can someone give me reasons to encourage the use of petroleum?

Question

its for my debate class, obviously i cannot find articles to encourage this, but i need something to base my speech on.

Answer 1

You won't find much of the "pros" on petroleum use using that language. Look up the recent history of petroleum use, especially as presented by the oil companies; they will present the benefits.
Petroleum is better than a lot of the alternatives! Have you heard of the "Fogs" they used to have in London when the main fuels were wood and coal? You know how it is when somebody uses a fireplace; imagine if everybody heated their homes and cooked with wood! And what would happen to the forests? Petroleum products are much less harmful.
There is no real harm in using up the world's fossil fuels; it's better than using up the forests. Besides,
There are disadvantages to most any energy source. Hydroelectric plants interfere with fish migration. Nuclear plants use produce radioactive waste.

Look up all the useful products that are made from petroleum. These include plastics, nylon, polyester, all kinds of things that would be more expensive if made from natural products, and maybe harder on the environment too. Plastics replace wood and metal; synthetic fabrics replace cotton, linen, and wool. Synthetic fertilizers make food much cheaper. This helps prevent malnutrition. (Starvation nowadays is mostly caused by war or bad government policies) There are real practical reasons that so much petroleum is used. They are producing things that people really need.

Answer 2

Here are a few good reasons. Because it's cheap, plentiful, reliable, and easy to find.

How many trees would we have to kill if we didn't have plastics bags and had to use paper bags? Would we still be slaves to the cotton industry if nylon wasn't invented? Do you really want to pay $100,000 for a hydrogen car and then pay $8/gallon only to refuel your car every 100 miles? Tell me that it's better to burn more coal and increase greenhouse gasses just so I could fill my car with hydrogen. Can everyone around the world really afford to do this? Would we really better off without petroleum?

Economics is the primary reason to encourage the use of petroleum. The money you save from using petroleum can be put to better use in finding clean renewable sources of energy or other worthy causes. For every dollar you spend to just drive from place to place is one dollar less you have to spend on education, health, security, recreation, and saving time.

Answer 3

If you can modify your side into EFFICIENT use of petroleum you will be in pretty good shape. Its a good way to accomplish work that would otherwise be done by human or animal muscle, it can lift a whole economy to a higher level so that petroleum itself is not needed so much--the basic economic infrastructure needs to be built so the economy can grow and once it does it can switch off to an energy form other than petroleum, like solar or tidal or geothermal or biomass, but getting to that stage requires lots of energy and petroleum is the easiest source to tap. It should be used efficiently to keep it available as long as possible. And yes, its better to use gasoline to drive to Los Angeles, than to get on a horse, or walk there.

Answer 4

There are no reasons to encourage the use of petrolium, and it cannot be debated with integrity. Please consider asking for another topic on the grounds that you have been given an indefensible position. If that cannot be done, you might consider, on the grounds of integrity, bowing out.

As an aside to our large-necked friend and others, if you believe that there is "plenty left," I suggest you have not tried to purchase any lately. The science that supports environmental concerns is quite thorough and complete, and can be argued against only by the application of large amounts of ignorance and blind obedience to fear.

Answer 5

well, there is a lucrative source of it, plenty of it left. Use practical logic. Why not use it? What else would you use oil for? What other purpose does oil serve? It can boost the economy to allow domestic companies to drill. Remember, environmental arguements are arguements of emotion and incomplete science, and really, that's all the anit-petro arguement has. Good luck!

Answer 6

So that oil companies can continue to make huge profits.