Tar Sands in Alberta (Image: Wikimedia/Howl Arts Collective)

The way to get off oil? Abstinence

It’s a common environmentalist trope that we’re addicted to oil. The analogy is simple: Our dependence on the stuff and the inability to kick it is similar to a junkie’s addiction to dope. Naysayers to the idea will point out that unlike addicts who put substances into their body, fossil fuel abuse is just a