This summer I’ve waited for the opening of the movie Eat, Pray, Love with an anticipation that is a bit different from my hope that Congress would find effective strategies to address climate change. The difference? I don’t think I’ll be disappointed with the movie’s ending.

I’m a Christian, an environmentalist, an academic, and a pop-culture junkie. And I think the three verbs in the movie’s title – eat, pray, love – may provide direction for the thousands of believers from diverse faith traditions who advocated for a religious response to global warming in three stories that unfolded this summer.

Despite sincere prayer and informed lobbying, people of faith have watched: (1) the Senate’s inability to tackle the real problem of climate change (2) the lack of progress at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and (3) the failure of the oil spill along the Gulf Coast to create a national demand for alternative energy sources.

Given that the United States imports 68% of its oil, couldn’t this disaster propel a call for more sustainable policies and practices? And if not, what are the next steps for people of faith whose religious beliefs motivate their environmental actions?

In an essay entitled, “Jesus and the Climate Bill,” the Rev. Peter Sawtell, executive director of Eco-Justice Ministries, describes the Senate’s failure to provide leadership around climate change as “genuinely sinful.” In the face of his own frustration, Sawtell turns to Scripture.

In Luke 17:3, Jesus calls us to rebuke the offender (hold legislators accountable) and if there is repentance, forgive. In Mark 6:11, Jesus says that if any place refuses to hear you, “shake off the dust that is on your feet” and essentially, go elsewhere.

And this is where Julia Roberts comes in. In the movie, she goes elsewhere. She leaves the frustrations of her personal life and a divisive marriage (read Congress) for an epic spiritual journey.Congregations across the country are living these three verbs – eat, pray, love – without traveling to Italy, India, or Indonesia. They are creating bold acts of redemption to address global warming in ways their parishioners can understand: how climate change affects the people and places they love. Their examples provide signposts for how our collective acts in the trenches can generate a momentum that transcends the actions of individuals or inaction of legislative bodies.

Eat Congregations literally feed people with bread and serve millions of meals to people in need each week. The metaphor of eating also calls us to ask what feeds and sustains us as believers. At All People’s Church in inner-city Milwaukee, Wis., the back of the sanctuary becomes a free farmer’s market each Sunday, with organic vegetables grown by youth of the church. Across the country, St. John’s United Lutheran Church in Seattle, Wash. has integrated care of creation into a church garden, energy-efficient buildings, sermons, and the Sunday school curriculum. People of faith can practice sustainable eating in community and integrate place into a life of prayer.

Pray Prayer provides stillness that can connect us with God’s creation. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico precipitated a groundswell of prayer vigils from Pensacola, Fla. to Newark, N.J. In its climate justice tours, North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light integrates prayer into educational journeys for congregations to learn about the relationship between energy production and climate change. Congregations can use contemplation as a strategy that inspires reflection and action to reduce our carbon footprint.

Love Loving our neighbor as ourselves stirs believers to care for creation. The organization GreenFaith focuses on environmental actions such as promoting energy-efficiency in low-income homes, green jobs, and solar panels on sanctuaries. In Washington State, Earth Ministry is bringing interfaith religious leaders and legislators together in a campaign to transition the state from coal to clean energy by 2015. Communities of the faithful can model this belief in love and justice by protecting healthy environments for all. These local, state, and regional efforts may be one practical alternative to our current reality of stalled federal leadership and international agreement on effective approaches to reduce global carbon emissions. Global warming has created common ground for Jews, Evangelicals, Muslims, Lutherans, Baptists, and Roman Catholics. Our diverse religious traditions provide the structure of intentional community, a shared moral imperative, forgiveness and redemption, and most importantly, hope in things not seen.

In the trailer for the movie, Julia Roberts tells her boss she is leaving her job for a journey: “I want to go where I can marvel at something.” The end to our own story can inspire awe, rather than disappointment. Follow the conversion of congregations across the country to address climate change. Eat. Pray. Love.

This article was originally published Aug. 10, 2010 in USA Today.

An ozone machine is one of the most aggressively marketed types of air purifiers. The supposed benefits of using it are:

1) It doesn’t require a fan to operate, so it is silent.

2) It produces ozone that actively searches for any pollutants and then destroys them.

