The world oil reserves are rapidly diminishing and are only expected to be sufficient to meet world demand for the nest 25 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2010 the United States consumption rate of petroleum was 19.15 million barrels per day, accounting for 22% of the world's petroleum usage. Climate change and health related problems caused by CO2 emissions can be greatly curtailed by a change in our transportation habits. With the world's resources being rapidly depleted by over consumption; is it a depleted world our children will become heir to?
Lowering the national speed limit to 55 mph has many benefits, foremost of all is an increase in fuel mileage and a decrease in fuel consumption. In 1974 due to the Arab oil embargo, congress enacted a national speed limit of 55 mph, resulting in a 2% decrease in highway fuel consumption, or a saving of 167,000 barrels of oil a day. Giving the increase in the number of cars on the highway today, lowering the speed limit would result in an even greater saving.
A reduction in oil consumption, would also mean that less oil would have to be drilled for. No one, including scientist know for sure what drilling and the removal of oil from the earth's interior is doing to the planet. Logic would suggest that when you remove a liquid or a solid from an interior, changes will occur to the exterior's surface. Why is there oil and gas in the earth's interior? Could it be natures way of lubricating the earth, like we do with our machines to keep them running smoothly? Scientist and other who study the make up of the earth can only speculate at these questions, but without real knowledge, forth coming dangers will only be recognized in hindsight. Every year t...
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Works Cited
“About Oil Shale” Oil Shale & Tar Programmatic EIC, n.d., web, 26 August 2011
Alter Lloyd, “Lowering the Speed Limit To 50 mph Could Reduce CO2 By 30%” Tree Hugger, 6 October 2010, web, 250August 2011
Denning Dan, “Oil Shale Reserves, Can Oil Shale Change The World” The Daily Reckoning, n.d., web, 26 August 2011
“Do we have enough oil worldwide to meet our future needs?” U.S. Energy Information Administration, 12 April 2011, web, 24 August 2011
“How Much Oil do the United States Consume Per Year” U.S. Energy Information Administration, 6 June 2011, web, 24 August 2011
The Associated Press, “Warner: Reduce speed limit to save gas?” POLITICO, 4 July 2008, web, 25 August 2011
Vidal John, “Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it” guarding.co.uk, The Observer, 30 May 2010, web, 26 August 201
U.S. Government. "2012 World Oil Consumption." Countries. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. .
This political action memo explains that I want the speed limit lowered in my neighborhood. Then it provides five political actions I can take to get the speed limit lowered on my residential street. First, I will explain why the speed limit should be reduced and how it will benefit my neighborhood's safety concerns. Then I will explain both the positives and negatives of the five political actions I could take: making a phone call to my city council member, completing a Traffic Service Request form, sending an e-mail to my state legislature, attending a city council meeting, or creating a petition. Finally, this political action memo concludes that sending an e-mail to the Transportation
Robbins, Jim. "Montana's Speed Limit of?? M.P.H. Is Overturned as Too Vague." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Dec. 1998. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
“Long term effects of repealing the National Maximum Speed Limit in the United States.” American Journal of. Public Health. 3 October 2010: 1-4. Web.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Independent Statistics & Analysis: U.S. EIA. March 15, 2012. http://www.eia.gov/countries/index.cfm?view=consumption (accessed March 16, 2014).
Pratt, Joseph A. “Exxon and the Control of Oil.” Journal of American History. 99.1 (2012): 145-154. Academic search elite. Web. 26. Jan. 2014.
U.S. Energy Information Association. "U.S. Total Crude Oil and Products Imports." Eia.doe.gov. Web. 26 May 2011. .
A. Scientists predict that in the next several decades the world will run out of oil. According to the article How Fast is the World Running out of Crude Oil by Umut Newbury accessed from the EBSCO Host database states that
"How Dependent Is the United States on Foreign Oil?" Eia.gov. US Energy Information Administration, 16 July 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. .
Did you know that oil may no longer be available by 2050? This is due to over consumption over hundreds of years. How much oil do you think you use in a year’s time? The average American household uses 3-4 gallons of oil a day, that’s 1,277 gallons of oil a year! The long term effects of using natural resources are global warming, polluted water ways and also the depletion of oil.
Interlandi, Jeneen. "THE NEW OIL." Ebscohost.com. Newsweek Vol. 156 Issue 16, P40-46. 7p. 4, 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Our neighborhoods need control of speed, too. Accidents not only happen on the highway, but also on residential streets, with the speed limits being 25 mph. Motorists are exceeding these limits as I speak. They would be unable to stop quickly enough for pedestrians, possibly swerving out of control and hitting a house or another car. My street has been monitored, by the city, due to this excessive speeding. The city of St. Clair Shores is trying to make the motorists aware of their speeding by posting a digital sign, which posts their current speed. Without a legal speed limit in residential areas, people would drive in excess of 25 mph all the time. We need this wild speeding controlled soon before something bad happens.
According to Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) study in which speed limits were varied at 100 locations nationwide resulted "raising posted speed limits by as much as 15mph had little effect on the motorists' speed." The data actually indicates that accident rate reduced at sites where speed limits were raised. Traveling at high speeds saves time and gets you to your destination quicker and the traffic usually travels five to ten miles faster than the posted speed limit.
Ever since Ford put out the first main line production car, there has been a market for gasoline. Since then, the automobile has made a humongous impact on the United States, as well as the entire world. This new invention allowed the average citizen to commute to work without the hassle of mass transit and horses. However, with this new supply of automobiles came the demand for the fuel they required to run. It was not known back then that the consumption of these fuels could actually hurt the environment, or even run dry. Today it is commonly known that these fuels aren’t unlimited, or good for the environment. Action must be taken to reduce and eventually eliminate these threats to human existence. That is why I propose to increase the tax on gasoline by one dollar per gallon. The money generated from this taxation would be spent on programs to find an alternative source of energy, stop pollution, and reduce the need for fossil fuels that the earth so heavily depends on.
The supply of fossil resources is intrinsically finite and if the rate consumption remains the same without any increase for our growing population, the known oil deposits will be gone by 2052. (Ecotricity, 2015)