The oil spill off the Louisiana shore is exacting a huge toll on the environment. Another thread is being pulled from the grand tapestry of life and, no matter how distant, it affects us all. Fingers are being pointed in plenty of directions, but how many of us take personal responsibility for the disaster? We have all contributed.

We’ve grown up in a society based on the oil standard. It’s so ingrained in our culture that we barely give it a thought. Yet at this point in time, we are utterly dependent on oil for almost everything we take for granted in modern life, either directly or indirectly. Here in the southwest, we don’t use fuel oil for heating our homes, but most of our communities are designed around the fact that nearly everyone has (or needs) a car. Thus, even our homes are at least indirectly responsible for our rapacious appetite for oil.

Continue reading Ending Our Addiction to Oil.