“Black Friday”: Only Made Possible By America’s Energy Workers

November 29, 2019

As Alaskans join the rest of America in “Black Friday” shopping frenzies, let’s not forget about the source of many of the most-desired products on our shopping lists.

Phones, tablets and computers are comprised of dozens of mined materials, and the cases that protect them are nearly all petroleum-based.

TVs, game systems and virtual-reality components require not only gold, copper and other mined materials, but also plastics and other poly-based materials that only come from responsible resource development.

Toys, sporting goods, vacuums, pots and pans, microwaves and other appliances, and home improvement tools all exist because someone used extracted components to create them.  Components that came from men and women working in the energy industries.

The lights that come on without a second thought at ungodly hours in stores across our state do so only because of a reliable power grid, through the efforts of men and women whose work goes unnoticed by the vast majority of shoppers.

Whether you started your car or truck by hand or autostart, the gas or diesel that powered your vehicle was extracted and refined by men and women in the oil and gas industry.  You drove on roads made from asphalt and rock, lit by streetlights, with the snow cleared by heavy equipment.  All of those are there because of energy workers’ efforts.

In short, if you’re out enjoying “Black Friday” with friends and family, please take a minute to reflect on the efforts of energy workers, and say “thanks”.