Instability Linked to Oil Dependence

US embassy in Libya Sept 11th

In their book, Turning Oil Into Salt, Gal Luft and Anne Korin explain why the Open Fuel Standard will change the world. If you haven't read it yet, you really should. And then share it with everyone you know. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Because most of the world's oil reserves are held by countries that are highly unstable, corrupt, dictatorial and in some cases hostile to the United States and its allies, oil's monopoly in the transportation sector is one of the most destabilizing factors in the international arena today.

For most of the 20th century, world oil supply was relatively uninterrupted, and the occasional conflicts and disruptions (the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the 1990-91 Gulf War) were short lived and relatively contained. They certainly did not merit a fundamental change in our energy system. But in recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that the world is facing a "perfect storm" of security and economic problems, all directly linked to our oil dependence.