Oil For Living Brian Black Summary

Brian Black introduces the impact of mass consumption and petrochemicals on our society in his article Oil for Living: Petroleum and American Conspicuous Consumption. Black uses the World Fair ride, Futurama, to explain the futuristic ideas of utopia while introducing the idea of America being an ecology of oil. Black moves forward to describe the continuous spending after WWII developing into what is now called mass consumption, named due to the dramatic transformation of living patterns after WWII. Black then discusses petroleum and the relationship it developed with the transportation industry. Also, he discusses that people use to think they “would always have a perpetual supply of oil”(Black). The article continues with the impact of petrochemicals in society and how they are often hidden and brings up thermoplastics and its presence in
While now many are joining the climate change side and are pushing against the oil industry and mass consumption. Many people are unaware that petrochemicals are in their everyday products and Black’s article brings this to light. Edward Burtynsky, landscape photographer, creates images that bring to certain topics or issues to light. Although Burtynsky avoids taking a stance on his collection Oil, he explains that he wants the viewers to interpret the photo and make of it what they want. Multiple of Burtynsky’s pieces in Oil depict breathtaking, wide landscapes that draw your focus to the center often bringing the eyes towards the center of the photo, like looking down a tunnel. Each photo has individual interpretive meanings and they are often hidden or are found after looking at the details. This is shown in the oil industry and the hidden petrochemicals and lack of knowledge of mass consumption and their effects on