3) Ozone air purifiers can fight dust, allergens, bacteria, gases, odors… simply everything that lowers the quality of the air we breathe.

Until now we’ve had to rely on multi-filter systems and even then we often felt disappointed. Everything has changed with the coming of an ozone machine – an ultimate solution to all the air purifying problems! Does it sound interesting?

Scam warning!

It sure does. The only problem is that a huge percentage of the information about ozone air purifiers isn’t true. Not exaggerated, not overenthusiastic – just plainly wrong. Sadly, ozone machine manufacturers prey on misinformed and trusting consumers.

That is bad enough, but the real problem is that an ozone purifier is often a harmful or even life-threatening device that emits a toxic gas into the air we breathe.

What is ozone and what does it do?

Basically, ozone is a highly reactive form of oxygen. It naturally exists in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere where it does an excellent job of keeping the deadly UV rays away. It doesn’t however, exist naturally near the planet’s surface, though small quantities of ozone are created during lighting strikes and near high-voltage electrical devices.

But what’s so wrong with producing ozone? Since ozone is such a highly reactive particle, it oxidizes almost everything it touches. Because of this quality it is very useful for eliminating unpleasant odors, replacing them with its own, distinctive smell.

Unfortunately, it can go on to harm living creatures – not only bacteria or germs, as it is claimed, but all living tissue. Since it oxidizes, or incinerates, unpleasant odors and other particles, it is obvious that it can also oxidize all life forms, not just select ones.

What fans of ozone technology don’t tell us is how the ozone knows to strike bacteria only and not our lungs! Obviously, since it’s a machine, it can’t make these kinds of distinctions.

An ozone purifier run at low output does virtually nothing. However if you try to increase the ozone production level, you will endanger your throat and lungs.

Good ozone/bad ozone:

Because none of the above information is secret, many ozone machine advertisements employ another strategy: they agree with most of the arguments, but they try to convince us that the detriments are a result of “bad ozone” while their products create “good ozone”. The problem is that the ozone they produce is basically the same as every other kind of ozone – O3 is a very basic particle and there is nothing you can really do to change its basic chemical properties. Either an ozone air purifier produces highly reactive (dangerous) ozone or it produces some less reactive gas (safe, but useless). The only less reactive and really safe version of ozone is O2 – the oxygen we breath all the time.

Will you choose ozone technology?

Ozone is heavily used in industry because it is genuinely good at destroying live bacteria. However, industry runs these machines at night or when the industrial area is unoccupied by humans. Take note of this information before choosing a home ozone machine that will run when you and your family members are present. Forewarned is forearmed.

Petroleum

Petroleum dominated the economy throughout the twentieth century. In 1989 the petroleum industry provided almost 13 percent of the GDP, 51 percent of government revenues, and 81 percent of exports. Before the sharp drop in international oil prices in the 1980s, these ratios were considerably higher. From 1929 to 1970, the year of the country’s peak production, Venezuela was the world’s largest exporter of petroleum. In 1990 the country ranked as the third leading oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia and Iran, and contained at least 7 percent of proven world oil reserves.

The country’s national petroleum company, the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.–PDVSA), the third largest international oil conglomerate, owned refineries and service stations in North America and Europe. Although Venezuela was only the third largest petroleum producer in the Western Hemisphere, behind the United States and Mexico, its proven reserves, at 58.5 billion barrels in 1989, exceeded those of both countries. Venezuela exported 54 percent of its petroleum to the United States in 1988, representing about 8 percent of American petroleum imports.

The first commercial drilling of petroleum in Venezuela took place in 1917. After World War I, British and American multinational oil companies rushed to Lago de Maracaibo to tap the country’s huge petroleum reserves. Oil jumped from 31 percent of exports to 91 percent from 1924 to 1934. The industry proved extremely lucrative to the scores of foreign companies that drilled Venezuelan crude because of the country’s low wages and nominal taxes, policies supported by corrupt relations between foreign oil companies and various military dictatorships.

