Crude Impact

It took just 150 years for human beings to bleed the planet of roughly half of this oil. DVD Features: Over an hour of additional interviews on globalization, 9/11, alternative fuels and more. It took hundreds of millions of years for petroleum to form on Earth. Arresting in its honesty and erudition, CRUDE IMPACT examines the catastrophic prospect of ''world peak oil'' - or the point in time when the quantity of petroleum extracted from the earth begins to irreversibly decline. It also surveys the devastating and far-reaching effects of the rampant pursuit of oil, including increasingly aggressive political turmoil, irreparable ecological damage, economic turbulence, and gross human rights violations. The film illuminates a vicious cycle of escalating dependency and need, as well as the behaviors and patterns fueling this cycle, such as consumer fetishism and the myth of endless supply, the tremendous rise in population, and the demands of many more quickly-industrializing nations. Elegantly weaving together an alarmingly accelerating pattern of consumption and depletion, the award-winning CRUDE IMPACT reveals a frighteningly dark future that can only be averted by becoming informed, spreading awareness, and revolutionizing the way we think and live.

The repetitive score serves as a mild soporific, but time-lapse photography, eye-catching graphics, and clips from vintage ads, cartoons, and comedies liven up the grim scenario. --Kathleen C. Fennessy States author Michael Economides, "China has gone berserk in its energy demand." Wood also shines a light on Ecuador and Nigeria, oil-producing nations where poverty, pollution, and disease run rampant, leading to the execution of protesters like Ken Saro-Wiwa, who spoke out against the actions of Shell Oil in Africa. Well organized bonus interviews, along with a few funny outtakes, add further value. Packed with abundant evidence and persuasive speakers, Crude Impact sounds the alarm over world peak oil. Though his interview subjects, mostly authors and attorneys, concentrate on the U.S., several cite China's rising consumption rates as a serious concern. Once extraction of this non-renewable resource passes the tipping point, the biosphere and global economy could collapse (author Thom Hartmann claims it's already happened). As in the documentary King Corn, the director concludes that our oil addiction is hastening our demise (just as our over-reliance on corn-filled products has reached critical mass). Though Crude Impact covers some of the same ground as Who Killed the Electric Car? and A Crude Awakening, all released within the same year, his point bears repeating since the problem persists. James Jandak Wood offers a thorough take on the crisis, incorporating factors such as the transition from agrarian to industrial societies, the switch from coal to oil, rapid population growth, and human rights abuses.