Oil is a necessary part of everyday life for North Americans. We rely on it for transportation, heating and cooling our homes, fueling our businesses, and providing essential materials for the global economy. But this reliance on oil has become an obsession, driving countries to consume more than is sustainable and putting communities at risk.

At the root of this obsession with oil is the perception that it is an abundant, cheap and essential commodity that provides a steady supply of energy for North Americans. This attitude has encouraged companies and countries to continually seek out new sources of oil and to deregulate the fossil fuel industry, creating a dangerous situation with serious environmental and health impacts.

The consequences of this oil obsession have been devastating. In order to meet demand, energy companies have started to move towards more extreme means of extracting oil, including unconventional oil sources like tar sands and fracking. These techniques result in increased emissions of greenhouse gases and release a range of toxins into the environment, endangering water supplies and ecosystems. There have also been multiple oil spills in North American waters, most notably in the Gulf of Mexico, causing environmental devastation that will be felt for generations.

Air pollution from the burning of oil has caused an increase in respiratory illnesses, particularly in lower-income communities who tend to face the brunt of the impacts from the oil industry. At the same time, oil companies are profiting tremendously from the North American obsession with oil, with a few companies dominating the market and reaping the commercial rewards of their monopoly over this essential resource.

Ultimately, our obsession with oil has put us on an unsustainable path that threatens our health and environment, while doing nothing to make us energy independent. Rather than investing in renewable forms of energy and carbon-reduction initiatives, governments are pandering to the fossil fuel industry, locking us into an energy path that only serves to line the pockets of the few.

The long-term impact of this oil obsession is increasingly clear. We need to break away from our dependency on oil and find a path towards a sustainable and equitable energy economy. Investment in renewable sources of energy, the proliferation of green jobs, and increased public-private partnerships in order to build a better future for North America should be a priority. We must put an end to our oil obsession before it’s too late.

Road diving is an essential aspect of human everyday existence. It aids our going to work, visiting loved ones, stopping at the grocery store, and a lot more advantages than we can mention. Seeing that we get a lot of things done faster and easier with driving, it is only normal that we learn how to drive properly and safely.

As useful and resourceful as road driving is, it has also claimed the lives of many and even left several people with lasting scars and injuries. This is not because road diving is bad in itself, but because the people behind the wheels are not doing some things right, on purpose, or unintentionally. Some of the tips to safe driving anywhere are discussed below:

Never drink and drive

Drinking while driving is almost consequential to impending road accidents because people who drink and drive are prone to potential loss of concentration and coordination behind the wheels. Although the aftermath of drinking is different for various people, it is still not an advisable thing to do when driving.

If you will be hanging out with some friends till late at night and would most likely drink, you should take a cab or call on someone to take you home.

Assume you are the only sane person

 This singular assumption has saved a lot of people from serious accidents. When driving, you should never assume that the driver of the car next to you is sane. It is a standing rule that will keep you safe.

Some people could be in so much hurry that they don’t want to wait to see the green light or follow traffic rules. So, drivers should always stay alert for contingencies as they drive and leave a chance for the errors of other drivers. Give reasonable space between your car and the next car, always check your mirrors, and you should be fine.

Follow traffic rules

Traffic rules are there to guide how you drive and bring everyone under the same understanding. A “No U-turn” sign makes the person on the other side sure that “nobody in their right senses should try to make a turn here”. However, remember that an assumption that not everyone is in their right senses will help avoid problems.

Alcohol addiction is one of the most common substance addictions in the US and the world at large. Records have it that people who abuse alcohol are liable to some aftereffects of its use. These aftereffects can be either good or bad because people have different rationales as to why they drink alcohol excessively.

Alcohol addiction is sometimes called alcoholism and is common to both the young and old. Alcohol can act as a depressant that proves to be temporarily useful to people experiencing stress disorder and traumatic breakdown. Some people even take alcohol as a way out of their pain, emotional issues, work, and life stress.

However good those might sound; the effects of alcohol abuse can lead to dangerous mental impairment and loss of control. Alcohol addiction sometimes breeds a wrong sense of judgment and false boldness for those suffering low self-esteem and depression. Most people take it as an easy path to do those things they are naturally unable to do.

Most criminal cases like murder, rape, robbery, and road rage are usually induced by alcohol. Some people might have the thought of doing bad things but are void of the confidence to conjure such evil. Alcohol abuse distorts people’s senses of control, limits, and motivation which aids them to carry out things that their sense of norm and value will naturally forbid.

It is not news that some of the most dangerous communities in various countries are places where alcohol and other addictive substances are seriously abused. If proper caution is taken and those affected are brought to treatment, there is a high tendency that the crime rate will reduce drastically.

