Context
American political rhetoric includes the phrase "foreign oil" as something of which the United States must reduce or eliminate its imports. This is related to the general perception that the major global oil exporting countries are either openly hostile to US foreign policy and interests (Iran, Venezuela, and formerly Iraq), are former or potential future rivals (Russia) or are unsavoury allies (Saudi Arabia). However, most of American imports of oil come not from these countries, but from Canada and Mexico. As well Canada and Mexico export natural gas, uranium, and electricity to the United States. At the same time oil is globalized, fungible commodity: even if the United States does not buy oil from Iran, a price disruption cause by a drop in Iranian supplies would still impact American consumers. During the early 2010s American demand for energy dropped as a result of the Great Recession, and American production of oil and especially natural gas increase with new shale gas finds coming into production. Foreign dependence is not the only factor in North American energy politics, however; environmental concerns around land and water pollution as well as greenhouse gasses related to are also a matter of controversy. In Canada and Mexico there is also the concern not to have energy policy dictated by the United States, as well as tension over American ownership of energy companies.
Read more about this topic: North American Energy Independence
Famous quotes containing the word context:
“The hippie is the scion of surplus value. The dropout can only claim sanctity in a society which offers something to be dropped out of—career, ambition, conspicuous consumption. The effects of hippie sanctimony can only be felt in the context of others who plunder his lifestyle for what they find good or profitable, a process known as rip-off by the hippie, who will not see how savagely he has pillaged intricate and demanding civilizations for his own parodic lifestyle.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“Parents are led to believe that they must be consistent, that is, always respond to the same issue the same way. Consistency is good up to a point but your child also needs to understand context and subtlety . . . much of adult life is governed by context: what is appropriate in one setting is not appropriate in another; the way something is said may be more important than what is said. . . .”
—Stanley I. Greenspan (20th century)
“The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)