KNOWvember: Day TWenty-Four - OIL, yes, Oil.

​​It’s KNOWvember and its 82 degrees as I write this post. It should be cooler, but it’s not. The weather, as most scientist have been saying my entire life, is changing. I say that because instead of calling it Global Warming to get people’s attention, some politicians decided it might sell better if we call the alarming shifts as nothing more than Climate Change.

This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone, but the biggest culprit on the planet is the human being. From the cars we drive, the electricity we consume and the food we eat, the natural resources we are depleting from the ground are affecting the air above. Thus, one might argue the second biggest culprit destroying our planet is the oil we extract from it.

Until we create something better than this crude product, there’s no point in demanding a radical stop in production. It would be impossible in fact because the world has grown addicted to oil. The drug-dealers who peddle it know it and get rich off it.

​On one hand, it’s utterly disgusting what we are allowing petroleum corporations to do. But on the other hand, their product is used very soundly. Oil spills aside (and they are a massive ecological enemy), not a drop of oil is wasted from the barrel.
 
Fossil fuels are woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. More than just putting oil and gas in our cars, crude is also converted into numerous petroleum products, which includes the clothing we wear and personal hygiene goods that we use on a daily basis.
 
It is true, that burning fossil fuel accounts for two-thirds of all greenhouse gases  trapping the heat in our atmosphere (umm... global warming not climate change). While 75% of a barrel of crude oil is processed into gas for our cars, distillate fuel and jet fuel, the other 25% is used to process chemicals, synthetic rubber, and a variety of plastics used to manufacture our creature comforts.  It’s good to know that nothing goes to waste. But sadly, out of all the products made with oil, most get thrown into the landfills.

​Here are just a few everyday things made from a barrel of crude oil:

Aspirin – consists of benzene, a hydrocarbon typically derived from petroleum. If calling global warming “climate change” gives you a headache, oil to the rescue!

Chewing gum – is manufactured with petroleum wax. Which might explain why gum squeaks sometimes.

Food – oil also makes paraffin wax which is used to coat cheese, raw fruits, and vegetables. Doesn’t that make you want to lick your lips. Speaking of which...

Lipstick – most lipsticks, are made with paraffin wax because of its adhesiveness. Although it needs to constantly be reapplied, lipstick does stick to the collar. Speaking of which...

Clothing – did you know 60% of clothing worldwide is made with polyester, a synthetic petroleum fiber? If so, did you know polyester is not biodegradable? Which might explain why we still have polyester clothes leftover from the 70’s.​

Shampoo – while the shampoo bottle is a petrochemical product, there’s a new product called dry shampoo that uses liquified petroleum gas to spray the cosmetic into dry hair. Don’t get too close to an open flame or you’ll wind up looking like me.
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Toothpaste – open your mouth and say “What?” Your toothpaste uses poloxamer 407, a common petroleum derivative that helps oil-based ingredients to be dissolved in water.

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Of course there are other kinds of oils out there as well. I cook with olive oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil and occasionally vegetable oil. There is also torch oil, teak oil, lemon oil, and so on. It’s like if you can grow it, build it, or chop it down, it can be turned into an oil. Except babies. Although the name is confusing, Baby Oil in fact is not made from babies (apparently, neither is baby powder). All these oils are more helpful than harmful. But not all plant based oils can say that.
 
Palm oil, which over the last few decades has enjoyed some worldwide fame as it quietly works its way into our daily lives. You might know about palm oil, but did you know the devastation it has had on communities and ecosystems around the world? “Iconic animals such as the orangutan now teeter on the brink of extinction; fires lit to clear the way for plantations spew carbon emissions to rival those of industrialized nations.”  

​Here’s some products that we have in our homes that aid to deforestation and pollution:
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Palm oil ​ holds color well, doesn’t melt at high temperatures, has a smooth application, and virtually no taste. Like petroleum paraffin, it’s used for lipstick and other cosmetics. 
 
Palm oil is added to both frozen and fresh pizza dough to stop it from sticking together and to enhance texture. It’s also found in packaged bread because it helps maintain shelf-life.
 
Palm oil  is used to precook instant noodles, “so all you have to do is add hot water.” 
 
Palm oil  is a conditioning agent in shampoo because it has a neutral smell; it’s often listed as sodium laureth sulfate.
 
Palm oil is found in most commercial ice cream brands. It gives Breyer’s and Haagen-Dazs their smooth and creamy texture.

Palm oil provides the foaming agent in soaps, laundry powder, and other cleaning products. It is especially prolific in soaps because of its ability to remove oil and dirt from hair and skin while moisturizing.
 
Palm oil ​is present in many dairy-free cheese products and vegan foods. As hard as they try, plant-based alternatives are not without their own harm on the environment. 
 
Palm oil when refined becomes an odorless, flavorless, and all but invisible substance, processed-food manufacturers had come to rely on it for replacing the more expensive butter and lard, while providing texture and shelf life to their growing lines of cookies, crackers, and other baked goods.
 
(Fun fact: While researching for their Bronze Award, two Ann Arbor eight-grade Girl Scouts learned that the famous Girl Scout Thin Mints and Tagalongs were made with palm oil that was being processed from an area that had previously been an orangutan habitat.)

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Then there is corn oil, which you probably know is use is in cooking because it has a high smoke point; making it an ideal and cost-effective way to fry foods. But it is also used for making biodiesels, as well as soap, salves, paint, erasers, rustproofing, inks, textiles, insecticides, and nitroglycerin. It is sometimes used as a carrier for drug molecules in preparing pharmaceuticals. It’s also found in cosmetic powders, candles, dyes, lubricants, insulation, and yes, wallpaper.

No wonder some fact checker at Reuters remarked, “Corn is sometimes referred to as "yellow gold" because it is used to make so many products and byproducts that end up throughout the economy from food store shelves to gas pumps to industrial chemical plants.”

Here are a few facts that are worth noting about corn oil:
 
The United States produces 40 percent of the world's corn supplies and accounts for more than half of world corn exports.
 
About 85 percent of the 2010 U.S. corn crop of 13 billion bushels at 56 lbs per bushel will be used for food, animal feed and a myriad of industrial product uses.
 
Corn Oil is used int the fermentation products and byproducts -- industrial alcohols, fuel ethanol, recyclable plastics, industrial enzymes, fuel octane enhancers, fuel oxygenates and solvents.
 
 
 
https://thenewpress.com/blog/15-palm-oil-products-you-probably-have-your-home
https://www.kcet.org/shows/earth-focus/10-everyday-products-derived-from-petroleum
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSTRE68S4Y220100929
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_oil
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