Rape, for instance, is one behavior that a person in his right senses will not do. However, when overtaken by intoxication, it is almost impossible to overturn and take charge. The following are effects of alcohol abuse that will likely induce crime:

• Brain damage
• Behavioral changes
• Hallucination
• Alcohol dependence
• Depression

Extensive research on the subject of alcohol abuse and crime suggests that excessive alcohol consumption and criminal behavior are interrelated.

Researchers recognize that just by drinking alcohol a person doesn’t become a criminal. Similarly, not consuming alcohol does not prevent someone from committing crimes.

Studies show a clear pattern, in other words, a sequence of links that connect excessive drinking, poor judgement, aggressive and criminal behavior, and legal consequences. The proof of this logic is the high number of people currently in prisons or living with the stigma of a criminal record also have a history of drinking problem.

It is also well known that when a person’s drinking is severe and when it affects the normal functioning of the mind or body, it impacts their family, society and career. Seeking treatment and rehabilitation for alcohol addiction or problematic drinking habits is the best way to avoid the worst possible consequences.

Problematic drinking has many, many negative consequences. To understand the connection between alcohol abuse and crime, it is important to know the common criminal behaviors and the kinds of penalties they carry. But another important consideration is the impact of these criminal behaviors on the victims.

Everyday sad stories in the media confirm that lack of control over alcohol use by one person rarely has one victim, and the consequences are rarely short lived. Crimes as a consequence of alcohol abuse are likely to cause the offender to lose some money or freedom. But, more importantly, those crimes usually have long lasting impacts on family, friends, or even complete strangers. The problem may be centered on one person, but the consequences have ripple affects.

Alcohol is considered more likely to be a reason in violence where the attacker and the victim know each other. About two-thirds of crimes committed by an intimate person such as a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend have been reported to be related to alcohol consumption. Crimes generally associated with alcohol include domestic abuse and violence, underage drinking, robbery, assault and rape.

The best way to prevent such trauma and heart ache in the society is for everyone to take personal responsibility when it comes to consuming alcohol.  

Accepting personal responsibility means acknowledging that each individual is responsible for their choices in life. It is not the fault of someone else if a person decides to take a drug or drink alcohol. If an addict continues to use alcohol in excess they should accept that there are consequences to their actions. Seeking immediate help if any signs of excessive consumption or uncontrolled drinking behavior are noticed is the responsible thing to do.  

It is heartbreaking when peaceful, loving homes and marriages are destroyed due to the stress and strain caused by drug and alcohol abuse.

When a partner in a marriage or long-term relationship abuses alcohol or drugs, the consequences can be far-reaching and could create difficult family situations. Some say that it is like throwing a stone into a quiet pool of water which creates a ripple effect of impacts beyond an immediate circle.

The drug habit is an expensive one. As a consequence, the addict doesn’t care that the money used to pay for drugs dips into family finances which should have been spent for food, housing, children’s education and other bills associated with raising a family.

It is unfortunate that the effects of one person’s irresponsible use of drugs or alcohol are felt by his or her children, relatives, friends, and co-workers. The highest price is often paid by the addict’s wife or partner.

Another factor in the ripple effect is the strong connection between drug abuse and rate of crime. One of the reasons for this crime connection could be the need for money to buy drugs which in turn could tempt the person to resort to crime.

However, more often than not, violent crimes take place when people act under the influence of drugs in a way that they would not act when they are sober. Most of the time, these crimes happen within the family itself. Examples include addiction-related spousal and child abuse.

As alcohol consumption or excessive drug use progressively increases, it naturally takes away the quality time between the couple in a marriage. The emotional distance that is created between the couple is hard to get over. Many couples in such situations report frequent fights and arguments which sometimes turn violent and out of control.

This pattern can become a vicious cycle because after a serious fight the partner with the addiction issues could resort to using more of the addictive substances in an attempt to get away from facing the reality and to pacify stress.

In addition, the expenses related to the drug use go much beyond just their cost. For instance, overdoses, drug-related illnesses, traffic accidents are bound to happen that are directly or indirectly related to the drug abuse.

Families where one of the partners is addicted to drugs or alcohol usually find themselves in the difficult situation of a downward spiral that is out of their control. Luckily, there is hope. It is important to seek help if you or your partner is facing a problem with alcohol or drug abuse. There are proven treatment options to help the substance abuser rehabilitate, and strategies to help restore family relationships. Time is the essence, the earlier you take action the better.

There are lots of uses for crude oil in North America. There is the need in the transportation, commercial, residential and transportation sector.

Hence, it does not come as a surprise that we have more petroleum products than we used to have before. The surprising part is, the United States of America has a high need for these product, followed by China.

