Messages from the fifth dimension

If it is true that oil is the motivation, then let's reduce our demand for oil products. Even if oil is not a motivation for war, oil is a health and environmental hazard in numerous ways, and the world will be healthier when we greatly reduce our reliance on petroleum and petroleum products, especially plastic. (Plastics are contributing to many unforeseen environmental and health problems.)

The obvious and most used oil product is gasoline. Learning how to drive more efficiently so as to save fuel is perhaps the best place to start. Buying a more fuel-efficient vehicle or one that relies less on gasoline at all is another (though more costly) step; perhaps one to take when you next need to replace your vehicle.

However, beyond cars are many other oil-consuming products, some of which you may not be aware. (A summary can be found here and here; in the latter one, in particular, notice how many more billions of gallons of crude oil are in the Middle East compared with any other place in the world.) Here is a brief list of petroleum products in everyday life, with some suggestions for alternatives:

• Candles. Most candles sold in the usual places use paraffin, which not only is a petroleum product, but is also unhealthy to breathe when burned. There are alternatives to paraffin-based candles, such as those made from vegetable oil. You can find the alternatives most easily in health food stores. Lamp oils, unless you are using olive or some other food-based oil, are also petroleum based and unhealthy to breathe.
• Candies. Some candies, especially cheaper chocolates, have paraffin in them. Ick. Avoid them. Buy better chocolate. Your valentine will thank you for it.
• Petroleum jelly (petrolatum) is a common household item. You might not know it as such, but things like Vasoline are basically petroleum jelly. Use alternatives from a health food store.
• Cosmetics. Many cosmetics (lip balms, mineral oil—the "mineral" is petroleum, and so on) contain petroleum in some form. There are many excellent and healthier alternatives. Check your local health food store.
• The barbecue. Two words: Lighter fluid. Ick. Barbecue the natural way by using natural charcoal, such as mesquite charcoal (not charcoal briquettes), and instead of lighter fluid (petroleum product!), use a chimney. Chimneys work GREAT!
• Plastics. Most plastics are petroleum based. Avoid plastics as much as possible.
• When asked "paper or plastic?", proudly produce cloth grocery bags, which you can buy inexpensively at many stores, or at least reuse your paper or plastic bags from before. (Some grocery stores give a slight credit for using cloth bags or reusing paper or plastic bags, or contribute to a good cause. Whole Foods punches a card; after a certain number of uses, you get one of their truly lovely but expensive cloth bags for free.)
• Buy toys made from natural materials, not plastic. Toys made from natural materials are nicer and more wholesome for children and help children to develop their deeper senses.
• Buy glass storage containers instead of plastic ones—they are nicer and more sanitary anyway. If you get storage containers made from Pyrex, you can use them in the freezer, refrigerator, and oven. If you get some Corningware cookware with lids, you can use it on the stove as well as in the freezer, refrigerator, and oven. (Never use Pyrex on the stove.) The venerable Anchor Hocking makes all-glass storage containers as well. You can also, if you must, use any of these in the microwave, though I recommend against using the microwave for anything. And especially, you should never warm your child's milk in the microwave; it poses a burning hazard and the microwave denatures the milk.
• Stop buying water in plastic bottles. Most of those bottles are made from PET, a petroleum product, and if you aren't recycling those bottles, you are further contributing to the problem. Instead, purchase a few reusable, sterilizable water bottles (such as the Nissan 16 oz. commuter bottle or the Nissan Drink Anywhere Lid Tumbler, both available at Campmor), and an excellent water purifier from Bondel, and fill and refill your own water bottles. Some people like to use fuel bottles instead, though I don't know how safe that is.
• Synthetic fibers for clothing, such as polyester. Here is a strong argument for buying only natural clothing (cotton, linen, wool, silk). And natural clothing looks and feels better and classier. It may not always be as easy care (though often it is; many silks, for instance, can be machine washed and dried), but it is much nicer. Also, after a while of wearing only natural fibers, you may start to notice that you have reeducated your skin and body and that you can tell the difference on an energetic level between wearing clothing made from synthetic fibers and clothing made from natural fibers.

More Resources

• This Week in Petroleum. An interesting weekly report on petroleum usage and other petroleum-related news.
• The Onion weighs in with its usual crisp humor.
• I have said for many years that my intuitive knowledge about our earth's resources, including oil, is that they are not as limited as we are told, nor are they created or formed the way we are told, nor are they being used up. Through spirit communications I did privately in 2001 and 2002, I learned of the existence of entities in the earth, whom I call the Alchemists, who transmute the materials of the earth in various ways. Always allowing for the possibility that I have a great imagination and nothing more, I was surprised to find this book, The Deep Hot Biosphere, which seems to in part corroborate what I have intuitively known and channeled. (It doesn't mention the Alchemists, though.) Take a look. Maybe even buy and read it.
• For more on how plastics are threatening the environment, read Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?—A Scientific Detective Story. Back to the text.
• In other environmental news: If you are upset over deforestation, then the first step is to reduce one's consumption of paper products and increase one's recycling efforts. For many tips on how to do so, see my essay on saving the environment.