HeilmannCraigAnnotation9

Craig Heilmann, Film Annotations

1. Title, director, and release year? // Energy Crossroads //, Christopher Fauchere (2007) 2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? “Energy is our greatest weakness.” This film focuses on our over consumption of energy, thinking it will last forever. It talks about the problem as well as the means of fixing it. 3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? The sustainability problem drawn out in this film stems from an ecological standpoint. The energy we use puts a large strain on the environment we live in. We are experiencing pollution and climate shifts like we never have before. Economically, the rise in gas prices is greatly hurting our economy. As the prices rise due to the lack of available resources we become ever closer to a true energy crisis, which will take technology to come up with alternative means of powering our world. 4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? Some of the most compelling things about the film were some of the key statistics they threw out, specifically in reference to the United States. “America represents 5% of the world’s population, but consumes 25% of the world’s energy.” Something that really drove the point home to me was when they were talking about rising temperatures around the world. They stated the fact that the top ten hottest years ever recorded have occurred within the past fourteen years. It is becoming more and more apparent that global warming is upon us and is only getting worse. 5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? “People of the industrialized world want to see less fortunate join us.” I don’t necessarily believe this. Not only would it put an even greater strain on our remaining resources, but as sad as this may seem I honestly think that for a lot of people status is so important that by being “better” than others makes certain individuals feel better about themselves. That is a terrible thing to think, but maybe not too farfetched. 6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.? What alternative resources would be viable options to replace oil? The film suggests that wind power, more than any other fuel source, will be the way of the future. It works very well, it is cheaper than all other energy solutions, and it is very efficient. 7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems? This film is directed towards the citizens of the consumer giants (America). Everyone knows we are in trouble, but don’t know how to change. It is in our instincts to be greedy and to be wasteful. 8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film? We as a society must stop wasting natural resources. We have to be smart with the energy we use and cut back. One thing they mentioned that I thought was spot on was that we have to base change and reform at the state level instead of the federal level. It is easier to change at a smaller scale than a larger one. They also spoke about “No Waste.” It would be great if we could use energy that would normally escape into the atmosphere to our advantage. They also promoted using bikes as a main means of transportation. 9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? Towards the end, the film did a great job of introducing applications for living better, sustainable lives, especially with the range of solutions, both at the large and small scales, but they really could have started talking about these solutions earlier in the film to set the tone early so the audience doesn’t get bogged down and frustrated. This would have been great to separate themselves further from the majority of these types of documentaries that decide to only talk about the bad and not about how to fix it. Using more concrete numbers to get their point across might have helped as well.