Oof, punch in the stomach time. Well that’s how I felt after watching What a Way to Go last night. I still have the phrase “There is no happy chapter” echoing in my head…

Initially I thought it was Yet Another Peak Oil Movie but it soon became apparent that it was much more. It’s like a two hour poem with a documentary sandwiched in between that covers not only (what we’re finding to be) standard peak-oil theory but also a great deal on climate change, population growth, water shortage and – this is where it’s unique compared to the other things we’ve consumed on the subject – it goes into considerable detail into the root causes of the problem and likens our collective denials of the evident problems to a herd-like hallucination.

I’m probably not explaining this very well so I’ll defer to a great review over on EnergyBulletin that puts it much better:

I have seen a number of films on Peak Oil, climate change and the other ills of our society and planet (yes, even Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s Oscar-winning “An Inconvenient Truth”), but none has moved me so much as this one. While it does include some facts and figures, it primarily deals with the human psyche—the emotional and spiritual pain experienced by those living in, or victims of, industrially civilized countries. The film builds a deep emotional and spiritual connection between the viewer and the planet on which we live, and the fellow creatures of all forms with whom we share life on this planet. It becomes clear that the suffering we experience as humans is shared by the entire biosphere. Because of the beliefs which have entrapped us, we are alienated not only from nature, but from each other and, indeed, from our true internal nature. What we have done to our planet we have also done to ourselves.

….

“What a Way to Go” is a two-hour poem of great power and beauty. It is the story of a personal journey, yet a journey that is also deeply universal. A journey that encompasses ignorance, awareness, fear, depression, denial, grief and despair. But when denial can no longer be maintained, and grief and despair can no longer be endured, there remain two options. Once is self-destruction; the other action. The narrator chooses action.

Action. There’s that word again. Soon we’ll finish the sitting on ass preparation phase of our coming  journey and get into action. I tell you it can’t come soon enough.

“If we don’t change the direction we’re going, we’re likely to end up where we are headed.” -Chinese Proverb

p.s. If you do watch it then see if you can spot the most unfortunate jumper ever. Trust me you’ll know it when you see it.

@edmittance tweeted a link to a trailer of the upcoming Transition movie last night.

Unsuprisingly the trailer conveys a positive message and uses words like local, hope, resiliance & solutions. The movie premieres on Friday 22nd May as a live web broadcast which is, incidentally, the same day that we’re hoping to be in Bristol attending @robeam‘s The Age Of Stupid screening at a pub in Totterdown.

A great 25 minute interview (edging towards diatribe)  by David Holmgren co-originator of the permaculture concept. He is very eloquent and succinct in his summary of peak oil & where permaculture fits in though you’ll probably get most benefit from watching this if you’ve already a grasp of the basic concepts.

Of particular interest is his comparison between now and the 1930′s depression (around 4:45). He goes against the accepted wisdom that artificially increased economic activity (lets call that spending) in a Keynsyan-like orgy will pull the world out of depression much like it did in the 30′s where – arguably – the 2nd world war dragged the US back from the economic brink. He argues that back then it was in a context of massively increasing energy availability and that now the direct opposite is true so we can’t rely on things panning out the same way.

Last night we watched by far the most positive video we’ve seen on energy decline called How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. It describes how Cuba survived a sudden huge reduction in available oil when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990. 

It’s really well produced, I urge you to watch it.

Spoiler: Permaculture to the rescue!