It sickens me that Exxon’s profits were that high. I no longer believe any of that price per barrel/foreign oil conjecture they try to explain away the high prices with. Bottom line, it’s the greedy American oil companies who are benefitting, with such outrageous profit margins. Makes me mad enough to want to quit using oil altogether just to stick it to ‘em.

I believe we can all work to cut back on our oil and energy usage, both at home AND in the workplace, and see our dependence as a nation drop considerably.

My husband is part of a “Green Team” at the school where he teaches. He was trained to look for ways that his campus could reduce their expenses for electricity alone…it was amazing how much the district was spending per school that was unnecessary. (This training opened our eyes for things in our own home, too).

Hot plates, microwaves and such that many teachers had in their classrooms were HUGE electricity wasters, as were coffee pots and VCR/DVD players with lighted clock features that remain plugged in in teacher lounges and classrooms. The school already employed the use of auto-off lights and other cost-saving measures, but there were still plenty of ways to tighten their belt, so-to-speak.

Simple things like teachers using a thermos to bring their own coffee (needing to heat it only once instead of re-heating it in the microwave at work a few times per day, for instance), along with employing power strips to plug everything in their classrooms into which can be unplugged or switched off at the days end can also help to defray excess energy costs. The same techniques can be employed at home to save energy dollars.

This year we also made the major lifestyle adjustment of having our older son quit attending the school he had attended since Kindergarten in favor of going to a new school on the same campus where my husband teaches. It’s not only saved us gas on the previous commute, but I don’t need to go too many places being a stay at home mom and child care provider, and my husband passes several grocery stores on his way home where he can stop off for sale priced goods without extra trips. It’s saving us a fortune!

The word was carefully considered before I used it. If I was going to question the title, it would have been using Exxon as an example when it is all oil companies, not just one.

Do you really believe that we have a choice in whether to use oil products? Most of us don’t live within walking distance of work, most of us are forced to buy groceries at the store that have been produced with oil products, delivered with oil products and the costs have been driven up by oil products. Most of us are as dependent on oil as we are on electricity. We don’t have a choice in whether to use it or not; we can only choose to reduce our use of it.