Out of Business!

Source: Leadership ConneXtions

Businesses seem to be closing down every day due to this oil crisis. My neighborhood is starting to realize that we need a nearby farmer’s market – FAST! Just yesterday the store around the corner of my house closed down! Both the owner and his assistant are out of a job. The owner is married and he has two children – he also takes care of his father. The Food4Less near my house also posted an “Out of Business” sign last week. There go at least fifteen more jobs. I’m sure those people have families to take care of as well. The store about two blocks away from my grandmother’s house sells really good bionicos but that did not help bring in the money! The store’s owner encountered difficulties finding an inexpensive place to supply fresh fruit. That went on for two weeks so she just gave in and decided to close up the shop. My friend worked there. She helped her mother with the bills but now…I wonder how they’re going to make it. My cousin worked as a teacher assistant in our old elementary school here in Los Angeles – the problem is that she lives in Downey (20 miles away). With the gas prices so high she could not afford to keep driving so she had to quit. People are losing jobs left and right!
I’m glad that I finally found a job! I’m working in a Plant & Plant Supply store about five blocks away from my house. The owner seems to be making good money because everybody is interested in growing a garden at home. So now I am making some money of my own and helping my mom pay for her gas; it’s the least I can do and I’m trying my best to help. With whatever money I have left over for myself, I can buy myself something I want; at least once every month. I hope that with this job I can help out more around the house or something…bills need to get paid after all!
School and work are in walking distance so I have no problems getting there. I don’t have a car or my driver’s license anyway so there is no way I could drive, even if I wanted to! It takes time to get to school walking; I have to leave home by 6:00am to make it on time. Walking is not impossible. Work is closer to my house so it really does not bother me to walk there. I like to walk – it’s my exercise for the day :p There are times when I ride my bicycle to school instead of walking. A car is not something I need…I can do without it.
Nowadays people are looking for less expensive substitutes for everything they own; soda, shoes, meats, etc. The way consumers respond to change in price of a product (either an increase or decrease) is known as elasticity. Many people are making different choices because of the change in prices. Families are buying goods that are of a less popular brand. Some have already stopped purchasing soda and red meat altogether. There is a lot of elastic demand and people hope that the choices they are making will help them save money. Elastic demand is when the change in price of a product greatly affects the amount people are willing to spend on a product (and how much they buy). There are people that have to make better choices because they are not gaining enough money to spend on wants. Incomes are low and hours keep getting cut. This oil crisis is affecting everyone around me! I’m just lucky I was able to find a job at a time like this.

Finally Overcoming the Crisis!

People! Things are going back to normal! :) The oil crisis is disappearing! YEY!!! Don't get me wrong, this oil crisis taught me a lot, but I'm glad things seem to be getting better. If anything, this oil crisis taught me that many things rely on the use of oil…not just cars! Fresh fruits and vegetables depend on the oil as far as transportation and growth development. Photography films and candle wax are also made up of oil. Out of this whole experience I learned how to financially prioritize my needs and wants. Some things are just not that important! And, sadly, I learned that the hard way! Since this oil crisis is slowly making its way out of my life I have decided to take steps to keep it that way. I am going to start to recycle more often, especially in school. I usually throw my bottles away in the regular trash when there are recycling bins everywhere! From now on I’m going to tell my mom to take the fabric shopping bags instead of using the plastic bags. We recycle the plastic bags but it never hurts to give up the plastic altogether. The neighborhood can work together to spread awareness. If people begin learning about the problem they can contribute to the solution. Community members can begin driving alternative fuel vehicles, recycling plastics and motor oil, and shop locally. There are people that can also begin carpooling. By sharing a car they can save money and gas. Our government should help us too! They can easily promote energy efficient choices like solar and electric appliances. We are all contributing to pollution as long as we are dependent on oil. We need to make better choices that can change our oil-consuming lifestyles. Those choices can start by simply disconnecting unused electronics, watching less television, and minimizing computer usage. Some steps are not that hard and they can make a large difference in the long run! You should all take the initiative to make changes too! It’s not that hard. And if we all do it together we can help each other out. Keep track of what you do and the things you use. Use less of the items that need a large amount of oil. Tell family members to help keep you on track (that’s what I’m doing)! This oil crisis is going away and we need to do the best we can to keep it that way!

(Both Images) SOURCE: City of Arcadia

Drowning in the Oil!

