Blind+Spot+CK

The concept of a blind spot is used to express the problem western society has with oil consumption. The idea of a blind spot is a problem area that is not considered or noticed until the problem is too large to solve. This is shown to be society’s consumption of oil and oil based products. In the film it is shown that oil base products are involved in every aspect of life. People have forgotten how deep the petroleum industry has changed society. The next issue is the future shortages of oil. The film shows people’s ignorance to the fact that oil is a finite resource. Every fossil fuel will eventually run out. This will leave people lacking many of the basic needs in life. This is an eventuality that many do not even know exists. There was a section of the film that shows old advertisements from oil companies. These short films try to convince people that the oil and chemical industries will be able to cure any modern problem. This section of the film shows how industries have run promotional campaigns for decades to convince people of the miracle of modern oil and chemistry. There are also clips shown of modern oil companies that try to portray a sense of good environmental intention and change in the companies. All this is shown to add to people’s compliancy towards the issue of over dependence on oil. Scientific information is also presented. This information show more the actual problem with oil consumption rather that the lack of public knowledge. One good example is the farm industry. The modern supermarket has food from all around the world, this food was produces using large amounts of pesticides. The only way this food is available is because of cheap oil, the film states that on average food must travel 1,500 miles before it reaches a table. The biggest problem the film is trying to express is the lack of knowledge about the problem of over dependence of oil, the blind spot. This is a lack of concern for the issues that are associated with such an oil addiction. Also this is a lack of knowledge about the general problem that is caused by this dependence. People are preoccupied with their daily lives and never bother to notice the problems caused by their lifestyle. Many companies spend great deal of time to down play the problems. This can be seen in ad campaigns and political support of companies. This has been allowed to continue because of a lack of true education by the general public. One of the people interviewed in the film, Max Fraad Wolff. He made the point that one of the main reasons for dependence on oil is the fact that the U.S. purchases about 1/3rd of the world’s consumer products. This is something that is supported by the rest of the world because they need the U.S. to buy the products that are made around the world. This has led to a cycle of lending money so the U.S. can continue consuming those goods, creating its own political problem. This cycle of consumption and lending was started and supported by the ability to produce and transport goods inexpensively because of cheap oil. There is a section of the film that goes through the issues of bio fuel production. In the many studies that have been done on the viability of bio diesel and ethanol, they have all come back showing that they are energy negative processes. This means that it takes more energy to produce the fuel than those fuels contain. Even with this knowledge the U.S. Department of Agriculture has pushed for the political support of ethanol production. Bio fuels are being used to cover the accrual consumption of oil. When farming these crops, oil based fuels are used to run the machines and produce the pesticides. This also raises the issue of using food to produce fuel, when that food could be used to feed many of the starving people around the world. There is also the problem of increase food production, and the stress that is then put on the environment to absorb that increased demand. There is a large amount of water and pesticides used to produce corn, and the erosion of land during crop production. Another interesting point the film bring up is the political action driven by the desire to continue oil consumption as it has for the past decades. There are examples of the auto industry hiding or distorting their car’s test results to pass government regulations. Auto companies have also been able to support politicians that work to enact regulations that allow for larger and less efficient cars to be produced. In some cases there were even tax breaks given for the purchase of large cars, such as the hummer in the early 2000’s. In the film, it is pointed out that investment in the oil industry in government will return $1000 for every $1 invested, this is done through lobbyist and political donations by the oil industry. A connection between modern U.S. culture and failed cultures of the past was made during the film. The idea was that the ancient Greeks and Romans finally failed because they ran out of energy production. In that time there was only solar energy, food. When the government was unable to produce enough food the people failed to support the government. The idea that the U.S. society will fail because of the same reasons, lack of energy production, appears far reaching. Modern societies fail because of lack of democracy and freedom, this can be seen in the collapse of dictators in the Middle East this past summer. The U.S. will not fail in the same way ancient society did if there is a continuation of democracy and freedom of new ideas. This idea of a collapse of society goes along with the idea that was presented that people are resistant to change. This is not always the case, especially when people see the benefits of their change. With true understanding of the problems people would see the benefits of change. People are not always resistant to change, this can be see with the vast changes people have supported in their lives based on oil consumption. Before people live happily without it, then they say the benefits and embraced it fully. The film would best speak to people young and old who are not aware of the many issued that go along with oil consumption. However the younger generation has more stake in correcting the problem. As the film states several times, it will not be the older generations who must solve this problem but the younger ones. They will have to live the rest of their lives in this world whether it is polluted or not. There was never any look into the future if present habits were continued, how the planet and society would potential look. There were only suggestions of starving people and a collapse of western society. An actual representation of the future would have gone a long way to express the true scale of the problems that face society. There was also no discussion of the potential bright future that could be obtained with large changes to society now. There was a lot of discussion of the dark and depression facts of modern life. This can lead to a feeling of defeat and hopelessness. Some hope at the end of the film may have helped motivate people to action. The general point being conveyed by the film was the need for further education on issues surround oil consumption, this encompasses a vast array of social and environmental issues. The film hopes to show people the problems they never considered and then motivate them to further interest into other problem their eyes are open to. With further education on these and other issues people will begin to make more responsible decision. The first topic I was interested to look up was one of the speakers in the film, Terry Tamminen. He wrote a book, __Lives per Gallon: The True Cos of Our Oil Addiction__. This is very similar to the topic presented in the film. There were two examples presented in his prologue about societies that succeeded and failed in their natural settings. The first story was of the Hopi Indians of North America, they occupies the same land for more than 10,000 years. They were able to live off the same area of land because they respected its finite ability to produce. They never took more than the land could sustain. The other story was of the people who lived on Easter Island. Originally the island was a lush tropical paradise, which supported a large population of people. However after abusing the land, the island was no longer able to support the culture causing its collapse. One would hope that western society is not following the path of the people on Easer Island, however it can clearly be seen that the values of the Hopi are not being followed. Hopefully society can meet in the middle before it is too late. Next I tried to look up information regarding the actual awareness of people to such social and environmental issues. I came across articles discussion the idea of increasing social awareness in management curriculum. The article I read was by J Durga, he has written other articles on environmental legislation and it drawbacks. The article discusses the need to teach a new management style that puts environmental issues in common language of people to understand and take action. Presenting environmental issues to a larger population can only help the issue. Especial when these are the people who will be running companies and making decisions in the future.
 * Title:** Blind Spot, 2007 Chris Knortz
 * Director:** Adolfo Doring
 * What is the central argument of the film?**
 * How is the argument or narrative made and sustained?**
 * What sustainability problem does the film draw out?**
 * What parts of the film do you find most persuasive and compelling?**
 * What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by?**
 * What audience does the film best address?**
 * What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?**
 * What kind of corrective action is suggested by the film?**
 * What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out?**

Tamminen, Terry. __Lives per Gallon: The True Cos of Our Oil Addiction__. Island Press, Washington D.C. 2006 J. Durga, “Needs to Improve Social Awareness of Environmental Management” PreserveArticles.com, 2011 []