This post was brought to you by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers via sheblogs. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of CAPP.
Like many Canadians, there are a lot of things that I am guilty of taking for granted. The clothes on my back and a place to call home are just two of those things, and I recently learned about something else that I didn’t even know I was taking for granted, petroleum. Sure, I knew that my husband could drive to work every day because we have access to gasoline. I was aware that our lawn gets cut and our home is heated by gasoline. I knew that I could take flights and go on cruises because of it too but I never really thought of the real impact of that until today. What if it wasn’t available to us? For those few points alone, it is a vital part of our lives.
I live in a rural area and my husband must travel outside of that area to work. Without the gasoline for our van, he couldn’t earn a living. While we are fortunate to live in one of the more southern parts of Canada, we still cope with cold months and need heat to survive and gas to heat our water too. Clearly, we all rely on gasoline. Petroleum products go so far beyond gasoline. Here is a small list of items that are made from crude oil:
- Eye glasses
- Sneakers
- Computers
- Telephones
- Backpacks
- Cameras
- Laundry baskets
- Garbage bags
- Coffee pots
- Winter coats
- Hair brushes
- Shampoo
- Deodorant
- Tires
- Crayons
- Bed spreads
The list of items made by petroleum is in the thousands, but I chose these few items because they are just a few of the things that I consider essential in my life. My family uses these things daily and I can’t imagine not having access to them. It’s strange to realize that so many of our essentials are made from crude oil and I had no idea! There is quite a list of medical items also made from crude oil and many of them are essential to the well-being of my son and anyone else who is living with chronic illness. Syringes, anesthetic, inhalers and surgical tape are just a few of those items. I don’t want to think about the consequences of not having those items available to us.
Thankfully, Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world with 97% of those reserves in the Oil Sands. Our energy future lies in these Oil Sands that are found in 3 different deposits in Canada: The Athabasca, Peace River and the Cold Lake areas in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Our Oil Sands have the potential of over 100 years of production and could create over 800,000 jobs in the next 25 years. That could mean a much brighter future for our children, and the peace of mind that so many essential by-products of petroleum will continue to be manufactured.
For more information about the Oil Sands industry visit oilsandstoday.ca.
This post was brought to you by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers via sheblogs. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of CAPP.
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