Fuel,+Change+Your+Fule+Change+the+World

** Director: ** Josh Tickell ** Release Year: 2009  ** ** What is the central argument of the film? **  Josh Tickell travels around the country in his bio fuel power van promoting green technology. He is on a mission to convince people that green alternatives are not only good for the environment but also less expensive than oil based products. He showcases many of the easy ways to bring green technology into people’s lives and the other benefits to those products. Josh also points out the negative side effects of a society base on oil. He discusses the health problems, the environmental damage and the countries’ vulnerability on the world market. ** Who are the key actors and stakeholders in the film? **  The introduction of the film is a description of Josh’s child hood in Australia, then him growing up in the marshes of the Mississippi delta. He tells a story of the pristine wild life and natural beauty that he grew up with and came to love. Then in later years after the petroleum industry came in, his mother developed cancer. Also the natural landscape was drastically changed after the pollutants of the oil industry were introduced. Josh tries to convey that this type of disaster has the potential to happen to anyone in the country. No one is safe from such contamination at some level. The films show how the use of petroleum affects everyone’s lives in many different and often unexpected ways. Also the film shows how the solution would change everyone’s life for the better. ** What does the film convey about the matrix of factors that contributes to our dependence on oil? **  The way the U.S. society is organized today there is a great necessity for oil. It is integral in many of the products used in day life and for a vast majority of transportation needs. This has given the oil companies large amounts of power, in political strength and fanatical influence. This has been used to make major contributions to the EPA to pass policies that are favorable to the oil industry. Oil has been seen as the cheapest form of energy in this nation for many years, whenever prices go up people expect and demand the government to make changes to compensate to keep oil inexpensive. This often leads to more power in the hands of the oil industry. In the past many presidents have admitted that the nation has a problem with its dependence on oil but each one must in the end compromise and support the oil industry to keep the nation’s economy strong. However other countries are showing that there is a viable future based on alternatives. Many countries in Europe have policies to eliminate or greatly reduce oil in the near future. Sweden has pledged to be oil free by 2020. ** What does the film convey about the matrix of problems caused by our dependence on oil? **  The film opens with a description to the marshes of the Mississippi delta before the petro chemical industry came in and developed the area. Then the destruction of the wild life of the area after the pollution contaminated the environment. This is caused by the by products of oil refining being improperly dumped in the area. Also there have been several spills because of natural disasters, after hurricane Katrina there was 9 million gallons of oil dumped into the wetlands. There are high levels of toxic chemicals in the area are clearly shown by the higher than normal cancer rates of the local residents. Such dangerous and destructive practices are allowed to continue because the oil companies have a great deal of power in propaganda and law making. The oil industry has had a long history of large media campaigns after spills to control public opinion of the company. There is also work done by lobbies on behalf of oil companies to pass legislation favorable to oil industry. These laws many have devastating consequences to other areas of the economy and environment. Another problem that arises from the over dependence on oil is the vulnerable position the U.S. is put into on the world political and economic stage. Countries in unstable areas of the world control a significant portion of the oil this country uses. This leads to large amounts of money leavening the country to purchase the oil, also there needs to be great military spending to stabilize some of these countries. Reasons have been fabricated for the public to go to war, in the second Gulf war it was said there were weapons of mass destruction when there were none. Many of the modern wars fought by the U.S. can be blamed on the securing of oil. This has led to vast military spending, about $600 billion each year. The military presence in some of these countries has incited hate among the people, this is one of the reasons for the September 11th attacks. ** What does the film convey about the matrix of affects that would mobilize a shift away from oil? **  To move away from an oil based society it must make economic scene. This is a capitalistic society, people’s choices are based mostly on price of products and services. In the present arrangement oil base products are the most economical. This is because the long term costs are not considered in the initial price, also there are many policies and institutions to keep oil inexpensive. The film gives examples of how the government could help mobilize society away from oil. One example was that large SUV’s were being heavily subsidized to try to bring the country out of a recession. Eliminating such subsidies that encourage extreme oil consumption by keeping the price artificially low would be a large step to moving society away from oil. If people were able to see the true cost of oil consumption there were be a drastically different view on its use. Currently the government and other companies work to cover up and minimize the negative effects of oil use. Alternatives would begin to look much more attractive with higher petroleum prices. People would realize that they could live similar lifestyles without using harmful oil products. This true understanding of the actual problems with petroleum and the benefits of the alternatives would be the most important fact in making and effective transition away from oil. ** What part of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? **  Josh Tickell was on a journey across the country in a bio diesel powered van. The fact that he was able to travel several thousand miles in such a van was very convincing that this is a viable possibility for society. Then the film show truck stops with bio-diesel that are thriving. The truckers actually prefer the alternative fuel over the conventional fuel. The reason there is not more bio fuel alternatives in this country is the fact that the oil companies are allowed to influence the laws that are made with regard to different types of fuel and environmental practice in the oil industry. This allows companies to expend more energy extracting and producing a gallon of gasoline than the amount of energy contained in that gallon. This in no way can be a sustainable method of providing the energy for transportation. With small changes made in everyday life it can be very easy to save energy and therefore money. This is the main point of the film, and the most important one. People can with current technology be green and energy efficient. ** What part of the film did you not find compelling or convincing? **  The film showed bio fuels as being the savior of the nation, that people could continue using fuel at a similar rate but with the substitution of bio fuels for conventional fuels, this assumption in not realistic. There not enough crop land in this country to provide for the nations fuel needs with current production methods. As more corps and crop land are being used to produce fuel, food prices with increase dramatically, this has already been seen happening. One reason bio fuel prices are very low now is there are heavy government subsidies on bio diesel and ethanol. Also much bio diesel is made from waste vegetable oil. This is something that restaurants produce and must pay to dispose of. Refiners therefore can obtain this at minimal cost. All these combine to make bio fuel very inexpensive, but with an increase in production the low cost would quickly disappear. The film also portray diesel engines as the next big move in the transportation industry, these engines may be more efficient than gasoline engines however they still use large amounts of oil. There needs to be some other shift in society away from personal transportation toward public transportation. ** What kind of corrective actions are suggested by the film, if the film itself does not suggest a corrective action, describe action that you can imagine being affective. **  Alternative fuels are the solutions that the film puts forward for the nation’s energy crisis. These will be an integral part of the future but there needs to be other changes. Even with alternative fuel there needs to be some reduction in consumption. Public transportation will be a necessary part of the future of transportation in this country. Also there needs to be other sources of energy, potential electric cars for some areas of transportation. The electric could be produced by solar panels or wind turbines. There are other technologies that need to be further developed to make an alternative energy society possible for everyone in the country. The time of using only one energy source for transportation is over, in the future there will need to be a portfolio of energy sources. ** What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out, provide two examples of what you learned? **  After watching this film I was interested in making my own bio diesel. I was able to find several sources for different methods to make it. Also I read several stories about people making their own fuel for less than half the price at the pump. This price does not include the taxes and paying for the base oil to be refined. These processes start with waste vegetable oil that is discarded form fryer in restaurants. If these costs were included the price would be significantly higher but potential still below the price of conventional diesel. I found that the process is relatively simple and only involves a few readily available chemicals. []
 * Title: ** Fuel, change your fuel change your world