The true value of oil and the insanity of burning it

Someday human beings will look back on us and ask a question across time. It will be asked with the pain of a parent quizzing a child for making a huge but unknowing blunder: “Of all the things that can be done with oil, why would you burn it?”

The question won’t be asked in reference to global climate change – like parents, future generations will feel empathy for our lack of understanding of this particular consequence – no, it will be asked in reference to the value of oil that is independent of its value as fuel.

Oil is the most readily available and useable form of carbon on earth. We can get a glimpse of this value by its current non-fuel uses. Here is a glimpse at the tip floating above a, someday, massive iceberg of stuff that is easiest to make from oil:

1. Advanced carbon composite materials
2. All polymers and plastics
3. Fertilizer and pesticides
4. Fibers and fabric: nylon, vinyl, acrylic and polyester
5. Soapless detergents
6. Food additives that prolong shelf-life – preservatives
7. Acetylsalicylic acid - aspirin
8. Make-up, nail polish, lipstick, hair dye
9. Synthetic rubber – i.e., rubber that can withstand high temperatures like car tires
10. Art supplies – pain, pastels, crayons
    . . .

At the bottom of that list, will be fuel.

In a massively populated world where the value of trees will be recognized as Earth’s lungs, far too important to cut and far too slow to replenish, oil will be needed for materials.

That parental voice of our grandchildren’s grandchildren will admonish us: “With all the available energy on earth, you used the one fuel that is by far the most difficult to extract.”

And, like parents, it will be difficult for them to understand why burning oil made sense to us, “We don’t have the technology to extract energy from the sun, the sea, and the wind.”

They would respond: “To get oil you must go to extreme lengths that endanger not just you, but everything that preserves your way of life! The sun, the sea, the wind are all right in front of you, baby, why did you drill?”

(You are welcome to republish the text of this article, but not the images, without needing further permission, provided that you attribute the work to its author, Ransom Stephens – who, by the way, is not at all surprised the we can make such a huge mess.)