SOURCE: BlogSpot

The stress is getting to me! Working for a big oil company does not always come in handy! I have worked for BP (British Petroleum) for almost 10 years already and things have never gotten this bad! For one, these Democratic senators are trying to make BP pay off up to $10 BILLION in damages, lost wages, economic suffering and clean-up costs. How can they force us to pay money for something that uncontrollably happened?! No one was able to foresee this accident on the Gulf...the same way the accident in Alaska happened! Since this spill I have worked endless hours trying to find some sort of solution and trying to figure out how it is going to be possible for BP to pay all these costs. I have had little sleep and my stress level is through the roof! My husband and I have been fighting a lot recently due to my late work hours. He hates that I work for BP...these oil spills cost him his job. Since more than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas are closed he cannot go out into the waters and catch fish or crab to sell to the nearby restaurants. Because of this I'm the one responsible for maintaining the both of us. The good thing is that we do not have any children! I make enough money to pay off basic necessities (bills, utilities, mortgage). But with my husband no longer working we need to cut down on the leisure activities. That means no more going to the theater, no more dinners at fancy restaurants, and no more gifts...at least not until he finds a job. There is just a lot of tension between the both of us right now and work is not making things any better! HELP!

Organic Scavenger Hunt!

Wow! Today was full of new information! I was looking for a job in local markets on the Internet and I happened to stumble on some very interesting information. Did you know that our food takes long road trips before actually getting to us? Arrowhead bottled water alone travels about 2,500 miles to get to Los Angeles, CA from Greenwich, CT. Who thought that the clear, hydrating substance would take such a long trip before reaching you? The bananas in our local supermarkets come all the way from Guatemala! That’s about 2,200 miles away! Imagine walking these distances just to get your servings of fruit! Oh, and guess what…pasta…it does not come from Italy. It comes from Bannockburn, IL. – nowhere near Italy. Because these foods travel so far to get to us the prices are going up! Transporting these items is not free. With the lack of oil there is no gas, without gas the transportation becomes costly and those costs need to be paid. This is why looking for edibles such as oranges, fresh meats, yogurts, etc have now become a scavenger hunt! Organic foods are worth the wait I guess…it sure beats all those frankenfoods. Frankenfoods are all those chemically enhanced goods – this can usually be your meats and poultry. Now that the oil crisis is taking a toll on society many of us are becoming locavores. We are all on the search for a local farmer’s market. There is even talk about starting a community garden. It is about time the community gets together to do something about these ridiculous “treasure hunts”.

SOURCE: RuralAspirations

Just yesterday my mom sent me out to buy some fresh chicken, milk, and bananas. The bananas were not that hard to find but the milk and chicken…oh my goodness! I felt like I was looking for hidden treasure. I went to the corner store that is near my house and that is where I found the bananas. The bananas were not perfectly ripe but they were good enough to buy. They were the usual yellow color with some dark spots on the skin. There was no milk or chicken. All they had on their shelves were napkins, juices, and a small variety of fruits. I decided to go to Food4Less to see if they had milk and fresh chicken. They had neither! I told my mom that we had to go to Superior so we went. Entering the store we saw that they had milk! I ran for it and got a hold of two gallons. With the bananas and milk checked off we went to find some chicken. Arriving at the meats and poultry section we discovered that it was all gone! I was in shock…I never thought it would be that hard to find some fresh chicken! We finally decided to go to Family Farms. We looked around and saw that there were several pieces still there. It was about time! I never thought that I would be so happy to see those raw, pale pink pieces of poultry. It took us about two hours to find only three things! When I would usually have a cart-full I just had bananas, fresh chicken, and milk!

SOURCE: N.J.

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The worst is yet to come...

