After oil had been discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859, a canny businessman realized its potential and began buying up the oil fields. John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil eventually owned almost all until trust busters broke up his Standard Oil Trust.
Meanwhile a clever inventor was interested in bringing the automobile, heretofore a rich man's toy, to the common man. So it was that Henry Ford's production line showed the world how it could be done. Of course, the automobile of the day, coughing and sputtering, might have had a similar effect on the people but it brought independent transportation and its convenience to the middle class. And John D. Rockefeller's oil fueled it.
Between
John D. and Henry and others like them in Europe and elsewhere, our
poor planet became a warming greenhouse as the gases generated by these cars,
and industrialization in general, rose to the atmosphere -- the effects
of which few if any had foreseen then.
People in the early days were to invent steam cars and electric cars also but the convenience of refueling at John D.'s gasoline stations left them trailing in the dust of Henry Ford's now lovingly named Tin Lizzie.
The
Second World War saw the use of oil and its derivatives in cars,
trucks, airplanes, ships and just about anything that could move. Oil
became a strategic commodity defended and fought for -- without oil,
armies came to a standstill. Romania fueled the axis powers and thus
became a target for the allies. The war in North Africa became a
struggle for control of the Suez Canal and access to oil from the Middle
East. The British controlled it; the Germans failed to wrest it.
If John D. (1939) and Henry (1947) had passed away, their companies were thriving, enriched further by the demands of war. Europe might be in shreds but America was whole and ready to supply its needs.
It
was a time of peace, and America to Europeans was a land of milk and
honey. Hard work was behind it though, and nothing displayed the
rewards of this toil than an automobile in the driveway -- the flashier
the better. As Americans became richer, the cars became more luxurious
and more convenient to drive: automatic transmission, power-assisted
brakes and steering, windows moving up and down at the touch of a
button, as could the soft top on convertibles and so on.
The
huge cars birthed a new name: gas guzzler. Both Detroit producing the
cars and the oil companies supplying the fuel became richer.
Greenhouse gases increased and could only go one way ... up ... coining
new expressions like global warming. Greenhouse is apt, for the sun's
rays come through but the heat generated cannot escape as easily as it
would without the gas shield.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
