Educational Media Reviews Online

The focus of this documentary is to show how utterly dependent on fossil fuels people have become. Muscle power is virtually nonexistent. According to this film, oil is what sustains our civilization. New discoveries of oil are not keeping pace with our normal daily consumption, and we are dipping into our reserves at a regular, and alarming, rate. Once oil production starts to decrease, which is speculated to happen in the foreseeable future, this will bring about dramatic changes in our lives. Several experts and authors of books on related topics are interviewed for their perspective on a future with limited oil reserves and ever increasing demands for fossil fuels. The common belief is that other nations throughout the world are trying to attain the same standard of living that the U.S. has enjoyed for decades and they don’t want to be told to conserve or settle for less than what we enjoy. Advertising is designed to convince people to consume more, to the point where we think this is normal. Media doesn’t want to focus on the bad news that we are running out of the fossil fuels we need to maintain our current lifestyle and levels of usage, or the dire consequences related to global warming and melting ice sheets. One of the more chilling messages comes from Joseph Tainter, the author of The Collapse of Complex Societies, who expresses concerns about the problems of a growing aging population and the expenses entailed converging with decaying infrastructures and high military costs. Past civilizations failed when it became too costly to maintain the status quo, according to Tainter.

This is a thought provoking documentary that will inspire viewers to seek out additional information and consider the importance of seeking alternatives to continued levels of oil usage.

Audio and video qualities are very good and some graphs add to the content.

This documentary would be useful for classroom discussions in high school and college classrooms.