Oil Dependence and U.S. Foreign Policy
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Provided by: Council on Foreign Relations|Published on: April 27, 2021
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Synopsis
- This historical article spans from 1850 to 2022 and gives readers an in-depth understanding of the many facets of oil dependency and the foreign and domestic policies around oil.
- Beginning with the oil rush of 1850, students will learn about the increasing ubiquity of cars, the changing regulations regarding big oil companies, oil shortages and surpluses, the world wars, the Marshall Plan, OPEC, American domestic policy, wars in the Middle East, environmental concerns and disasters, climate change policy, offshore drilling, fracking, pipelines, international agreements, and much more.
Subjects: Economics, Civics, History, Geography
Authors: Mohammed Aly Sergie, Kevin Lizarazo
Region: Africa, Europe, Middle East, North America, Polar Regions, South and Central America, USA - Northeast, USA - West, USA - South, USA - Midwest, United States, Global, New Jersey
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This timeline will leave students with a well-rounded understanding of the historical events that led to America's dependence on oil.
- The resource is well organized and broken down in a way that is easy to manage and understand.
- Many interesting images are included, as well as external links to primary sources and additional information.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should be familiar with American and world history before working with this resource, specifically after World War I.
Differentiation
- Cross-curricular connections could be made in economics and math classes to work with the graphs and data for oil prices and consumption.
- This resource lends itself well to a jigsaw activity. Have students work individually or in pairs on a section of entries from the timeline. Their task is to become experts on their section and to distill the information they learned into a few sentences. The class can then present their learning and chart it digitally.
- As a fun extension, have students use the photo from their section or entry to create a faux social media post to accompany what they wrote. What hashtags, trending music, captions, or accounts would the image work with on their favorite platform?
- Other related resources include this interactive graph about American's beliefs around climate change, this video about the cost of carbon, and this video about the finite nature of fossil fuels.
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About the Partner Provider
CFR Education from the Council on Foreign Relations
CFR Education provides accurate, accessible, authoritative resources that build the knowledge, skills, and perspective high school and higher education students need to understand and engage with today’s most pressing global issues.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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