The United States of Oil

During the twentieth century, oil became not only the United States’ principal source of energy, but the foundation of modern American society. Powerful, versatile, and cheap, oil transformed everyday life for Americans—how they moved, where they lived, what they ate, how they dressed, how they played, and even how they thought. This carbon-intensive way of life blessed the nation with unrivaled prosperity, but it also has saddled current and future generations with the threat of runaway global warming. In this webinar, oil historian Tyler Priest will discuss how to help students come to terms with their oil-saturated past in order to better understand how best to decarbonize their future.