

Truman &

Eisenhower Increased Military Aid to friendly producers in the Gulf

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline) Truman

(1947) Acting Secretary of State Robert Lovell assured the U.S. ambassador in Riyadh that if another power attacked Saudi Arabia, the United States “would take energetic measures to ward off such aggression.”

Source: Klare, Machael. Blood and Oil. Henry Holt and Company, New York: 2004.

Oil and US Foreign Policy – Eisenhower

Joint congressional resolution (1957)

President was authorized “to use American combat

forces to defend friendly Middle Eastern countries

against Soviet-backed aggressors and to provide

additional arms and military assistance to pro-

American regimes”

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline)Kennedy Dispensed US planes to Saudi Arabia

when Yemeni forces attacked Saudi Arabia

Nixon In part due to Vietnam promoted a policy of increased military aid to friendly states in the Persian Gulf.

1980 (Jan 3) - Carter Doctrine

“would use any means necessary including force” to keep the oil following from the Gulf.

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline)

▪ Iran-Iraq War

▪ Put Kuwaiti tankers under the American Flag

▪Promised to protect the Saudi royal Family

▪Provided Iraq with loans, intelligence support, arms.

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline)

Reagan

Supported Arms sales to Saudi Arabia in return for their support of the CIA’s efforts to topple soviet backed regimes

The Link Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Taliban

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline)

1991 Gulf War “Desert Storm”

Hussein looking for a quick financial fix to debt incurred from his war with Iran marched his troops into Kuwait (Aug 2, 1990)

Hussein was “in a position to be able to dictate the future of worldwide energy policy, and that [would give] him a stranglehold on our economy.” Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney Sept 11, 1990

Oil and US Foreign Policy (Timeline)

Oil Production would have to grow by 60 percent

between 1999 and 2020 to meet anticipated world

consumption of 199 million barrels per day.

What does the future hold? Do we have an oil crisis?

Will improvements in technology help us keep up

with demand? Are there other sources of energy we

should pursue? Source: US Department of Energy International Energy Outlook 2003

Oil and Our Planet (Part III Global Warming)

Global Warming

The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report on the state of planetary warming in February that was surprising only in its utter lack of hedging. "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal," the report stated. What's more, there is "very high confidence" that human activities since 1750 have played a significant role by overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide hence retaining solar heat that would otherwise radiate away. The report concludes that while the long-term solution is to reduce the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, for now we're going to have to dig in and prepare, building better levees, moving to higher ground, abandoning vulnerable floodplains altogether.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1604908,00.html accessed 1 April 2007.

Oil and the Environment/Global Warming

Global Warming Definition

An increase in the average temperature of the earth's

atmosphere, especially a sustained increase sufficient

to cause climatic change.American Heritage Dictionary 2000

An increase in the earth's average atmospheric

temperature that causes corresponding changes

in climate and that may result from the

greenhouse effect.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary 2006

Causes of Global Warming (Greenhouse effect)

Burning of

Oil/Gas

Coal

Natural Gas

Deforestation

Nitrous Oxide (natural and man made – (fertilizers)

Methane

Global Warming – Carbon Dioxide

CO2 along with other greenhouses gasses trap heat and warm the earth also contributes to -

Ocean acidification

Smog

Natural amounts of CO2 have varied from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm), today's CO2 levels are around 380 ppm. 25% more than the highest natural levels over the past 650,000 years

Source: www.environmentaldefense.org

Coal and Smog Pollution

Greenhouse effect and CO2

Greenhouse effect and CO2

Global Warming Critics ▪ Earth is in a natural warming phase the current

▪ Natural Vs. Human impacted warming

▪ If the earth is warming plants and humans will find ways to adapt.