bechtelcrudeimpact

** Director: ** James Jandak Wood ** Release year: ** 2007   The central argument of this film is that society is unaware of the problems caused by our current oil consumption. The director does an excellent job of analyzing this problem in depth and considering the wide array of factors involved in the matrix. A common theme throughout the film is that even though we have almost – if not already – reached peak oil, our demand continues to rise at and ever accelerating rate.  ** Who are the key social actors and stakeholders in the film? **  This film makes the point that everyone is an important stakeholder in our current oil dependence. This is because virtually every facet of our lives depends on this source of energy. Other key social actors are the oil executives who have been making a fortune off of it. On much larger scale, important stakeholders and social actors mentioned throughout the film include the third world countries in need of greater oil supplies, the countries where oil can be found, and those who are actually consuming most of it.  ** What does the film convey about the matrix of factors that contribute to our dependence on oil? **  There are many factors addressed in the movie which contribute to our dependence on oil. The worst is our current transportation system, but a close follower is our agricultural production. Our farms produce far more food than we need today and this allows for a population increase. This, in turn, leads to greater fuel requirements and a much heavier dependence on oil. Furthermore, our production techniques actually use more energy to produce food than we actually get out of eating it, making this a very consumptive system. Petroleum byproducts can be found in nearly everything else we consume as well; from the plastic containers we store our food in to our nylon clothing. The worst part about it is that we think that the more of this stuff we have the happier we’ll be. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our belief in this myth is what causes our society to be so strongly opposed to change, even though our lives today are clearly unsustainable.  ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What does the film convey about the matrix of problems caused by our dependence on oil? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Our endless desire for this cheap and easy source of energy has led us to the point where supplies are beginning to run out. This has caused a wide variety of problems. For one, it has already driven us to war over the stuff. Most people don’t understand that our soldiers’ lives are being put at risk to put fuel in our cars. This not only affects us, but has lead to the devastation of other people’s lives. It has pushed several areas of the world into tremendous poverty, just so that we can keep our cushy way of life. Another problem is the environmental devastation that our oil dependence causes. The production of oil itself creates many toxic byproducts that effect the environment. One example of this from the film is what Texaco has done in Ecuador and a potential future problem could be in ANWR. Several other problems are caused directly by our burning of this fuel. The most obvious of these is global warming. One direct cause of this that the movie addresses is how the ocean currents can be disrupted by our actions and how this would impact people everywhere; turning Paris into a frozen wasteland for example. If we keep up what we are doing we are looking being responsible for the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs. An additional problem is that such a large amount of energy has allowed for an enormous population boom. There is an unfathomable number of people on this planet already and it is still growing, especially in China. This creates a vicious cycle of demand for greater industrialization, which requires even more fuel expenditures. In the end, the film makes the point that our current level of energy use is undermining the healthy and long lives that we could have. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What does the film convey about the matrix of affects that would be mobilized by a shift away from oil? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">This film conveys a huge amount of problems in the matrix that we will face when attempting to mobilize a shift away from oil. The two main problems are that our society does not want to sacrifice and part of our lives today and that we don’t have a good enough understanding to see what is really going on. First, according to US leaders, forfeiting our current way of life is non-negotiable. This is how they justify taking over the rest of the planet’s resources. As a result, Americans use more than twice than most parts of the globe with similar population sizes. According to the film, there is on average 1.7 people per car in the US where as there is around 117 people per car in China. Ergo, we have by far the largest environmental footprint and still don’t want to be the ones to sacrifice anything. Second, there are many misconceptions about our oil use. For one, we don’t understand the actual price of oil. According to Wood, the media today does not tell the real story about our dependence on oil and a huge part of this is corporately motivated. He claims that this is not actually a resource problem, but an investment problem. The problem isn’t that there isn’t enough oil, the problem is that we are using it abusively. One problem that the film claims is that the USGS estimates oil levels well above what they should be. This affects how policy is made. Furthermore, OPEC essentially encourages countries to report high resources because otherwise they would not be allowed to produce as much. For this reason the actual figures are kept secret. Another problem is that our government directly supports our economy, which is clearly dependent upon oil. This puts oil security directly in the governments focus. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">I really liked this film and found it very persuasive and compelling. The narratives in the movie told good stories about what was happening with excellent metaphors for the problems. It was also very well organized and included many examples of what was happening. This documentary was full of facts and details about our oil dependence and really addressed a wide array of problems in a lot of depth. ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">There were several things that could have been done better in the film though. For one, there were no titles for the individuals who were speaking. I think this is important for maintaining the credibility of the movie. Another problem was that the film felt unnecessarily long. It was fairly repetitive and had several parts that overlapped too much. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What kinds of corrective action are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective. ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">This film suggests several different methods for corrective action, but the most prevalent is that every individual should take action to help solve the problem. There are a few different ways that we can do this. The best thing that we can do is become better educated about the problem. Only then can we understand what we actually need to do to solve it. Also, we can reduce oil consumption in our daily lives. This may mean giving up a few little things, but even small actions can add up. Furthermore, we can exercise our political voices. This is the best way to affect changes in government and everyone has a voice. On a larger scale, solutions can include greater food production by local organic farms such as CSAs and taking steps to reduce our population increase. The latter is a fairly controversial issue, but it truly is becoming necessary. If we don’t keep our population in check, then eventually some other force will and it will not likely be favorable. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">One thing that this film compelled me to seek out is what I can do to help solve the problem of oil dependence. According to the film a good way to start is to join a local CSA. This isn’t the best option for me right now with my current lifestyle, but it made me wonder just how hard this would be. A very quick and easy search brought me to this site []= where there are several CSAs listed used in the vicinity of Troy. This is really nice to know, but I would certainly be interested in what it would be like to actually be part of one of these groups. My next question is what problems are keeping such good solutions from being put into effect. One reason I found was that there are huge government subsidies for industrial farms according to [] “in 2007, $5 billion in taxpayer funds were given to growers of corn, soybeans and cotton alone, despite their record profits that year. More than half of that $5 billion was paid to just 10 percent of all recipients, including the largest and most prosperous industrial farm operations.” This certainly does put the small CSA farmer on an uneven playing field and will make any shift away from these industrial farms a serious challenge.<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Title: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> Crude Impact
 * What is the central argument or narrative of the film? **