Critical Thinking Assignment Option #1: The Price of Gasoline
Oil is a valuable resource, even beyond its use for home heating and gasoline. If we continue to use our petroleum supply to extract gasoline from it, we may lose our starting materials to make other petroleum-based products, such as many pharmaceuticals and plastics. Up to now, voluntary conservation of gasoline has not been effective. The government could force more conservation by rationing gasoline or by heavily taxing it.
Imagine that you are transported to the future at a time when you must pay $10.00 per gallon for gasoline. Your budget allows $250 per month for gasoline. Assume that your vehicle averages twenty miles per gallon. Describe the number of people in your family, how many of them go to school or work each day, and how far each must travel. Use this information to prepare a detailed gasoline budget of how you and your family would use the $250 worth of gasoline in a month.
To continue using oil at the current rate, we must discover and add to global oil reserves the equivalent of two new Saudi Arabian supplies every ten years. Do you think this is possible? If not, what effects might the failure to find such supplies have on your life and on the lives of any children and grandchildren that you might have?
Create an argumentative essay that describes your personal view on these issues. Cite three reliable sources to justify your personal view.
Your assignment should be three to four pages in length. Follow APA format, according to CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements.
Include a title page and reference page. Use at least three outside academic sources other than the textbook, course materials, or other information provided as part of the course materials.