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 A Supremely Effective Production and Immediately Relevant Jul 10, 2010
An amazingly well-produced and effective video. Includes footage from recent relatively interviews with "people in the know" from around the world, including behind-the-scenes politicians, oil industry consultants, political consultants, and well-versed scientists. Also includes interesting historical footage from various archives that serve to build an understanding for and appreciation of the rapid rise of the petroleum industry... how petroleum has fueled industrial development and our modern standard of living... and how not more than 1% of the population has any idea whatsoever that very challenging economic, social, and political consequences loom on the near horizon, due to the limited reserves of petroleum. A skillful presentation of "peak production" and other concepts that we should all understand.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Urgent and Excellent May 25, 2010
Produced in 2006, "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash," has been out on DVD since 2007, but, I must admit, I hadn't even known about it till this week. I had vaguely been aware of, and worried about, Peak Oil for several years, especially after reading a National Geographic article on it and then occasional (but only occasional) brief mentions elsewhere in the mainstream news. But this riveting documentary really brought home the urgency of the situation. I watched it three times, and then read the many (fine) reviews here for opinions, background information, and possible counterarguments - of which there were none.
The film's subtitle, "The Oil Crash," is very fitting. By contrast, the more familiar term "Peak Oil" seems misleading and innocuous, merely indicating that half of the world's oil is now gone or soon will be. As the film shows, our real problem is far worse than that, because oil will therefore get much more expensive than ever before, indeed beyond the price range of many people and even whole societies. Ironically, we'll also use up that second, increasingly expensive half of the supply much more rapidly than we did the first half, precisely because of the massive industrialization and population explosion which that first half of the supply allowed us. Those two problems together will surely lead to widespread oil riots and oil wars, and will seriously damage the world's economy. Hence "the Oil Crash." With more foresight, all of this could have been prevented. But we are now rapidly running out of time to transition smoothly to alternative energy sources, and only have about a ten-year window left.
The first industrial use of oil occurred in the 1850s, over 150 years ago. But the production and near-exhaustion of the second half of the oil supply will take far fewer than 150 years - perhaps merely 20 to 30 years. An increasingly high rate of use, and waste, by the USA, and suddenly now also by China and India with their billions of people, are rapidly depleting the supply.
As more than one expert in the film bitterly notes, oil has long been the cheapest liquid you could buy, costing less than a bottle of water. What a terrible waste of a precious non-renewable resource. But its lowly status won't last more than a few more years. The Cheap Oil Era will soon be over, and that of Scarce and Expensive Oil will begin.
The film also stresses that alternative energy sources - solar, wind, biomass, nuclear, hydrogen, etc. - simply cannot compare with oil as a marvelously efficient, convenient, concentrated energy source. And they will all take several decades to fully develop anyway. (Still, we must try, and try with all speed, also in order to reduce that "other" drawback of oil use - global warming.)
Highlights of this documentary include fascinating 1970s footage of Prof. Hubbert, the "peak oil" doomsday prophet of the 1950s, eloquently explaining the sad facts of our oil addiction and limited world supply.
David Goodstein, professor of physics, offers many insightful comments, noting, for example, that the peak period for discovery of U.S. oil was way back in the 1930s, and that peak production of those discoveries occurred about 1970, exactly as Hubbert had predicted in the 50s.
Colin Campbell, a British oil geologist and consultant to Exxon and other companies, notes a terrible irony to the whole production process: "The [faster] you exploit oil and gas, the sooner it's gone." He then notes how that lesson has struck home: "The British government now admits that it becomes a net [oil] importer by next year [2006]... and that [North Sea oil] is gone by 2020 ... a huge change." He also despairs of finding any major new reserves: "We already have fantastic technology to find oil...." Yet not much has been found in decades.
Two other grim "stars" of the film are rather unexpected but very welcome ones: U.S. Senator Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, a Republican, and Matt Simmons, an energy investment banker and former advisor to the first President Bush, also Republican. These two conservative voices are the most convincing of all. Listening to them, you know the film isn't slanted leftward. Both men are experts (Bartlett is also a scientist) and both are pessimistic about the world's oil situation and our collective ability to respond to the looming crisis/crash.
