Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek has written an outstanding story that sheds light on some previously undisclosed aspects of the global petroleum economy and its travails. The report also provides some insight into the true costs of America's oil addiction.
It's a long piece, but well worth reading. The Trib web site also includes a documentary based on Salopek's reporting, photos from Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela, and the Gulf Coast (sources of the oil that Salopek traced back from the Marathon service station in South Elgin, Illinois where the story begins), and a counter that tracks the number of barrels (not gallons) of oil used in the United States while visiting the site.
[Via FP Passport.]