Oil has dominated global economics and dictated the shape, terms, and function of the geopolitical map for nearly 200 years. While two centuries is the merest of blips on the timeline of human history, it’s hard for us today to imagine a world without oil in all of its myriad forms and byproducts, not to mention its hefty environmental externalities. For better and for worse, we live on a petro-planet. Since the black gold rush of the mid 19th century, oil has made the world smaller, connecting people as well as markets and making international travel a matter of hours and not months or years of voyaging. It’s changed human relationship with the Earth and with each other, forming an intricate web of complex political economy and power brokering, leading to all-out wars as well as unlikely alliances that continue to shape our lives in both obvious and shadowy […]