It would also interest you to know that, the three largest countries in North America are among the top ten oil nations which consume oil. These countries are the United States, Canada and Mexico.

On a daily basis, Americans consume around 20 million barrels of petroleum products, and this is more than the grand total of the European Union which is 15 barrels per day.

In 2018, Canada was 7^th, with just  above 2.2 million barrels on a daily basis, with the capita usage rate being very high. It was 64.4 barrels daily per 1000 people, and ranked ahead of the United States.

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According to the information released by the United States Energy Information Administration in 2017, around 14 million barrels of the total consumption of petroleum was used for transportation. The industrial sector was accountable for almost a quarter of the total.

The residential use accounted for 3%, the commercial sector had 2%, and the electrical power generation accounted for 1% of the entire consumption.

Also, with reference to the National Energy Board of Canada, the transportation sector is responsible for around two-thirds of the oil demands of Canada, and this is because of the absolute size of the nation, and the long distances which people and goods must transit between localities, alongside with the high number of vehicles used.

Furthermore, the industrial sector can be held accountable for around 30% of oil demand, and this includes oil and gas extraction, manufacturing, mining and agriculture.

To wrap it up, North Americans are implored to reduce the consumption of oil, because of the resultant effect which it has on the ozone layer.

How much driving is too much? How many hours, or how far is it safe to drive in one day? Though the true answer is extremely subjective, as some drivers can easily tolerate longer drives, while others are fatigued by the rigours of such trips, it is fair to assume objectively that most people drive too much – especially as they could be travelling in a more active and environmentally-friendly manner.

We are currently (pardon the atrocious pun) a rather driven society; as ever more people move into large cities and join the urban workforce, commute times are stretching due to poor and outdated roadways. Research shows that spending more than 2 hours on the road every day greatly influences to the driver’s health. An Australian study of nearly 40,000 people compared daily schedules and a handful of health factors and determined that, compared to non-drivers, those who spent 2 or more hours driving were nearly twice as likely to sleep poorly and over 75% more likely to be obese; regular drivers were also reported as over 40% more likely to rate their quality of life as poor and a third more likely to feel psychologically distressed; furthermore, they were more likely to smoke and to fall below the recommended level of weekly exercise.

It is clear that sitting continuously for hours at a time is bad for one’s health; additionally, such sedentary behaviour can be harmful to the brain as it can be less active after several hours at the wheel and given that the stress and fatigue can cause cognitive declines over time as we must constantly monitor our own vehicle and surroundings, but also be alert for hazards and obstacles in our path. Therefore, doing a checkup on your mental health is sometimes the best option to discover your mental health condition.

In addition to the physical stresses of sitting for long periods of time, and dealing with obstacles and other drivers, in our increasingly over-scheduled and hectic lives, we cannot afford idle time; and commute times are as good as wasted. Unless the driver is, as is far too common, multitasking at the wheel, leading to distracted drivers. Thankfully, many states are drafting laws to prevent distracted driving, such as the requirement for hands-free mobile phone use.

Another danger of excessive driving is from the harmful emissions and greenhouse gasses; while the latter impacts the environment and climate, the former can have a detrimental effect on the driver as well who is breathing in hundreds of gallons of pollution-laden air during their hour-long trips to and from their workplaces.

In the face of a looming global oil crisis, and given the effects of fossil fuel consumption on the environment, it falls to us to change our ways and develop alternative modes of transportation. We can certainly look toward the future and the latest scientific developments for new transportation methods; however, we can also look to the past – many so-called archaic modes of transportation would be perfectly acceptable in current times.

Of course, the easiest course is to walk whenever possible, or to use any other mode of active transportation: jogging, cycling, in-line skating, skateboarding or even skiing and snowshoeing in more northerly areas. Public transportation is an excellent alternative to driving private vehicles and many cities offer bus, subway, or light-rail in addition to ride-shares and taxis.

As more and more people move into city centres, it behoves us to establish more efficient means of moving people through heavily populated areas while minimizing traffic congestion and environmental impact. While converting to hybrid or electric cars will reduce the negative effects on the planet, a multi-passenger approach would be best to reduce the strain on roadways and shorten commute times for all. In cities originally designed for horse-powered travel, or car travel, development is limited by the city footprint; therefore, the best way to add new commuter systems to an existing infrastructure is to either tunnel below the city – adding subway tunnels or – or, following the lead of many European and Asian countries, expand skyward: monorails can be used for short travel on loops, urban cable systems (aerial cable cars similar to a ski lift) can be installed in business sectors, and personal rapid transit tracks allow small automated vehicles or pods to transport passengers along a guideway. For longer trips, to replace short-hop commuter flights, forward thinkers such as Elon Musk are developed Hyperloop systems where commuters would travel in pods through a network of high-speed tubes for excursions between urban centres.