In the forty-year period after the death of Juan Vicente Gómez in 1935, the government and foreign oil companies engaged in a tug-of-war over taxation, regulation, and, ultimately, ownership. Although Venezuela reaped substantially greater benefits from its generous oil endowment after 1943, corruption and deceit on the part of the foreign companies and avaricious caudillos such as Pérez Jiménez still limited the national benefits of the industry. By the early 1970s, the possible nationalization of the oil industry became the focus of debate among labor, businesses, professionals, government, and the public at large. Aware of the conflicts and subsequent difficulties of Mexico’s sudden, dramatic nationalization of the entire oil industry in the 1930s, Venezuela pursued its acquisition of the petroleum sector cautiously and deliberately. In December 1974, a national commission created by President Pérez delivered a proposal for nationalization. This proposal formed the core of the 1975 law that nationalized the oil industry. The most controversial element of the new law was Article 5, which gave the government the authority to contract out to multinational firms for various technical services and marketing. Despite the controversy, Article 5 provided technical expertise that proved crucial to the industry’s smooth transition to state control beginning on January 1, 1976.

In 1977 the government created a holding company, PDVSA, to serve as the umbrella organization for four major petroleum- producing affiliates. This process consolidated the holdings of fourteen foreign companies and one national company, the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (Corporación Venezolana de Petróleos–CVP), into four competing and largely autonomous subsidiaries. Industry analysts have credited the competitive structure of the subsidiaries with increasing overall efficiency to levels well above those of most nationalized companies. The largest subsidiary of PDVSA was Lagoven, which was composed mainly of the facilities previously operated by the United States oil company Exxon. Lagoven accounted for 40 percent of national output in 1976. From the holdings of British and Dutch Shell, PDVSA created a subsidiary called Maraven. Four smaller United States companies became Meneven. Finally, PDVSA consolidated six smaller foreign firms and the state oil company into Corpoven.

A slump in world oil prices beginning in 1981 rolled back the substantial revenues acquired, and largely squandered, during the 1970s. The symbolic end of PDVSA’s prosperity came in 1982, when the Central Bank of Venezuela seized US billion of the oil company’s earnings to help offset the country’s growing external debt problems. This action effectively eliminated PDVSA’s autonomy. After oil prices dropped nearly 50 percent in 1986, the government accelerated industrial diversification programs in specialized petroleum refining, natural gas, petrochemicals, and mining, and also stepped up oil exploration efforts.

Exploration remained a major focus of PDVSA activities in the 1980s. At the time of nationalization in 1976, exploration efforts had come to a near standstill. Little exploratory activity took place during the 1960s and 1970s because the Venezuelan government did not grant any new oil concessions after 1958 and most foreign oil companies anticipated eventual nationalization. Although financial constraints slowed the pace of exploratory drilling in the 1980s, major new finds of light, medium, and heavy crude by 1986 nearly doubled proven reserves.

The country’s 1989 oil reserves were expected to last for at least ninety-three years at prevailing rates of extraction. The Orinoco heavy oil belt accounted for 45 percent of proven reserves in 1989, followed by the Maracaibo region with 32 percent, the eastern Venezuelan basin with 22 percent, and 1 percent in other areas. Only a small fraction of the Orinoco’s total heavy oil deposits, however, were routinely included in estimates of total proven reserves because of the cost and difficulty of extraction. Some estimates of total recoverable heavy crude reserves ran as high as 190 to 200 billion barrels.

PDVSA’s early exploration strategy emphasized heavy crude, but by the 1980s the company’s efforts shifted toward more valuable light and medium grades. This approach proved successful, as major new discoveries were made in the Lago de Maracaibo area, the Apure-Barinas Basin in southwest Venezuela near the Colombian border, and in the eastern Venezuelan basin in the El Furrial/Musipán area in the state of Monagas. Encouraged by its finds in the mid-1980s, PDVSA launched further drilling operations in the late 1980s, with the goal of adding 14.4 billion barrels of light and medium crude to its proven reserves by 1993. In addition to its land-based drilling, PDVSA established an increasing number of offshore rigs. The Venezuelans also explored off the coast of Aruba and had discussed with the governments of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guatemala the prospects of exploratory drilling.

