Christina Vrooman - Revisions to Portfolio 3
From Drmills
e-mail contribution:
I received this e-mail today and don't know what to think about it. I don't doubt the truth of the consumer tips Bob Kroon has to offer, but I'm confused about the difference between Saudi gasoline and other types. I didn't know oil companies could purchase it anywhere else... I wonder if it would really make a difference if we all decided to boycott Saudi oil. Is it possible to create change via viral e-mails? What do you think?
) Christy Vrooman
Folks - Gasoline prices are starting to get tougher to deal with for many people. Our friend and commentary colleague, Bob Kroon, offers the following for us all to consider.
Joe _____________________
I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon..
Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.
Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.
A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.
Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.
DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!
WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON
Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.
An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.
Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.
Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.
I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.
These companies import Middle Eastern oil: Shell...............................205,742,000 barrels Chevron/Texaco................144,332,000 barrels Exxon /Mobil.....................130,082,000 barrels Marathon/Speedway... ......117,740,000 barrels Amoco..............................62,231,000 barrels
Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $90/barrel, these imports amount to over $54 BILLION! (oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco..................0 barrels Conoco..................0 barrels Sinclair..................0 barrels BP/Phillips...............0 barrels Hess......................0 barrels ARC0.....................0 barrels
If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near you. All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do. Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers ! And, so on. Cvrooman 17:04, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
blog contribution:
I've been getting more and more depressed about our situation lately- attending class doesn't help very much. The concern, fear and anger I experience in class now translate to all parts of my daily life. I end up feeling upset each time I'm in traffic or any similar situation that remind me of just how crazy life in the 21st century really is. I can't imagine being forced to absorb more mind pollution, or dealing with more stress. Tackling a lion is one thing, but finishing a book wiki assignment while juggling work, other classes, and the knowledge of humanity's likely doom is wretched.
On a more positive note, there are plans for a new city within Abu Dhabi - MASDAR. Sounds too good to be true... is it? A sustainable city in the desert? It is a desert, right? Anyway, if it does work out, I wouldn't mind being a part of the 45,700 people who get to live there. If you're interested in a cool video with music like something from the Matrix or Resident Evil, check out:
[n][n] Cvrooman 17:04, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
book wiki contribution:
Sustainable Consumption
The sustainability of consumption can be determined by whether or not, "our present actions sacrifice the ability for future generations to meet their needs"(Population and Development Review, 1997). Currently, the world's rate of consumption does not fit this criteria, and is not sustainable. In other words, "present consumption- or rather, excessive and wasteful consumption - by rich communities cannot be sustained, if only for environmental reasons."(Myers, 1997). This means that our current lifestyles are ensuring the inability of future generations to succeed. This fact is drawn from a complicated situation that involves the interaction of human behavior and the environment's response to that behavior. The first problem of sustainability lies in the fact that everything we make essentially requires natural resources, yet we live on a planet with only a finite number of resources. For example, only so much oil can be extracted from the ground to be transformed to energy for human use. Also, there is only a certain percentage of forestry that can be used for lumber before all forests are gone. The planet does have the ability to regenerate resources, but not at the rate at which we currently use those resources.
Comic illustrating overconsumption:
An excellent video that clearly presents the problem in simple terms can be found at: http://thoughtware.tv/videos/show/1198. The rate we use resources is directly influenced by overpopulation, which, for the intents and purposes of this article, refers to the point at which humanity has exceeded the carrying capacity of the earth. Overpopulation complicates the situaiton significantly. The growing population adds more pressure on the environment. It is responsible for the increasing need of arable land, water and energy. The way we acquire these needs is detrimental to the health of the biosphere. In their essay, Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Determinants of Green Purchases by Swiss Consumers, Tanner and Kast explain, "Research has demonstrated that processes involved throughout the entire life cycle of food products, from production to consumption, contribute to emissions of greenhouse gases, farmland erosion, excess sewage, avoidable waste, and loss of species"(Tanner, Kast, 2003). Here, just providing the current human population with enough food causes incalculable damage to the environment. Unfortunately, that's only the beginning of the trouble. The major contributor to environmental degredation involves the wasteful way in which we consume. Poor consumption practices are plaguing corporations and individuals alike. For example, the environmentally detrimental and irreversible loss of animal and plant species "is due to encroaching human settlements, unsustainable resource extraction by logging, mining, and other corporations, and environmentally harmful trade practices"(Sierra Club, 2008).