SOURCE: AliciaPatterson

What the heck is happening with these gas station outages?! I walked past a gas station this morning and the line was so LONG! People were mad...saying that there was no gas! If this keeps happening the affects on our society will get worse. Some people have already decided to stop buying gas altogether – no one wants to put up with the ridiculously high prices. (It might get risky for those that want to quit driving). Leaving their cars parked around the neighborhood might be intriguing to thieves. Half your car will be missing before you know it! Can you blame them? These high prices have people taking drastic measures. And you can make sure that those long lines at the gas stations are not going anywhere! Society is not going to get use to these gas station outages any time soon.
The airline problem is not making things any better either. My uncle purchased an airline ticket from US Airways to go from the UK to Denmark. At the airport they told him that he would not be able to board the plane due to complications! My uncle is stuck in the UK! These canceled U.S. airline flights will cause more of an economic effect than anything – especially to those that are away from home. Since flights keep getting canceled people will have to seek to be reimbursed. If they don’t get reimbursed then there goes their money – spent it for nothing. People that are traveling will have to spend money on overnight stays at hotels until they get the “OK” to get on a flight back home. Airlines will also lose money because no flights will be coming in or going out – there are no airline tickets sold. Because of this the airports have less money to spend on jet fuel for the planes. Someone needs to find a solution to these flight cancellations, and fast!
With this current oil crisis I feel very hesitant about giving up different goods and services. I know it is going to happen sooner or later but I am not looking forward to giving up my things. Some goods might not be important but having them has become a good part of my days. The daily goods such as food, water, clothes...those are the things I need! I will not be able to give them up! I am scared to even think about what might happen to our most needed resources. My hairspray is already gone for crying out loud but some changes that I would not mind taking on would be: start walking, give up the face cleansers, get rid of the curling iron, and things of that nature.
I am very worried about losing food, water and power at a time like this! With no hairspray and face cleanser disappearing little by little, who’s to say that the food cannot disappear as well? If the food starts disappearing will that mean that the U.S. will eventually become a third world country? Will it ever get that bad? I hope not! The Department of Water and Power are already hiking up the prices so much that I started looking for a job! I realize that my family needs all the financial help they can get with these gas prices so high and food not being such a money saver either. Other people have made it very clear that losing food, water, and power is the last thing they want. My neighbor just had a baby and she is really freaked out! She is scared that her husband might lose his job and they will not have money to pay for the baby supplies. The baby's needs are hitting their pockets hard! She tells my mom that it's getting hard to find the diapers...so she started using cloth pieces like people did before. My neighbor is scared for her baby more than she is for herself. I can only imagine how hard it can be to face times like these with a baby!
Unemployment is going to make people go crazy! With unemployment already at 12% people might cause a riot! If these layoffs continue people will have a harder time buying the things they need. Resources are already lacking as it is…without a job things will get worse. With layoffs people will become poor and once they hit a certain point of poverty they will resort to looting and stealing the items they cannot seem to buy on their own. The looting will eventually lead to violence and aggression within all the people facing the same oil crisis. I hope it does not get to this point!
My family is going through the many things we buy on a daily basis. We seem to have cut out things that we really do not need in order to save some money. We decided to cut the cable, Internet, and telephone services. We agreed not to buy anymore junk food (including sodas). Sadly, we are limiting family trips as well. The only things we are allowed to buy are the necessities; toothpaste, toilet paper, food, water/milk, etc. In this oil crisis "wants" do not really exist anymore. Money just does not come around as often these days! I decided that getting a job is the best thing I can do. One of the corner stores might have a “Help Wanted” sign posted up. Right now, my family needs all the money we can get and working at a store might give us some more resources to work with as well.

Supply & Demand

SOURCE: Associate Money

I had an interesting day in economics class. We were reading about supply and demand. I learned that supply is how people that want to sell something decide how much of a good or service they are going to sell and at what price they are going to sell them. Potential sellers decide how much of their product they are going to make available and at what price. I also learned that demand is the willingness and ability of people to purchase a product or service. It is when people want to and have the money to buy a good or service. After reading about supply and demand I took a short quiz about oil. I didn't know some of the answers but I tried my best. When I finished the quiz I was shocked to discover that oil production in the United States has been increasing only 2% per year since 1960! I don't know about you but this seems like very little to me. No wonder more and more products seem to be disappearing every day from store shelves! I also learned that even after oil production in an area declines, there is still a good amount of oil remaining in the ground. So let's start digging people! B.T.W. does anyone have a home recipe for hairspray --- I just figured out where I could find the key ingredient.

Uses of Oil

SOURCE: EndOil

Today I was listening to the radio while I was getting ready for school. The announcers were talking about this crazy oil shortage. They were discussing how petroleum is used for so many things these days. By listening in I learned that petroleum is used as many things other than just gasoline and heating oil. Petroleum is used for paints, candles, detergents, fertilizers/pesticides, and more! I never knew how dependent on petroleum the U.S. has become. What surprised me the most was that petroleum is even used on photographic film! It was also surprising to find out that wax is a raw petroleum product. I never would have expected so many things to be made out of petroleum!
Now that we are experiencing an oil crisis it's time to cut down on some of these things. If this oil shortage gets worse then I am going to take it upon myself to make better choices. I will consider cutting down on the amount of detergent I use for my clothes. I think that I am also going to give up painting for a while (at least until things cool down). I am going to do some research to learn more about oil-dependent products. Learning more doesn't hurt. I am going to separate my "needs" from my "wants" and try my best to use products that are not so much dependent on oil. Wish me luck!

Life without hairspray!

This morning I realized that I ran out of hairspray. It's only Thursday and I need some for school tomorrow! I started getting worried. Later, I found money in my wallet so I was able to go buy hairspray on my way home from school. When I walked in to the store I realized that the hairspray was not where I usually found it! I started going crazy looking for it through all the aisles. I finally gave in and decided to ask the clerk for some assistance. I should not have asked because, to my dismay, he told me that they were out of stock and that they will no longer be selling any!! What am I going to do now?! I need hairspray for tomorrow and no one seems to be selling any!!!

SOURCE: eHow