Hunt down the products made from oil in your own home and you’ll see how totally dependent on oil we have become over the past 163 years.

The Oil Age Hunt

The Stone Age turned into the Iron Age when iron was discovered.

The Bronze Age came next as people learned how to make alloys – mixing together metals such as copper and brass. Now we live in the Oil Age. Since the first oil well was drilled in 1849, the cheap and abundant supply of oil has led to the creation of over 500,000 products that use oil as a feedstock. These include most plastics, synthetic or “manmade” fibres, fertilizers and pesticides.  Roads and asphalt shingles are made with oil.  Manufacturing a car uses about 85 barrels of oil.  Our food is grown with machines that run on oil, tractors, combines, etc.  Everything we use is transported by ships, trucks, planes and trains that run on oil. Hunt down the products that are made from oil in your own home. 

Is there Oil in your House? Start your Oil Age hunt

 Start your hunt by doing a walkabout outside your home.  Look around and make a list of everything on the house and in the garden made from oil (ie. most plastics).

Here are some examples: 

• Driveway
• Roof
• Porch
• Downspouts and eavestroughs
• Paint, stains, etc.
• Vinyl windows, shutters and doors
• Doorbell
• Light fixtures
• Mailbox
• Welcome mat
• Garbage bin
• Recycle boxes
• Planters
• Hoses
• Snow shovel
• Gardening implements
• Lawn and deck furniture
• Wading pools
• Bird feeders
• Astro turf

 Now go in your front door and continue your Oil Hunt list, using a separate heading for each room.  For example: 

Vestibule

• Flooring (vinyl, carpet of manmade fibres, etc.)
• Closet doors
• Hooks
• Clothes hangers
• Picture frames
• Planters and plant hangers
• Paint and stain
• Shoes and boots
• Clothing
• Telephone and cable lines

Living Room

• Entertainment centre (TV, VCR, DVD player, record player, video games player, etc.)
• VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs, audio tapes
• Drapes and blinds
• Flooring
• Carpets
• Sofas, armchairs (upholstery fabric, foam stuffing, etc.)
• Picture frames
• Clocks
• Switch and socket covers

Home Office

• Computer (PC, keyboard, mouse, mousepad, etc.)
• Diskettes
• CDs
• Scanner
• Printer
• Desk lamp
• Desk and chair
• Picture frames
• Pens, markers, highlighters, erasers
• Pen holders, etc.
• Three-ring binders
• Staplers
• Paper clips
• Clocks
• Power bars and extension cords
• Shelving
• Sticky tape

Bathroom

• Shower stall
• Bathtub and sink
• Flooring
• Vanity surface
• Containers for toiletries (e.g. shampoo bottles), cosmetics, cleaners, etc.
• Toothbrush and soap holders
• Toothpaste tube
• Shower tidies
• Bathmats
• Non-slip bathtub mat
• Towel rail and hooks
• Toilet bowl brush and holder
• Mirror and picture frames
• Nail brush
• Hair brush
• Hair dryer

Kitchen

• Vinyl flooring
• Utensils
• Fridge lining, drawers, etc.
• Ice cube trays
• Water bottles
• Containers for food, sauces, etc.
• Dishwasher lining and drawers
• Toaster
• Microwave
• Washing up bowl
• Disposable cutlery and plates
• Plastic containers
• Mixing bowls
• Plastic cups
• Countertop
• Plastic garbage and food bags
• Toothpicks
• Containers for cleaners
• Clock
• Smoke detector
• Scouring pads
• Fridge magnets

Bedrooms

• Flooring
• Paints and stains
• Cribs
• Changing tables
• Diaper bags
• Drapes
• Furniture
• Picture and mirror frames
• Closet doors
• Clothing and accessories
• Clothes hangers
• Shelving
• Alarm clock
• Radio
• Beads and bangles

Basement

• Storage bins
• Shelves
• Flooring
• Smoke detector
• Clothes pegs
• Clothes lines
• Winter boots and jackets

Other

• Camping equipment
• Sports equipment
• Photographic equipment
• Binoculars, telescopes
• Projectors
• Bicycle seats, tires, lights, reflectors, etc.
• Picnic items – cooler, hamper, etc.
• Power tools
• Hand tools
• Toys (hard and soft plastic, and stuffed animals)
• Backpacks
• Christmas lights, trees and ornaments

Car

• Tires
• Seats
• Dashboard
• Bumpers
• Side mirrors
• Inside of car – trim
• Car mats
• Containers of windshield washing liquid, oil, anti-freeze, etc.
• Flashlights and emergency lights
• Tools
• Light fixture covers
• Child safety seats

 You see? We really are Oil People living in the Oil Age!

[BTW, it's worth visiting this lesson plan just to see the cartoon...!]

Lesson plan objectives:

1. Create awareness for finite petroleum resources and the
   surging demand for fossil fuels by developing nations.
2. Define “Peak Oil” and “cheap oil” and provide clear information
   about why there are such differences of opinion about how
   long petroleum resources will last.
3. Create awareness for economic and cultural effects of
   reduced availability for “cheap oil.
4. Create understanding of the need to reduce fossil fuel
   comsumption and to develop alternative, sustainable fuels.
5. Generate critical thinking about ways in which our dependence
   on petroleum makes us vulnerable as a nation and as
   individuals.

Ann

The report can be downloaded here:
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/page.cfm?pagecode=PRFM#reports

(This article is from the Sydney Morning Herald)

Junk food link to mental illness
January 17, 2006

CHANGES in diet over the past 50 years appear to be an important factor
behind a significant rise in mental ill health, say two new British reports.

The Mental Health Foundation said yesterday that studies had clearly linked
attention deficit disorder, depression, Alzheimer's disease and
schizophrenia to junk food and the absence of essential fats, vitamins and
minerals in industrialised diets.

Another report, Changing Diets, Changing Minds, was also published yesterday
by Sustain, an organisation that campaigns for better food. It warns that
the British National Health Service's bill for mental illness will keep
rising unless the Government focuses on diet and the brain in its food,
farming, education and environment policies.

"Food can have an immediate and lasting effect on mental health and
behaviour because of the way it affects the structure and function of the
brain," the Sustain report says.

The chairman of Sustain, Tim Lang, said: "Mental health has been completely
neglected by those working on food policy. If we don't address it and change
the way we farm and fish, we may lose the means to prevent much diet-related
ill health."

Both reports outline the growing evidence linking poor diet to behavioural
problems. For example, the depression rate is higher in countries with low
intakes of fish, which contains several types of acids that are thought to
play an important role in the illness.

The Guardian