In the early 20th century, Sigmund Freud's ideas about human cognition were exploited by corporations to turn the average citizen into what can be considered a consumer machine. Within the corporation, "management skills [were] narrowly focused on raising sales and profits"(Fisk, 1973). As a result of hugely successful marketing that promised the fulfillment of one's desires through the purchase of a specific product, the average citizen began to measure their worth in what they owned or could own. Evidence of this lies in the fact that since the mid-1950's, the United States has seen "near-doublings in both gross national product and personal consumption expenditures per capita"(Jackson, 2006). Here, consumer spending skyrocketed and has been unstoppable ever since. As a result of the manipulation of consumer attitudes, people are now buying, using and disposing of more products than ever before. We are now at the point where this "irresponsible resource use from high level mass consumption as in the U.S. must be curbed if an incipient human population crash is to be averted."(Fisk, 1973). To see a more detailed and thorough introduction to this history, visit BBC's documentary, The Century of the Self, at http://youtube.com/watch?v=D_0g1RUQMVQ. Eventually, the same corporations that initiated current mass consumption trends, "must learn to live with ecologically responsible consumption and urge people to use appropriate products and appropriate production, distribution and promotion strategies"(Shrivastava,1995).
Comic illustrating cognitive exploitation: 
At this point in time, there are many more problems to face than solutions to address them. However, many people are putting their efforts towards building a sustainable society through responsible consumption. Most of the literature on the topic stresses the role of the consumer whose "choices have the potential to solve many environmental problems" (Paavola, 2001). Possible solutions range from a consumption tax on luxury goods to consumer advertising programs that discourage unsustainable consumption. However, the biggest change must first take place in the attitude of the consumer. It is essential that consumers acquire positive attitudes toward environmental protection, fair trade and local products. The consumer, "whose actions and demands can be powerful signals to the retailers and manufacturers" must make value judgements that are not based in monetary terms (Tanner, Kast, 2003). At the heart of sustainable consumption lies the practice of individual responsibility and the attitude that change is necessary to build a more pleasant future. Cvrooman 19:54, 15 March 2008 (EDT)
External links
The Century of the Self - BBC Documentary - http://youtube.com/watch?v=D_0g1RUQMVQ
Guide to Responsible Consumption - http://youtube.com/watch?v=rbnCgtsvvNg
The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need - http://youtube.com/watch?v=_nk2_rk0FLw&feature=related
The Story of Stuff - http://thoughtware.tv/videos/show/1198
References
Fisk, G. (1973). Criteria for a theory of responsible consumption. Journal of Marketing, 37, 2, 24-31. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Jackson, T. (2006). The earthscan reader on sustainable consumption. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from http://books.google.com/books?id=xVnZpRhIm94C&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=self+worth+consumption++&source=web&ots=QslUv3uPek&sig=aaE52dFZbLoklI22WOPLXBT7ld4&hl=en#PPP1,M1
Paavola, J. (2001). Towards sustainable consumption: Economics and ethical concerns for the environment in consumer choices. Review of Social Economy, 59, 2, 227-248. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
The Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences on Sustainable Consumption. (1997). Population and Development Review, 23, 3, 683-686. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Shrivastava, P. (1995). The role of corporations in achieving ecological sustainability. The Academy of Management Review, 20, 4, 936-960. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Sierra Club. (2008). Global population and environment: Consumption factsheet. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from http://www.sierraclub.org/population/reports/consumption.asp
Tanner, C., Kast, S. W. (2003). Promoting sustainable consumption: determinants of green purchases by swiss consumers. Psychology and Marketing, 20, 10, 883-902. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
Vincent, J.R., Panayotou, T., Myers, N. (1997). ...Or distraction? Science, 276, 5309, 55-57. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