PDVSA not only extracted crude oil, but also refined and distributed a wide variety of petroleum products. In 1988 six active refineries in Venezuela boasted an installed refining capacity of approximately 1.2 million barrels of oil a day. These refineries produced a full range of oil products and specialty fuels, making Venezuela an international leader in petroleum refining. PDVSA increased the percentage of locally refined crude from 35 percent to 58 percent between 1979 and 1988. In 1988 the country for the first time exported more refined petroleum than crude. PDVSA diversified its production during the 1980s, increasing the share of petroleum products that fell outside OPEC quotas until the late 1980s, in an effort to enhance price stability and boost profits. Orinoco Asphalt (Bitúmenes del Orinoco), a PDVSA subsidiary, began preliminary shipments in the late 1980s of orimulsión, a uniquely Venezuelan synthetic fuel derived from Orinoco heavy crude, water, and chemical additives. PDVSA hoped to export increasing quantities of orimulsión, outside OPEC quotas, to Canada and Europe as a substitute for coal or fuel oils used by electric power stations.

From 1983 to 1989, PDVSA acquired overseas refining capacity from at least five multinational oil conglomerates, either through production contracts or outright purchases. For example, in 1983 PDVSA bought a 50 percent share of the West GermanApple LaserWriter Plus/IINT/IINTXAPLASPLU.PRSthe Swedish lubricant and asphalt producer, Nynas. Beginning in 1986, PDVSA entered the United States oil market by purchasing United States oil firms, refineries, and retail outlets previously held by Citgo, Champlin, and Unocal. PDVSA’s overseas refining capacity exceeded 700,000 barrels per day by the close of the decade. By 1990, therefore, PDVSA had the capability to refine nearly all of its crude oil production, either at home or at Venezuelan-owned facilities overseas. Moreover, with PDVSA’s purchase of Citgo in 1989, Venezuela became the first OPEC member to wholly own a major United States oil refinery.

The United States has consistently been Venezuela’s leading oil export recipient. During the 1980s, however, PDVSA increased its exports to Central America and the Caribbean. In 1980 Venezuela and Mexico embarked on a joint program called the San José Accord, under which the two oil producers exported oil to many countries of the Caribbean Basin region at concessionary rates. The accord set up a system of compensatory finance and purchases of Venezuelan goods in exchange for crude that amounted to a 20 percent discount on the world market price.

Ozone is a toxic gas. And as of 2009 the state of California has banned the production of air purifiers that emit any ozone. And yet air filtration systems that produce ozone continue to be manufactured.

Here are 5 pieces of information that will help you decide for yourself whether to expose you and your family to any level of ozone.Not Effective in Removing Pollutants-If you are searching for an air purifier to improve your indoor air quality, you obviously want a technology that is effective in removing airborne particulates, odors and gasses that function as triggers for allergy and asthma. Or perhaps you want to give you and your family every advantage towards a healthier a life style. These are all reasons to avoid ozone air purifiers.Numerous studies have found that ozone not only is inept at eliminating airborne chemicals such as formaldehyde and other volatile organic chemicals, but produces unhealthy by-products caused by the reaction that occurs between ozone and the very chemicals you are trying to eliminate. So instead of clearing the air, it adds to the problem in a big way.By itself, ozone also does not remove common allergy and asthma triggers such as household dust, dust mites, mold and mildew spores, or smoke without the help of an ionizer. And even with an ionizer included, this technology has still been shown to be less effective than high efficiency particle arresting (HEPA) technology.Damaging to Your Lungs-Ozone is non-specific as to where these chemical reactions can occur. So it is just as likely to react to organic substances inside the body, again producing harmful by-products that can exacerbate existing respiratory problems, and cause a decrease in your lungs ability to function, an inflammation of the soft tissue of the lungs, and a decrease in your body’s ability to fight off disease and infection.Damaging to Children and Pets-And if you still think the risk is worth it, think of your children and pets. Children’s respiratory systems are fragile and far less able to handle the potential side effects, and damage that can result from long term exposure to ozone and from the by-products it can produce. In addition, using this technology in your home gives your pets the most exposure to it as, for most pet owners, pets are home all the time.

Birds, whose respiratory systems are far more sensitive than humans, are particularly at risk, and the effects of ozone can not only be damaging for them, but fatal. And while you know when you’re not feeling well, children can not always articulate how they’re feeling, and of course pets are simply at our mercy.Physical Discomfort-All of us probably go out of our way to avoid pain. But using this technology can cause just that in ways you probably would not attribute to ozone.

Chest pain, difficulty in breathing, discomfort when exercising, sore throat, coughing, and increased discomfort for those with existing respiratory conditions are only a few of the effects that prolonged exposure to this gas can have.Damaging to the Environment-When released in our homes or outdoors into the air around us, ozone is considered harmful. It is the primary component of smog, and when combined with sunlight sends harmful gases into the air.

