Why Reduce Petroleum Consumption?

          There are health, environmental, and political reasons to reduce petroleum consumption. Sources of health risks from petroleum include pesticides in food, nitrates in ground water from petroleum-based fertilizers, chemicals leaching from plastics, and MTBE leaking from gasoline storage tanks. The problems of plastics include extreme pollution from production, toxic chemical exposure during use, hazards from fires, and their contribution to the world's growing solid waste crisis. One category of chemicals used in plastic production, especially PVC and vinyl, is called organochlorines, which are resistant to breakdown and will remain in the environment for decades to come. Scientific studies reveal that these chemicals are linked to severe and wide-spread health problems, including infertility, immune system damage, impaired childhood development, hormone disruption, cancer and many other harmful effects. Environmental hazards of petroleum use include global climate change from burning petroleum products and oil spills that destroy natural habitats. Oil drilling is one of the main reasons that rainforests around the world are being destroyed. The political effects of petroleum use include manipulation of world markets by governments and large corporations at the expense of the poorest world citizens, and the waging of war in order to control the worlds shrinking oil reserves.