Oil
is Killing Us
By
Francesca Caigatti
If you threw out everything in your house made of plastic,
or having plastic parts, what would you have left?
Nothing.
Except those items made in the 1950s or perhaps the 1960s and
earlier. Or, if you’re rich, you probably won’t own any plastic at all.
What does this question have to do with oil?
Everything.
All plastics are made from oil. When you see plastics, think
oil. Look at how the world is filled with products made from oil.
THAT, dear people of the world, is the second prong of oil
dependence, the “invisible” prong. Less than half the oil we use is in the form
of fuels. The rest is used by industry to make more and more things from oil in
the form of plastics. The new super-strong polycarbonates are plastics, made
from oil.
Oil in the form of plastics has
replaced glass, wood, metal, ceramic, rubber, and natural fiber cloth. Glass is
made from sand, a natural substance. Wood comes from trees. Metals come from
the Earth. Ceramic is made from clay, a natural substance. Natural rubber comes
from trees. Cotton, silk, linen, rayon, wool, and other natural fibers come
from plants or animals. All these things are natural to this planet.
Plastic, on the other hand, is a substance that is totally alien to this planet. Under natural
conditions it would not even EXIST. It must be forced into being in a
laboratory. Plastic has no place in the natural cycles of the Earth. Nothing
eats it. Nothing breaks it down. It lasts a hundred years, during which time it
mostly sits in landfills, contributing nothing back to the planet. Or else it
floats in a plastic dump the size of
Mankind created plastics, but has not been very quick to
learn how to uncreate it. The easiest way to uncreate it, of course, would be
to stop making it entirely, which we should do immediately. But no, “they”
demand more and more oil so they can make more and more plastics. This is a
vicious and destructive cycle, demonstrating no wisdom whatsoever if you have
one moment of caring about this planet and its life-forms.
Oil in the form of “petroleum
distillates” or “petroleum derivatives” is in just about every product you can
buy, unless you seek out “natural” products.
When you think about alleviating “oil dependency,” it’s not
really about foreign oil. It’s really about how wise we are to continue letting
oil completely dominate every facet of our lives.
Even worse than “dependency,” -- the part that they don’t
tell you -- is that oil (petroleum), in all its forms,
distillates, and derivatives, is poisonous to the life-forms native to this
planet, including humans. At least the facts about out-gassing of plastics
(oil) have, thankfully, become known, so that consumers (people) can make an
informed choice. But most people still don’t know that our children are being born already poisoned, through the blood
of the mother that has absorbed environmental poisons, most of which are tied to oil.
This
is a thing that gives on the one hand and takes on the other, but in the end
the taking will be stronger than the giving.
Sometimes
we can recognize oil, sometimes not.
1. Sometimes oil looks like oil: Machine oil, lubricating
oil, car and truck oil, household appliance oil, tractor grease, home heating
oil, etc. These are all derived from oil (petroleum).
2. Sometimes we have been taught that products are derived
from oil: Gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other burnable liquids – all
petroleum derivatives.
3. Sometimes we research and learn that products are derived
from oil: Combustible substances used as solvents, like mineral spirits,
naphtha, lacquer thinner, artificial turpentine, fingernail polish remover,
etc. Most of these smell bad, which is a clue to their nature and their source.
All of these substances carry warnings about health risk
because all of these substances are poison to native Earth biology. Even if you
don’t eat any of the above-listed substances, they are all poisonous through
their fumes, which cause brain damage.
Most of the time, however, we do not recognize oil, because
it has been transformed by modern chemical processes into something that is
very different-looking – in the same way
that glass does not look like the sand from which it was made.
Oil, in these less obvious and “invisible”
forms, permeates our whole world. It is in almost every product we can buy.
Most of the products derived from, distilled from, or
otherwise forced into being from oil, whether obvious or “invisible,” are
harmful to the native life-forms on this planet.
Examples: The “outgassing” of
plastics. “Mineral oil” (derived from petroleum) in hand lotions binds up
Vitamin A through the skin. You should not buy anything containing mineral oil.
Tires are made from oil, not rubber. No one knows how to dispose of tires. They
sit in heaps, where occasionally fires break out from spontaneous combustion,
releasing poisons into the air. Insulation, table tops, desks, vinyl siding,
carpets, telephones, computers … almost everything in a modern office is made from oil. Many of these out-gas,
such as mini-blinds made of plastic (oil). No wonder fires are lethal – all
those oil derivatives produce poisonous fumes when burned.
Hurricane Katrina was secondarily devastating because of all
the poisons that were released into the environment from industrial and household
chemicals -- largely derived from oil – everything from ant and roach spray to
furniture polish. All toxic and sold by the millions.
Less
than half of the oil we import, drill, or refine is used for fuel of
all kinds, so less than half of this story is about the price we pay for this
poison at the pump. The major part of the story is about that proportion of oil
used by industry to make all these products that we count as part of “the good
life” that western civilization has produced. Billions of dollars in
advertising continue to try to sell these poisons to us, without listing any of
the side-effects associated with producing or owning them.
Auto exhaust, the obvious air poisoner
from burning gasoline (oil), has been sold to us as “unavoidable.”
Not true. From as far back as the 1930s, when the
Those in power, those in charge of industry and energy, have
FORCED the world toward a reliance on
oil. And the drumbeat goes on for more and more oil, even as I write this. With
globalization of this oil-dependency, we have become a poisoned world. Nothing, aside from money, has been a
more divisive commodity on this planet, and we are fighting over a POISON.
Today, oil dominates our lives and all our consumer choices.
This has not happened by accident.
If someone wanted to poison this whole planet and harm all
native life-forms, no better substance could be found than oil to accomplish
this objective. As to “why” anyone would want to do such a thing...
Why has this happened? Is industrialists’ greed sufficient
reason to sacrifice a whole planet?
I don’t think so. Look at how oil, a known poisonous
substance, has come to dominate our lives, every one of us. Look at how the
poisoning of this planet has happened quite rapidly, most aggressively since
the 1960s – less than 50 years ago -- when this planet had been healthy for thousands of years before Mr. Rockefeller
and the other “oil barons” came on the scene.
They have deliberately created this planet’s bondage to oil,
have poisoned our air, water, soil, and food through the use of this substance,
and are now gene-modifying native plants in such a way that more insects,
birds, fish, and mammals (including humans) are sickening and dying.
The “people” in charge of this planet – if they are indeed
“people,” about which I have serious doubt – know all this. Now you know it too,
native Earth human.
They want this planet, not just your money. And they are
taking it.
The majority of native Earth humans are trapped in this
destructive cycle, most because of enforced ignorance, but you can still make a
few choices. Get a wood stove. Get a bicycle. Get one of those Tata cars that
It’s not about being cool or not-cool. Or, if you must be
cool, be a hero. Don’t aid and abet whoever these thugs are that want our
planet.
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