With the endless news coverage of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico lately, it got me wondering just how many barrels of oil are polluting the ocean each day compared to the amount of oil that enters the atmosphere from our gasoline consumption.
It turns out that the number of barrels of oil currently billowing into the Gulf from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is less than 1%* of the number of barrels of oil that the US consumes in the form of gasoline each day. America is up in arms about the Gulf Oil Disaster (as we should be), but this incident pales in comparison to the amount of pollution** that we release into our atmosphere every day from driving our cars and trucks.
The Gulf Spill will someday (hopefully soon) be capped, and the Gulf will recover in the months and years to come. However, the toxins, greenhouse gases, etc. that we are adding to our atmosphere continues, and the effects from global warming will be much more far reaching and a full recovery impossible to foresee in our lifetime.
(Visualization: Gary Strand, NCAR)
This little bit of knowledge has inspired me to try to be more green in my habits and actions. As a first step, I vow to take the bus to work more often. Using public transportation will add over an hour to my roundtrip commute time, but it will save me money on fuel and wear and tear on my vehicle, and hopefully be the beginning of a greener Tim.
*The BP oil spill is polluting the ocean with 60,000 barrels/day (current worst case estimate). Americans consume 9,000,000 barrels/day of motor gasoline.
