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How World War I Ushered in the Century of Oil

When the war was over, the developed world had little doubt that a nation’s future standing in the world was predicated on access to oil.
by Brian C. Black via The Conversation on April 3, 2017
Photograph of cars bumper to bumper on a highway, USA (year unknown, likely during 1970s energy crisis)

How Congress Planned To Solve The 1970s Energy Crisis

Representative Mo Udall's ambitious strategy to wean the United States off fossil fuels by the year 2000.
by Morris K. Udall via The New Republic on June 16, 1973
Jimmy Carter speaking in front of a row of solar panels.

Energy Is Central to American Politics. That All Started with Jimmy Carter.

We have yet to solve the problems that Carter confronted head-on as president.
by Gautama Mehta via Grist on January 9, 2025
Jimmy Carter at a podium against the backdrop of an American flag.

Is Jimmy Carter Where Environmentalism Went Wrong?

Carter’s austerity was part of a bigger project. It didn’t really have much to do with environmentalism.
by Kate Aronoff via The New Republic on April 18, 2023
Carter at the Dedication of a New Solar Water Heating System for the White House Roof.

Unheralded Environmentalist: Jimmy Carter’s Green Legacy

In 1978, Carter protected 56M Alaskan acres, tripled wilderness lands, championed conservation, and foresaw climate risks, leaving a lasting green legacy.
by Kai Bird via Yale E360 on March 23, 2023
A line of cars waiting their turn at a filling station in Portland, Oregon, 1973.

The Price of Oil

The history of control and decontrol in the oil market.
by Gregory Brew via Phenomenal World on May 25, 2022
Oil rigs just south of town extract crude for Chevron at sunrise in Taft, California, on July 22, 2008.

How Private Oil Companies Took Over U.S. Energy Security

And why it’s time to take it back.
by Gregory Brew via Foreign Policy on May 16, 2022
A blurry pixilated image of Jimmy Carter on a television screen.

How the Ghost of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency Haunts Everything Biden Says About Supply Shortages

The last from-the-top critique of American overconsumption generated a massive backlash.
by Kevin Mattson via Slate on October 22, 2021
Artistic photo of factory pollution

Endless Combustion

Three new books examine how the rise of coal, oil, and gas have permanently remade our world.
by Bill McKibben via The Nation on February 6, 2019

Make Ford Great Again

For now, yesterday is where the money is.
by Daniel Albert via n+1 on December 2, 2018

Ford Says Farewell

America’s most iconic automaker plans to drive almost all of their passenger sedans into the sunset by 2020.
by Telly Davidson via The American Conservative on May 16, 2018

Oil Barrels Aren't Real Anymore

Once a cask that held crude, the oil barrel is now mostly an economic concept.
by Brian Jacobson via The Atlantic on September 8, 2017
Men stand around the site of an oil gusher.
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The Oil Battlefields

Syracuse University Geography professor Matt Huber discusses the 1930s oil boom in the American southwest, and the military might brought in to control it.
via BackStory on January 9, 2015
Man reading paper about gas rationing in front of a sign that reads "sorry no gasoline."
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1973 – The Year That Changed Everything

The story of the oil shocks of 1973 and how they continue to shape the world we live in today.
via BackStory on January 9, 2015
Title card for animated film "Destination Earth".

Destination Earth (1956)

A Cold War-era cartoon celebrates the wonders of oil and free-market capitalism, and the overthrow of the Stalin-like leader of Mars.
by John Sutherland via The Public Domain Review on June 1, 1956
Smoke coming from Exxon Mobil plant

Inside Exxon's Strategy To Downplay Climate Change

Internal documents show what the oil giant said publicly was very different from how it approached the issue privately in the Tillerson era.
by Christopher Matthews, Collin Eaton via The Wall Street Journal on September 14, 2023
Front cover of Rendered Obsolete: Energy Culture and the Afterlife of US Whaling.

Underground Whales: An Energy Archaeology

On the history of whaling and how we understand energy consumption.
by Jamie L. Jones via UNC Press Blog on September 13, 2023

‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ Tell the Same Terrifying Story

The “Barbenheimer” double feature captures the dawn of our imperiled era.
by Tyler Austin Harper, Amanda Shendruk via Washington Post on July 19, 2023
Aerial view of cleanup at ruptured Keystone pipeline that dumped oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, Dec. 9, 2022.
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Oil and Oil Spills Have Long Gone Hand in Hand

New technology has facilitated the transportation of oil, but spills remain a risk.
by Nolan Varee via Made By History on January 9, 2023
An aerial picture of Chelsea Creek and Revere.

Always Devoted to Such Use: Sacrifice Zones and Storage on the Boston-Revere Border

A new logistics center in Revere tells a familiar story and poses the question: how inextricable is land use from the land itself?
by Tess D. McCann via Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center on October 21, 2022
Farmers harvest wheat near the village of Tbilisskaya, Russia, July 21, 2021. That nation’s farmers produce nearly a fifth of world wheat exports.

How High Energy Prices Emboldened Putin

Rupert Russell’s new book shows how the financialization of commodity prices worsens volatility and destabilizes geopolitics. It couldn’t be more timely.
by Tim Sahay via The American Prospect on March 22, 2022
BP is trying to divest its share of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
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Western Oil Companies Ditching Russia is a New Twist on a Familiar Pattern

For more than a century, Western oil companies have cycled into and out of Russia.
by Michael De Groot via Made By History on March 7, 2022
Auto workers on strike outside a General Motors plant in Detroit, September 1970.

When Americans Took to the Streets Over Inflation

In the 60s and 70s, spiraling prices for staples like meat and gasoline wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, thanks to political and policy mistakes.
by Jon Hilsenrath via The Wall Street Journal on June 11, 2021
The ocean

Chemical Warfare’s Home Front

Since World War I we’ve been solving problems with dangerous chemicals that introduce new problems.
by Elizabeth Kolbert via New York Review of Books on February 11, 2021
A lone person sits in an empty mall.
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Americans Must Relearn to Sacrifice in the Time of Coronavirus

Citizenship used to demand sacrifice. Then we taught Americans to buy things instead.
by Joseph Stieb via Made By History on March 19, 2020
Devils roasting the earth on a spit.

From Saving the Earth to Ruling the World

The transformation of the environmental movement.
by Christopher Caldwell via Claremont Review of Books on November 1, 2019

American Beauties

How plastic bags came to rule our lives, and why we can’t quit them.
by Rebecca Altman via Topic on August 1, 2018
Trucks and cars moving on the highway

Keep on Truckin’

The road to right-wing deregulation began on our nation's highways.
by Matthew D. Lassiter via Democracy Journal on December 10, 2008

American Green

How did the plain green lawn become the central landscaping feature in America, and what is the ecological cost?
by Ted Steinberg via Longreads on March 15, 2006

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