Senator Bartlett warns, "We [the U.S.] use 25% of the world's oil, we're only one person in 22 [= about 5% of the world's population], we have only 2% of the [world's] known reserves of oil." Again, "Not one in 50, not one in 100 of the people in our country have any inkling of the potential problem that we're facing.... There will be very serious economic consequences." Again, "We [need] to have a very vigorous [energy] conservation program." Again, "[The U.S.] imports two-thirds of the [oil] we use - that has to affect your foreign policy." And again, "It's very unlikely that, once we've run down the other side of Hubbert's Peak, we're going to be able to maintain the kind of lifestyles that we now maintain.... It will be impossible." And finally, "In the absence of fossil fuels, how many people can the world support? Many people believe maybe a billion and a half [to] two billion people."
The film ends on that question of world population, with other experts agreeing that the population of a post-oil or scarce-oil world will probably have to go down to 1-2 billion. Unfortunately, in the four years since this 2006 film was made, world population has gone up from about 6.5 billion to about 6.8 billion, and is on track to reach 8 billion by 2025 - practically tomorrow. If the Scarce & Expensive Oil Era arrives already this decade, with the price of oil going much higher, a leveling off of world population, and even a major reduction in it, may occur much sooner, and much more painfully, than it otherwise would.
Personally, I'd vote today to double the price of gas in the USA in order to keep gas-guzzling cars off the streets and roads for all but important purposes. We also need to expand our rail system greatly, and produce lightweight solar-powered cars (golf cart style) by the millions for purely city driving, especially in the sunny South. City speed limits could easily be lowered to 20 mph for their better safety. And who needs those 4,000 pound elephants that so many people drive today? As for Hummers, I sincerely believe they should be outlawed. That would be an important symbolic step. Of course, we also need to "buy local" and do a hundred other things to reduce our use and waste of oil, for the sake of future generations.
Please order this DVD for your local library, and talk to friends and even strangers about it. Call and write your representatives in Congress and urge them to take action. Thanks!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Most Important Documentary Sep 09, 2009
Like some people (George W. Bush comes to mind) describe their life in terms of "before 9/11 and after 9/11", in a sense I describe my life as "before A Crude Awakening, and after A Crude Awakening". I've watched a lot of fine movies and DVD's in my life, but I think I have to rate this as the most important one I've watched. It is not that the message is so novel. Before I watched the movie, if someone had asked me, "Will the supply of oil dwindle in the future?" I would have answered, "yes". It's just that this movie is so well-done, it puts into perspective--and not over-dramatically, either--so well what that ACTUALLY MEANS for the future of humanity, that it very much impacted the way I think about everything--about our past, our present and our future. I think that everyone who is capable of understanding the contents should watch this movie. There are plenty of things to "worry about", and plenty of "disaster movies" to watch, for those who are inclined to worry. Probably the chief contender for future problems is climate change. But "A Crude Awakening" has topped anything I've watched about climate change, in terms of how I think about where the world is headed. That's because while climate change is, I believe, already happening and will continue to accelerate, mankind as a whole is likely to feel a major impact from oil shortage, before we feel major impact from climate change. And the two topics are interrelated of course; the more we burn fossil fuels, the more CO2 we add to the environment. Anyhow--this movie affected my thinking so much, I personally have gotten more than 20 other people to watch the film. By comparison I didn't promote "An Inconvenient Truth" to anybody, although it was a well-done film.
WATCH THIS MOVIE. It does not matter what your politics are, you should hear what the speakers have to say about oil. The dot-com crash, the housing-market crash, the financial institutions crash--all of these things were completely obvious AFTER THE FACT--yet almost nobody seemed to see them coming BEFOREHAND. There will be an oil-supply crash too. Understand the implications of this for your future. Watch this movie. I cannot overrate the film.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 The End IS NEAR Aug 12, 2009
I read an Artical that says: Western Civilization will collapse in 30 years.
This DVD shows how it will happen.
This DVD should be shown in all american High Schools.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Scarier than horror movies Jan 08, 2009
This is a very real problem that may very well define future generations' ability to adapt to a world where energy has become more scarce. The fact that, in the third year after this film's debut, only 32 reviews have been posted about this movie speaks volumes about the lack of knowledge the general population has about this issue.
It is true that alternative energy sources may break our dependency on fossil fuels, but for that to happen there must be a huge increase in the amount of time/money our governments allot to research and development of new energy technology. And it has to happen fast.
Whether or not you believe the doomsayers who say that in the future we'll all have to live like the Amish, this is a great documentary that explores the possibilities of our lives without oil.
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