Additionally, we could revisit rail travel for long-distance travel as electrified railways could be powered solely by clean and renewable energy sources. Freight shipping could also be handled by rail, or by waterways – once again reducing fuel consumption and relying on existing infrastructure and technologies.

Whether we choose to update older technologies for the new millennium, or create entirely new modes of modern transportation, we are limited by little more than our imaginations; at the turn of the previous century, airplane travel was deemed an impossible dream, and now hundreds of passengers can travel thousands of miles in a matter of hours.

Experts in the field forecast that the Earth’s crude oil reserves will last approximately 50 years at the current rate of extraction. The bigger concern, at the moment, is the probable difficulty of obtaining that oil; once all the easily accessible reserves are exhausted, we will be reliant on shale oil or deep-water drilling rigs – which both have the potential to wreak havoc on the planet.

But if North Americans were to limit their oil use, we could conserve the remaining supply for necessities and help to save the environment by reducing harmful emissions as well as leaving oil pockets undisturbed. The question, of course, is whether Americans can give up their creature comforts: quite a few States still rely on oil heating systems in older, less energy-efficient homes; in certain outlying areas, oil is still used to generate electricity; some industries use oil for process heating; though by far the worst perpetrator is the travel industry – and even though a small portion is used up by the freight industry (whether by land, sea, or air), the lion’s share of American oil consumption is employed for personal transportation.

Most households own multiple vehicles – both recreational and traditional. We drive massive gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, own classic cars or muscle cars, ATVs or motorcycles, and rarely carpool or use public transportation if we are of age to drive and can afford a vehicle. To North Americans, vehicles are more than a means of transportation – they are a status symbol, and a reflection of our personalities and success in life which means we want the biggest and the best. Unfortunately, though many luxury auto-makers like Porsche, Audi, Lexus, and Tesla are creating hybrid or electric cars and SUVs, there are no massive fuel-efficient SUVs or pickup trucks.

In order to end our oil addiction, we will have to change our consumer and image-focused mindset, trading in our high-consumption wheels for more environmentally-friendly alternatives such as electric cars, public transportation or even active transportation such as walking or cycling. We can further reduce our oil dependencies by making use of the vast network of railways already spread coast-to-coast for freight shipping and taking 18-wheelers out of circulation, which will have the additional advantage of reducing road damage caused by heavy trucks; and still more, if the railways were electrified, we could entirely eliminate the need for oil.

The possibilities exist and the strategies can be put into place to drastically reduce North American oil consumption and exploitation. The decisions are now in the hands of policymakers and consumers – do we care enough about the future of our planet to change our oil-reliant ways?

Given the multitude of uses for crude oil worldwide, in the transportation, industrial, commercial and residential sectors, it’s not surprising that we are using more petroleum products than ever before. What is also unsurprising is that the U.S.A tops all other countries – more than doubling second ranked China. In fact, North America’s largest three countries all appear in the worldwide top ten oil consuming nations; though our overall consumption has decreased slightly since it peaked in 2007, the United States, Canada and Mexico still have startlingly high rates of oil use.

Americans consume an average of approximately 20 million barrels of petroleum products daily, which is more than the European Union’s total usage of 15 million barrels per day. And while Canada ranked only 7th in 2018, at just over 2.2 million barrels per day, its per capita usage rate is quite high: in 2018, it was 64.4 barrels daily per 1000 people and ranked slightly ahead of the United States’ 61 barrels. Mexico ranked behind both with 2.075 million barrels per day overall and fell far behind their per capita amount with only 18 daily barrels per 1000 residents.

As per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2017, 14 million barrels – or 71% of Americans’ total petroleum consumption – was used daily for transportation. The industrial sector was responsible for nearly a quarter of the total, with residential use accounting for 3%, the commercial sector for 2% and electrical power generation for just 1% of the overall consumption.

According to the National Energy Board of Canada, the transportation sector accounts for approximately two-thirds of Canada’s oil demands; this can be attributed to the sheer size of the nation, and long distances that people and goods must travel between cities, combined with the high number of vehicles in use. Next, the industrial sector is responsible for nearly 30% of the oil demand – for mining, manufacturing, and oil and gas extraction; the commercial and agricultural industries collectively account for a tenth of the demand, while usage in the residential sector, primarily for heating and electricity, consumes a mere 2% of the overall amount.

It is incumbent upon North Americans to set an example for the rest of the planet by reducing our oil consumption as much as possible, and given all the alternative energy sources under development, there is no time like the present.