Long+Film+Annotation+5

Arunesh Ghosh, Annotation #4 01/04/12 //The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream //.  1. Title, director and release year?

This rather interesting documentary is titled: //The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream//. The film was directed by Gregory Greene and was released in 2004.

2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?

The argument of the film is rather unsettling. The piece exposes the reality that suburbia and “The American Dream” as we know it are the epitome of unsustainable living and doomed for failure. At first, this proposal seems absurd. How can the very way we live be doomed for certain extinction? Piece by piece however, the film slowly explains the possibility of the end of suburbia within the next century if not sooner. Starting with the history of how suburbia developed, to recent mass power outages caused by overconsumption, the film presents a strong argument.

3. How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal?

The document presents its argument in a very logical and succinct manner. It all begins with an introduction of how suburbia came to be, with its roots seeded in the coal and soot of industry. Sick and tired of the terrible conditions in cities, more affluent individuals moved out to the country side. Gradually, with the introduction of rail cars, the upper middle class began expanding into large scale country neighborhoods. With the advent of WWII and the boom in gasoline availability the automobile rose to prominence and hand in hand so too did the modern day suburb arise. This new suburb was a mere shadow of the country style homes of decades past; rather they were weak imitations of the affluent lifestyle. In due time all the functions of the city followed people out to the suburbs. The traditional grocery store, shopping mall, and strip malls arose all connected by super highways. Every, single element of travel in the suburbs runs on automobiles, most of which are fueled by gasoline. This brings us to present day where the film explains that we may have reached our peak in global oil production, the point after which it will become more expensive to produce oil than to sell it. This is due to the necessity of using more and more expensive materials to harvest the oil. The film has tremendous emotional appeal as I myself have been raised in a suburban environment my entire life as I would assume is the case with half the people watching the film.

4. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?

The film does not target a specific sustainability problem as a whole but looks at the broader scope of suburban living and infrastructure as a whole. At the root of the issue is the entire infrastructural organization of the suburbs around oil and natural gas. Every element of the suburbs from transportation to the transit of food to our omni-stocked mega grocery stores is more or less reliant on fossil fuels. Even the electricity on which our standard suburban appliances such as fridges, tvs, and toasters run on are all mostly powered by coal and other depletable forms of energy. When taking apart the extent to which suburbia as a whole is dependent on oil especially the fact that it is inextricably linked to our food supplies. Once this shocking realization began to sink in, it slowly dawned on me what the potential consequences of rising gas prices would be. For now it is mostly limited to frustration at the gas pump but I now have no doubt in my mind that over the course of the next decade or so food prices will also be affected significantly due to rising gas prices.

5. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?

In all, the arguments presented in the film seemed to make sense. It is true that everything about suburbia, from electric grids, to transportation, to town planning is all based on the automobile. Public transportation in most of these areas is nonexistent, underfunded, or incredibly inconvenient, with trains and buses often miles away from many neighborhoods. Even institutions of educations such as public schools rely on diesel powered vehicles. The concept of the shopping mall, and strip malls, would cease to exist without automobiles and a steady stream of customers coming and going at their own convenience via their own personal vehicles. Eerily enough, prior to this film, I was unaware of the true implications of diminishing oil reserves and its life altering potential

6. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why?

The only part of the film I was not entirely convinced by was the prediction of when we have will reach our “plateau” in global oil production. Surely enough the graphs and charts presented were helpful but it lacked concrete measurable data. The mere fact that countries in the Middle East recently “discovered” tremendously expanded oil reserve capacities proves the extent to which scientific findings can be altered and doctored by governments. With this in mind, does anyone have a truly accurate measure of the Earth’s accessible oil reserves? It’s important to maintain a healthy degree of skepticism when it comes to sweeping predictions of the end of oil supplies. Regardless of the potential for a faulty prediction the end of oil reserves is inevitable, rather it is mostly a question of when will we run out, and what must we do now, in the present, to prepare for this.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. What audiences does the film best address? Why

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The film best addresses those who are aware of the problems associated with the use of oil and other non renewable resources. Individuals who are skeptical of the depletion of oil and those who have blind faith in the sustainability of our current lifestyle will probably not receive the film with as much enthusiasm. Nonetheless, the piece offers much food for thought, and self reflection on the way we live, the antiquity of the “American Dream”, and inevitable lifestyle changes that will begin to occur in the near future.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The film seems more aimed towards fear-mongering than offering actual solutions or steps individuals can begin to take in preparation for the inevitable. Though it does offer minimal insight into future smart urban planning and a possible return to more traditional urban living, it does not explore any type of governmental action any country is currently engaging in, in preparation. This of course may be due to lack of action from most governments. If the film offered other alternatives and healthy practices the consumer could begin to engage in such as buying locally or joining food co-ops, the educational value of the film would be improved tremendously.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. What kind of action points of intervention are suggested by the film. If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can’t imagine being effective.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Corrective action is not directly suggested by the film but continuing as is does not seem like a viable option. It is easy enough for us to sit in our cushy suburban homes, surfing the web, and complaining and blogging about rising gas prices and other first world problems but it would appear as though were trapped. The very fabric and structure of our entire lives it seems revolves around the use of the automobile and the mass consumption of electricity. For once, I am at a slight loss of what to do, how can one even begin to address a problem of such magnitude? The only feasible option would be to begin heavily looking into modes of transportation that use alternative forms of energy such as solar.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">10. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">I was highly skeptical of the predictions of when oil supplies will begin to decline. With that in mind, I began to research if there was any real scientific basis behind these predictions. My research led me to the Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas. The site itself had various articles of shortages and political implications these shortages. Even more interesting was a link found on the films website regarding the shortage of oil and subsequent foreign policy changes in the United States. In particular the site brings to light the suspicious and gradual progression of the War on Terror. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 22pt; text-align: center;">Links []

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