Decreasing Demand

Fairly soon in the near future, our demand for fossil fuels will exceed our supply. America currently depends on the Middle East for much of our supply. So does China. What happens when this supply begins to thin out? Demand isn’t going anywhere, but what can we say for the supply? If anything, demand is going to steadily rise because there are going to be more people on the earth in the near future.

                One way we can limit our demand for fossil fuels is to stop driving all together. Instead of your morning commute in your car, why not take the bus? If more people relied on public transportation, I could see the demand for fossil fuels go down a bit. Portland, OR is famous for it’s biking community. What if more people decided to ride their bikes to work, instead of driving? Of course this may force you to change your living situation. You may have to move closer to your work. Although this may be a big change for you, it would make the environment much better because of this change you can implement.

                Another way we can limit our demand for fossil fuels is to boycott materials and products that are made from petroleum. This may mean not buying that new laptop, or buying organic fruit instead of the generic brand. This may mean that you do not purchase new clothes that were made with petroleum. Perhaps you could buy your clothes second hand at thrift stores such as Goodwill or Salvation Army. This would certainly help us decrease the demand for petroleum and fossil fuels.

                Look around your own household. How many of the products you own were made with petroleum? These are just a couple of my ideas on how we can decrease the demand for petroleum. What are ways that you think would be effective in decreasing the demand? I don’t have all the answers, but I’m hoping you may be able to come up with some as well. Boycotting can be effective only if it is done on a large enough scale. So I challenge you to think about products you use and ask yourself if you really need that product.

References

Droitsch, Danielle. "Key to U.S. energy security is decreasing oil demand, not increasing oilsands supply." Pembina Institute. (2011): 1-5. Print. <http://www.pembina.org/blog/515>.