The True Cost of Oil

After reading and watching the article and Tedtalk video, I became much more aware of oil’s impact on the environment. Building a long oil pipeline from Canada to Texas is a very bad idea. Is America in that great of a need for resources that we must transcend boundaries which are both physical, and ethical? Both resources gave a very different perspective of the same issue. In the Tedtak video, speaker Garth Lenz focused more on the environmental aspect of the oil pipeline, while the article centered on the political side of the oil pipeline installation. The Tedtalk video was also more personal, as it featured small anecdotes of Mr. Lenz’s journey through Canada and how the oil affected families. But, the big question I gained from both the article and video, is how is America going to change, as the climate does as well? The big problem with the gigantic oil pipeline is how it can eventually alter the environment. America’s infrastructures are at great risk to the effects of climate change. I believe that in the future, there will be shifts in infrastructural investments. If we continue to harm the environment with the implementation of oil pipelines like the one today, then there will no longer be a need to go “green”, our attention will need to shift to more efficient buildings that address inevitable climate change, but only if our blatant neglect of our resources such as oil continues.