These gases then destroy the upper layer of the earth’s atmosphere that protects us from the sun’s ultra-violet rays. Too much UV exposure can damage plants, human immune systems, eyes, and skin. One of the best ways to protect the earth for us and future generations is to use products that emit zero ozone.

Although relatively depressed demand in the first quarter of but dependent on two at the end of the beginning of many domestic round of inspection maintenance units have resulted in drastically reduced the national supply making the market pushed up to rekindle the passion started several rounds of wide rally North South differential in the apparent demand for the second quarter market and resources towards the final amount of the correlation between higher 4 Crude Expensive and CP led only went down to the landed cost of domestic gas imports remained high while the amount of domestic gas market prices too to support tight Taking into account the higher temperatures resulted in sharp drop in demand for the South coast importers adhere to the procurement of most of the principles of sales order In April the number of total imports to shore less than 20 tons It can be predicted by the high costs and the demand is gradually declining influence in South and 5 June imports of gas to shore still limited is expected to not more than 300 000 tons monthly 4 units in major overhaul including Northeast Daqing Petrochemical Dalian Petrochemical refinery and Jinxi Petrochemical Harbin northwest extension of refining Lanzhou Petrochemical pagodas and Nanchong refinery etc North Yan Dagang Huabei Petrochemical Shandong Jinan Qilu and burning all aspects of Changyi Jing Bo HSBC Sheng Hua and other units along the Yangtze River in Wuhan the Changling refinery Rough estimate in April of domestic LPG production 150 tons On the other hand high crude correction for several days and eventually break through 85 U S dollars barrel mark now nearly 22 three crude oil average price of 77 941 U S dollars per barrel up 4 17 than the reference price net of price adjustment red line break Oil Up in contrast we have to consider if the rise of refined oil refinery after the stimulus to improve the negative impact of processing capacity Based on past experience and current analysis of the actual situation of the market turning point is expected to occur in May According to statistics the initial maintenance units in addition to Nanchong refinery Wuhan Petrochemical is expected to postpone the end of the maintenance and expansion of the Changling refinery maintenance due to equipment caused by long term yields lower the other units will gradually return to work in the month Meanwhile in May the coming agricultural season in northern agricultural land preparation resulted in increased oil sales lead to increased oil production in order to stimulate the enthusiasm to further enhance the refinery is expected to start when the overall rate of domestic refineries would be raised to more than 7 percent LNG oversupply of pressure gradually revealed 6 peak oil the month of European and American countries the international oil price is expected to 39 burn the more prosperous the more 39 While domestic oil market to maintain a certain rigid requirements two groups of crude oil processing volume is expected to remain up on the trend The rapid temperature increase at this time needs to really form differentiation showing a low north to south the situation the North market supply remains adequate Plus the time units of domestic production returned to normal the national LPG production is expected back on the high of 1 6 million tons

The World Tourism Day that falls on the 27th of September every year is celebrated throughout the world to promote global tourism and bring prosperity to the nations especially those whose economies are much dependent on tourism.

However, the WTO (World Tourism Organization) that encourages the World Tourism Day celebrations strongly believes that the promotion of global tourism may not necessarily mean haphazard and crude selling of the various destinations and attractions across the world. The growth of global tourism has to be equitable and must come with responsibility. Maybe, that’s why the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day is “Tourism Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change”.

Climate change has become a big issue, rightfully so, with concerns being raised about the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The warnings of the climate system are and ought to be taken seriously as the very existence of the various nations–particularly those by sea–is endangered.

In fact, many low lying coastal areas are in the danger of being wiped out by the encroaching seas, and natural occurrences such as the typhoons are becoming deadlier with the warming of the climate system.

The environmental and economic risks of the magnitude of the climate change projected for the 21st century is considerable. Our lifestyles, economics, health and social being–are all affected by climate change, and although the consequences of climate change will vary on a regional basis, all nations and economic sectors will have to contend with the challenges of climate change through adaptation and mitigation.

