The world's oil reserves are rapidly declining and are expected to be sufficient to meet global demand for the next 25 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2010, the US oil consumption rate was 19.15 million barrels per day, accounting for 22% of global oil consumption. Climate change and health problems caused by CO2 emissions can be significantly reduced by a change in our transport habits. With the world's resources rapidly being depleted due to overconsumption; Is it an impoverished world that our children will become heirs to? Lowering the national speed limit to 55 mph has many benefits, chief among them an increase in fuel economy and a decrease in fuel consumption. In 1974, due to the Arab oil embargo, Congress enacted a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour, resulting in a 2 percent decrease in highway fuel consumption, or a savings of 167,000 barrels of oil per day. Given the increase in the number of cars on the highway today, lowering the speed limit would result in even greater savings. A reduction in oil consumption would also mean that less oil would have to be extracted. No one, including scientists, knows for sure what effects drilling and the removal of oil from the earth's interior are having on the planet. Logic suggests that when you remove a liquid or solid from an interior, changes will occur on the exterior surface. Why is there oil and gas inside the earth? Could it be nature's way of lubricating the earth, like we do with our cars to keep them running smoothly? Scientists and those who study the composition of the earth can only speculate on these questions, but without true knowledge, future dangers will only be recognized in hindsight. Every year t...... half the paper...... them to live on. Works Cited “About Oil Shale” Oil Shale & Tar Programmatic EIC, n.d., web, August 26, 2011 Alter Lloyd, “Lowering the Speed ​​50mph Limit Could Reduce CO2 by 30%” Tree Hugger, October 6, 2010, web , August 250, 2011 Denning Dan, “Oil Shale Reserves, Can Oil Shale Change The World” The Daily Reckoning, n.d., web, August 26, 2011 “Do we have enough oil in the world to meet our future needs?” US Energy Information Administration, April 12, 2011, web, August 24, 2011“How much oil does the United States consume per year” US Energy Information Administration, June 6, 2011, web, August 24, 2011The Associated Press, “Warner: Reduce the speed limit to save petrol?" POLITICO, July 4, 2008, web, August 25, 2011Vidal John, “Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it” guarding.co.uk, The Observer, 30 May 2010, web, 26 August 201