Collapse Movie

[wahn]

http://www.collapsemovie.com/


Anyone here seen this? Thoughts? Critiques?

[Cargést]

Without having seen it, I can anticipate that it will suddenly become "cool" and/or "avant-garde" to agree with ANUS's views on societal collapse.

[wahn]

Isn't that what Alex Birch has devoted his life to?

Anyhow, can anyone recommend any blogs or websites exploring collapse?

[kontinual]

This, I'm sure, is primarily about peak oil -- Ruppert was in the film The End of Suburbia, as well, which appears to have been more limited in the scope of its implications and less brazenly alarmist (based on this trailer, at least).  Peak oil acolytes run the gamut from bunker-mentality survivalism to those who see a more gradualist repealing of the gains of the Industrial Revolution.  Many are successful oil businessmen and just as many come from the academic left.  Most believe, in some manner, that we are in population overshoot and that peak oil is the primary Malthusian limit we are facing over the long term.

These folks tend to shy away from Spenglerian arguments and stick to a narrative based on scientific or common-sense speculation.  James Howard Kunstler may come the closest to marrying the peak-oil ideas with a critique of decadence -- the fault of "excess energy" that will soon be a luxury.

I suggest The Oil Drum for the harder-nosed science of it, and exploring the links in their sideboard for various related perspectives.

[Cargést]

I have to say that I prefer common sense speculation to wishful thinking.

[wahn]

Film industry sensationalism aside, the interviewee seems like an interesting person though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ruppert

[Saif al-Malik]

The eventual culmination of peak-oil will come, but it may not come as quickly as anticipated.  It may not even necessarily involve high prices at the outset as much as it will involve catastrophic shortages like the past oil shocks.  However, they will be a continuous occurrence as civilization will still have access to limited and sporadically delivered amounts of oil, but not dependable, safe, or cheap.  When the food prices rise and electricity ... thus refrigeration and modern food storage fails as a result, is when the real chaos will begin.

Ever need a better reason to think of learning through WWOOF?

[esoteric]

The End of Suburbia,

I found this an extremely boring and unnecessary film. It was like - oil is running out, our whole modern society was constructed based on oil, let's all panic! 80 minutes of drudgery which could have been summed up by a simple sentence. I didn't even bother with the last half hour so forgive me if it provided any miraculous insights.

I suppose these films can be viewed as awakenings, much like An Inconvenient Truth, for those who still think we can continue on this path to destruction. Those of us who already know this can skip this nonsense and spend our time more constructively. By the way, I hate documentaries. Being talked to like an idiot on a literal level to prove a point is so mundane, when the same can be done on a more profound level in fiction film using artistic technique, striking narrative and metaphorical symbolism. 

[kontinual]

I have to say that I prefer common sense speculation to wishful thinking.

Fair enough.  How is that relevant to what has been added here?

[Cargést]

I have to say that I prefer common sense speculation to wishful thinking.

Fair enough.  How is that relevant to what has been added here?

Perhaps in that the status quo is blind optimism - everything's cool, we're all happy (except for the starving people in Africa, but we're totally going to fix that), and nothing's going to go wrong, the West is going to last forever, and we'll simply move to renewable energy sources when the oil and coal run out, and China are cool and won't attack us, and the global economy will recover again, and will never collapse again, and.....

People may not think these things when they properly tackle these subjects, but, in my experience at least, when these things are not being actively thought about, the general attitude is that all we are faced with is impending continuation.

Also, I was quite hideously drunk when I posted that.