Tourism is no exception and in the decades ahead, climate change will become an increasingly important issue affecting tourism development and management. So, responsible tourism is the need of the hour. The various nations promoting tourism aggressively need to be more sensitive to this issue and not be a spectator to the likely environmental catastrophes that lurk around the corner waiting to create havoc and destructions on a large scale, courtesy climate change and global warming.

http://www.toshaliholidays.com

The whole notion of fracking allows us find oil as well as gas that will formerly had been unachievable. Which means we’ve a great deal of untrained supplies inside the United states of america. Which means we are not because prone to peak oil principle once we as soon as imagined. Of course there are other challenges such as enviromentally friendly difficulties to acquire which oil and also gas away from the terrain this way, and fiscal difficulties with international costs associated with all-natural gas along with oil for this reason brand-new strategy. Naturally the United States won’t be the merely nation which in turn makes use of fracking techniques to reach these kinds of natural sources.

It’s the various other international locations I would be worried about, consider if you are going to that people are not a region which exports normal gas or even oil, or even equally as well as the sudden the identified supplies multiply by 4 or climb 5 retract. That boosts the offer, and thus will certainly lower prices globally. A country such as Spain which in turn uses their normal gas income while a political saw to serve its governmental will all around the planet will lose a minimum of a few of their strengthen worldwide talks. Fracking to obtain oil and gas within the U . s . can clearly rise versus 2 significant issues;

1. Environmental protection agency, Over Regulation

2. Environmental Attorneys

This will maintain the cost large, and for that reason some other countries which usually offer us all oil are able to sell it with a low cost as compared to money can buy to consider it out involving the terrain at home. Thus various other nations still the edge, however it will even avoid OPEC yet others from increasing their own price ranges for an excessively high sum. Additional, because we will not always be the just land that’s making use of the fracking methods, you will have other areas within the planet wherever they don’t treatment as much about enviromentally friendly considerations which will likewise use these techniques.

This implies there will be a lot more vitality conveying countries promoting oil and also gas inside the future. It’s going to placed more present on the industry, generate far more competition, and put a wrench inside OPEC’s supply and demand tricks, as well as the criminal international locations that problem the United States, along with do this since they have got large funds arriving coming from the sale of the subterranean normal sources. On the whole, this kind of changes the energetic significantly.

Many people point out that these kinds of fracking techniques tend to be hoopla when compared with anything, speculate it can be a not at all hard procedure, expect this to occur across the globe, even though we simply start using these techniques to a minimal volume the following the U . s .. In fact I think you’ll will surprise think about all of this as well as feel about.

Since its incorporation in June of 2000, Western Pipeline Corporation has been involved in oil and gas exploration in 5 states including six multi-well projects in the Illinois basin.

The Illinois basin is an oval depression containing Cambrian through Permian sedimentary rocks. A basin in geologic terms is a large-scale structural formation of rock. They are geologic depressions, the opposite of domes.

Three to five hundred million years ago Illinois was a shallow tropical ocean located near the equator at that time. The ocean left huge thicknesses of sand sediment behind which became sandstone. It also left behind billions of seashells. These shells and fragments of shells made of calcium carbonate combined to form limestone. During the Paleozoic Era the rocks were periodically bent and folded. The earth’s crust periodically sank, creating the broad, depression called the Illinois basin.

The Illinois basin began as a failed rift. A failed rift occurs when continental rifting (when the Earth’s crust and outer layer are pulled apart) began, but then failed to continue. After the rifting episode, the basin began to form as a thick succession of sandstone and carbonate rocks deposited above the center of the rift.

Basins appear on maps as almost circular or elliptical, with concentric layers of strata. The layers dip toward the center. If you look at the strata of a basin the oldest rocks are on the outside and get younger as you go in towards the center. Structural basins like the Illinois Basin are sources of coal, petroleum, and groundwater. The oil producing area of Illinois is part of the Illinois Basin. The Illinois Basin covers southern Illinois, western Kentucky and western Indiana.

Oil and natural gas have been produced in the Illinois basin from Paleozoic rocks. Most of the basin’s hydrocarbons have been produced from sandstones, carbonate rocks as well as Devonian, Silurian, and Ordovician rocks.

