Toban Black

“WIN $50 IN FREE SHELL GAS EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT!.”

A contest at a bar in London, Ontario. (I took the photo.)

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Blood for oil

“The American Red Cross [ran] a summer contest where blood donors are eligible to win a year’s supply of fuel.”
- Phoebe Chin at Upickreviews (in July)

“Blood banks recognize the rising prices of gas as an opportunity to pull in more donors and leveraging that in their marketing.  ‘Donate plasma for gas money,’ is plastered across a banner outside Las Cruces Biological, in Las Cruces, N.M.  [They're] not actually giving out gas, just money but they have been seeing sharp increases of donors since March and lab workers claim the new donors are not the typical drug addicts looking for some quick cash, they are regular Joes and Janes looking for some extra gas money… quick cash.  ‘Blood for Gas’ is a strange appeal, but it appears to be working.”
- Matt at greenUPGRADER (in July)

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Sex for oil

“Some resourceful people have turned to bartering for gas, but generally speaking you have to have some kind of skill to offer in exchange.  This didn’t stop Angela Eversole who traded sex for a $100 gas card.” ” Unfortunately rather than getting a full tank she got a prostitution rap.

This is the second ‘Sex for Gas’ incident in just a few months.” …

- Matt at greenUPGRADER (in July)

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Praying for oil

Jenny (in August) on the “Praying at the Pump” movement

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An oil-fuelled missionary drive

“At St. Ann’s Parish in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, $50 gas cards are given out in [draw competitions] at Sunday masses”
- Phoebe Chin at Upickreviews (in July)

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“The Prize” — the title of this post — is a reference to the book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, which a video series with the same titled also was based on.

In the context of this post, that title (”The Prize”) is meant to be a joke about the ways that oil is pursued in the cases mentioned above.

(As for the book and the videos with that title, I found the latter worthwhile, but I haven’t read the book.  People have suggested to me that the author recently has been speaking on behalf of oil industry interests, but I couldn’t begin to confirm or question those claims.)

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A post about more constructive approaches to rising oil and gasoline costs -
“Reducing oil prices”

Giving blood for oil or sex for oil, on the other hand, entails an extremely shallow and present-minded perspective. Those approaches barely scratch the surface of rising gas prices as symptoms of much wider problems.

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A previous post in which I joked about oil depletion issues -
“Lightening the loss of crude“