Each of those things was transported in some way by a truck, a ship, a van, a semi and every one of those hauling vehicles were dependent on OIL.
Traveling the American highways on my tour, I am amazed at the convoys of semi's barreling along beside me, in front of me, and behind me. Every where I have gone, there they are, every day and every day light hour. All using OIL.
I talked with one of these transport drivers for a bit one day at a rest stop. They also have to stop, not just to rest, but are mandated to do so by laws and regulations and union by-laws. They are permitted to drive non-stop for just so many hours. They must not exceed a certain number of hours in a day. They must log all their driving times in meticulously kept logs which are monitored by the company for whom they are driving. I think that these drivers are also monitored by others in order to ensure safer driving, safer for the driver himself or herself (there are many female drivers now days) and for other drivers who are also sharing the same roadways as these rigs. And all of them are using OIL.
I have toured Canada, the United States and Mexico and the same picture can be seen in regard to hauling trucks. Busy, busy, busy, non-stop shipping during day time hours and unimaginable consumption of barrels of OIL.
Try to imagine how much OIL is being consumed on a daily basis. Look around, look at all the vehicles on the road: passenger cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi's, buses, RV's, what have I missed. And many of these vehicles are doing long hauls, covering long distances, in the case of tranport semi's, trying to cover as long distances as they legally can. All of these vehicles in some way, are burning up OIL.
Now that Gulf OIL spill is obviously a disaster, how much so is too early to tell.
In the southern USA, the beaches along the Louisiana coast are just now being hit by patches of the oil sludge. The marshlands, home to so much wildlife, birds, marsh creatures, and marsh waters animals are just now starting to feel the impact of the oil spill. Photos of pelicans trying to shake off oil from their feathers are now appearing on the front pages of New Orleans daily papers. The state government is launching desparate measures to block the environment attack of the oil on the coasts of Louisiana. They are hoping that sand blockades can be set up to prevent the oil from seeping into the deeper parts of the marshland. This is an indescribable catastrophe. BP, British Petroleum, changes its estimates as to the volume of OIL that is spewing up from the ocean floor, almost daily. 50,000 barrels, 100,000...possibly 750,000 barrels to date. This will undoubtedly be the worst OIL catastrophe ever. The EXXON Valdeez was nothing compared to this, a flea on the back of a huge elephant, a minnow on the back of a Blue sperm whale.
Is it affecting us yet? You bet it is. In a sea food restaurant in BILOXI, Mississippi, hand written signs were posted on the doors and walls notifying patrons that a $1 surcharge was being applied to all sea food items on the menu. The explanation given for this was that the sea foods are now being shipped from farther away as contaminants are being found in some of the gulf's marine life foods. Soon, the oyster beds off the Louisiana coast will be ruined. Shrimp will be contaminated and no more eating of the crab and crawfish.
Big OIL, BP, has really screwed up on the catastrophe. But rather than placing blame, how can we deal with this disaster? How will we pay for it? Who will pay the full bill for it? How do we ensure that such disasters never occur again? We will pay dearly for this catastrophe...and how much? It is too soon to tell.
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