RichMichaelAnnotation7

“Blind Spot,” Adolfo Doring, 2008
 * 1. Title, Director, Year?**

- energy use, consumption - work being done predominantly by fuel-fed machinery - “oil is the lifeline of our global economy” - peak oil “most serious problem to face the human race, since we’ve been human.” - carrying capacity of the Earth
 * 2. Central Argument?**

- the promotional video, meant to support oil/petroleum use, is actually incredibly overwhelming because it points out our dependence - energy crisis = food crisis (prices for oil increase, price of crops increase, price in the store increases - although people are aware of its existence, we don’t acknowledge oil scarcity on a daily basis - advertising campaigns that convince us to buy things, providing a psychological need to consume - societal concerns are lacking, those who challenge it are viewed as an outsider of our culture
 * 3. Sustainability Problems?**

- hard to understand human behavior beginning with the industrial revolution = fossil fuels - civilizations disappeared partly because they outgrew their sustainable area, complexity of their society could no longer be sustained - great difficulty maintaining the standard of living that our society is accustomed to - how could we be so dumb? It’s tough to admit that our desensitized attitude towards this major problem have led us to a less than flattering global image. - during the spike in oil prices, wages did not be go up as fast as the price of goods resulting in people not being able to continue buying goods and services that their used to (could be a method of controlling consumption) - pretty interesting biological comparison of the yeast in the wine vat and our patterns of consumption - “global disaster of unprecedented proportions” addressing global warming and its potential affects - comparison to gas chambers and society’s blindness, as long as we convince ourselves that we aren’t in trouble, then we’ll be ok. - our culture has allowed us to be selfish, if “I” doesn’t change to “we” soon, “we” will be in trouble. - “we can’t let other people do our thinking for us” - Jevons’s theory on efficiency and consumption describes how even though we believe we are doing “good” by driving fuel efficient cars, it turns out that we end up driving more than we did before and end up consuming more fuel than before. - if we keep consuming the way that we do now, we will need three (this number changes) planets to support our rates of consumption
 * 4. Persuasive? Compelling?**

- when those in power start losing their influence on the world, they’ll nuke the world instead of losing their power…really?
 * 5. Not Compelling?**

How can we change? Will the government, or some other organization, have to step in? It looks like our culture will have to endure a major shock to get us back on track to sustainable living.
 * 6. Info to Seek Out?**

This is another film that everyone should see, eventually. It’s tough to say what is the appropriate age; some concepts are advanced in some sense, but the message is clear.
 * 7. Audience?**

- reign in the population - increase vegetation - popularize birth control
 * 8. Actions? Interventions?**

There was a good balance of interviews and visually compelling footage. Although, this information isn’t new, it was conveyed in a novel way and kept your attention.
 * 9. Enhance film environmentally? educationally?**