"Spiraling Costs," Paper and Beeswax, 16 in. x16 in. (4 in. deep)

Ever get so frustrated with the current economic downturn that you simply want to rip your financial documents to shreds?

Artist Jaynie Crimmins did.

And then she added some beeswax… ultimately creating a new series of multi-media works that she calls “Home Economics.”

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Irrespective of the reasons that have contributed to this, it is indeed heartening to see that the amount of crude oil that is being used currently in the US, has dropped to the consumption levels of 2003.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, demand for oil in the U.S. in 2008 went down by 6% to 19.4m barrels/day. And while that still forms huge chunks of carbon dioxide constantly released into the atmosphere, it still is a considerable decline indeed.

The reduction in oil consumption might have come from a variety of reasons. From the bad economy that forces more commuters to use public transportation to a switch the alternate fuel, this is obviously a development that one can be slightly happy about.

Still, no reason to feel ecstatic.

The US oil consumption in 2003 was no small number in itself and despite the 3.3 percent drop in use of gasoline one cannot help but think that this has more to do with the ‘green dollars’ rather than ‘green thoughts’.

Is environmental awareness starting to become a by-product of sound economy? Very well could be and we are not complaining as long as the results keep flowing in.

Source: TreeHugger & AutoBlogGreen
Original Image by marinephotobank