Photo of the Day 49

Monster Truck Jump, Pennsylvania, 2004

Photograph by Sarah Leen

A monster truck displays its brute power at a stunt rally in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. America's love affair with automobiles spans far and wide, from monster truck rallies and race car shows to supersize SUVs. That love affair translates to big consumption: The U.S. slurps up to a quarter of the world's oil—about three gallons (11 liters) a person every day—even though it has just 5 percent of the world's population.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The End of Cheap Oil," June 2004, National Geographic magazine)