The first attempt at drilling oil wells in Illinois was near Champaign in 1853. These wells produced “swamp gas” or “drift gas” from glacial fill but no oil. Since 1853, about 155,000 oil, gas, and injection wells have been drilled in Illinois.The first oil wells were drilled in the early 1860′s. Commercial oil production began in Illinois in 1905. Most oil produced in Illinois from 1894 through 1937 was produced in shallow areas of less than 1000 feet. In 1937 deeper zones were discovered from 2,500 to 3,500 feet. The deepest well ever drilled was over 13,000 feet deep. Peak oil production occurred in Illinois between 1955 and 1963 with an average yearly production of 80 million barrels. The current yearly production is approximately 10-12 million barrels.

The increasing strength in world economic data does not seem to be translating, just yet, into more demand for crude. While ‘peak oil’ is a phrase on everyone’s lips it must be said that production from many parts of the globe is currently artificially constrained.

Producers seem willing to turn on the taps above , as a sort of profitable-commitment to world growth. While everyone blamed the financial institutions for the collapse in the global economy the impact of 7 per barrel of oil was not exactly a helpful factor.

Looking at the day-to-day trend more closely, oil looks to have found a ceiling as it struggles to get beyond the level.

Whenever there is any strength in the US Dollar that has naturally led to weakness in oil prices as investors close positions, very much a flight from risk.

Strength in the equity markets and weakness in the Dollar normally translates into rising Oil prices. Although we are still seeing some good market rallies, it seems that dealers are less confident than in times past.

The failure to break permanently above may be worrying the Crude Oil bulls a bit as all the normal impetus required seemed to be in place. If the Dollar starts to strengthen, unlikely as it might seem, we may find that dealers are pressuring the support levels again rather than the resistances.

Since the highs at in the US WTI Oil contracts in October 2009 we have had a series of attempted rallies, all of them failing at lower and lower levels. Looking at the oil charts, we now have a very nice falling-trend-line-top to aim for.

Should we close above the trend line there may well be a reaction move to new highs. But, and there is always a ‘but’, the longer we remain below the trend easier it will be for the bears to drive prices lower.

So what should an investor look to do? I prefer to trade the oil markets through spread betting. Note though, there are downsides to all forms of investing and with spread trading you need to be careful because you can lose more than your initial investment.

On the plus side though, there is no capital gains tax, no stamp duty and no income tax on spread betting*.

Also, an interesting benefit is the number of markets that you can trade. Spread betting firms often offer thousands of markets from European and US shares to gold and Dollar/Sterling currency rates. Naturally you can trade both US and UK crude oil spreads.

With the volatile markets like oil, being able to short a market provides interesting opportunities. You do not have to speculate on markets to go up. If your research leads to you think the price of crude oil will go up, you can, of course, bet on it to go up. However, if you think that oil will go down you can bet on it to go down.

It is important to note though that spread bets carry a high level of risk to your capital so you should only speculate with money you can afford to lose. Like the adverts say, before trading, please ensure that spread betting matches your investment objectives. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the risks involved. If necessary seek independent advice.

* Based on current UK tax law, if you pay tax in another jurisdiction then tax law may vary.

Sahara is considered the world’s largest hot desert. At over 9,400,000 square kilometers (3,630,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. Sahara is not just the hottest and biggest dessert in the world, it is considered as a precious place as well. Here dwells the world dependence oil.

Oil, as we all know, has incredible significance, but why is this the case? Oil is deeply ingrained into our culture as it was the driving force behind industrialization. There is no country or area in the world today that can insulate itself from problems in the oil market, as the recent shortages in Europe highlight. Oil affects every nation on earth with no exceptions. In this section I hope to highlight briefly the history of oil and its development into attaining such a level of importance.

Sahara, a place where oil depot resides made it a favorite exploration for different companies. Many people underestimate the significance of oil and natural gas in modern civilization, and mainly associate oil with the petrol or diesel that they put in their cars. However, the value of oil to our world goes far beyond our personal transportation choices as many of the everyday items we use are either made from oil or is dependent upon oil for their production.

Oil has proven to be such a flexible resource that it now underpins many of the items we take for granted in the modern world, and any interruption of its supply would be very serious. In light of the dual challenge of Peak Oil and anthropogenic climate change it is critical that we develop targeted interventions to ensure that we do not waste important resources. Sahara is the best place for oil and petroleum exploration, and the world dependence to it makes it even more crucial for explorations to succeed. Transportation, mobility of trade and industrialization would be impossible and technology is immovable without it.