FREE ESSAY ON ENERGY CRISIS

ENERGY CRISIS

Energy Crisis
Late in the autumn of 1973, energy (or the lack of it) grabbed headlines like never
before. It was not until the war between the Arab countries and Israel that the United
States noticed a sharp decrease in our oil supplies. This was due to the fact that we -
the U.S. - were supplying aids and weapons to Israel. Arab, who produced the majority of
the worlds oil, decided to punish us by cutting off our oil shipments.
In November of the same year, President Nixon appeared on live television to inform the
United States public about the crisis. He informed the people they were going to have the
most crucial energy shortage since World War II.
In order to conserve energy there were a few emergency polies being enforced. These new
rules were said to help everyone get through the shortage, but they ended up having the
opposite effect. A few of the policies included lowering highway speed limits to 55 miles
per hour in hopes of saving gasoline. Also, factories worked shorter shifts and air
travel time was cut by about 10 percent.
During this time, children were effected a lot. Nixon ordered that clocks were not to be
turned back an hour late as they usually were in October. Instead, the U.S. was to stay
on summers daylight savings time in order to conserve energy. Therefore, kids had to go
to school when it was still dark. Some children carried with them flashlights.
Christmas was a very sad time in 1973. People were unable to use Christmas lights or any
other electronic decorations in order to save energy. The President announced that
because of the crisis, the lights of the national Christmas tree would not be turned on.
Increase of prices made it hard for families to buy things and pay bills. Demand for oil
created hardships for gas station owners as well. There were long lines of cars snaking
for miles, and impatient drivers starting fights and sometimes shooting one another.
Nixon proposed that the best solution to future trouble would be to completely eliminate
the use of foreign oil. He suggested that Americans find other sources of energy along
with finding new oil reserves in the United States. The President asked for more
concentration on the use of coal and the development of other power sources such as solar
or nuclear energy.
Obviously Nixon's solution did not help as the demand for oil became greater. With the
increase in technology and factories, alternative forms of energy showed to be more
expensive than originally thought.
Although the U.S. now has a wide variety of energy sources, it is still a good idea to
conserve our energy. History does repeat, and we never know when a sudden shortage may
occur.