Peak Oil & New Urbanism

These three documentaries on Peak Oil have interested me:

The Power of Community (2006, trailer, Wiki). This looks at the economic crisis in Cuba following the break-up of the Soviet Union, which significantly reduced Cuba’s access to cheap oil. The way food production, transportation, education and other sectors adapted is telling. Cuba is said to be a test case for global peak oil. I appreciated the focus on local food production/permaculture.

A Crude Awakening (2006, trailer, Wiki). General description of Peak Oil and the potential ramifications of passing the peak.

The End of Suburbia (2004, trailer, Wiki). I like the first two films better, but this one made more obvious the reason people are pushing for fracking today–dwindling natural gas accessible via traditional approaches of extraction. All three films demonstrate why there is pressure to build the XL pipeline. One thing I appreciated about this film was its consideration of new urbanism (Wiki), though they admit it could be too little too late. A documentary I value on new urbanism is A Convenient Truth (Curitiba, Brazil, 2006, trailer, IMDB).

I have not watched the 2007 follow-up, Escape from Suburbia, which received mixed reviews (pro, con, Netflix).

>Waste Land

We really appreciated watching Waste Land with Ross last night. Very engaging.

The film reminded me of Born into Brothels (photography as social tool) + Dive! and The Gleaners and I and Recycled Life (reclaiming society’s waste).

>The End of Poverty (Jeffrey Sachs)

>I cannot encourage you enough to read The End of Poverty. Just do it. Promise yourself that you’ll find a way.

The first few chapters relate Sachs’s own evolution as a development economist and advocate—a process that leads him from Harvard University to countries around the world and eventually to Columbia University where he helped found The Earth Institute. We follow him along the journey of gaining insights into the roles that geography, population growth, and disease play in the poverty trap.

The subsequent chapters describe the needs of the poor, the misconceptions most of us have regarding what is being done and what the real problems are, and finally the way forward.

Sachs quantifies, maps, deconstructs, and personalizes the problems. Thankfully, he does not end there. He also quantifies the needed response, demonstrates the possibilities we have over the next couple of decades, and offers policy advice on increasing capacity and accountability.

For less technical, but more spiritual analyses of the same topics, see Walking with the Poor (Bryant Myers), Red Letters (Tom Davis) and Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Ron Sider).

>La Sierra SIFE

>In 2007 La Sierra’s Student in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won the National Championship and the World Cup. These Adventist students demonstrate how management and leadership skills can be used to make the world a better place.

Read more about their projects–Kalaala Scrubs, Build-a-Village and Harambee–here:

• Sife Link
• La Sierra University

>Earthlings

>Kevin shared Earthlings with me last night. It contains the most graphic violence I’ve ever watched. In this case, violence against animals. Absolutely sickening.

This reinforces the lesson that in order for people to change, they need to be convinced at an emotional level, not just with logic and rational reasoning. That is, watching this documentary motivates me to be a vegetarian and to buy hemp shoes more than hearing about slaughter houses and pondering the inefficiencies in animal production versus raising crops.

Disagree with me? First, watch it. Then I will listen if you still hold that arguments and data are more effective.

Kevin groaned, “It makes me feel bad about having a leather bound Bible.”

>America Recycles Day (Nov 15)

>That’s right, today is AMERICA RECYCLES DAY. After reducing, reusing and rotting, we can and should recycle what’s left of our waste.

I am proud to announce that my father-in-law has arranged to get recycling bins placed in the business he operates. Recycling is very inconvenient in the area (the university extension program only picks up recyclables 2 days a month with very restrictive hours), so these bins will make it much easier for workers and church members to tread more lightly on the planet.

Resources

• Recycling Stats
• Recycling 101
• “The Truth about Recycling” (The Economist)

>The Future of Food

>The Future of Food is now added to my list of must-see DVDs for Americans*.

Some of the information** overlapped the book I just read, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, though the documentary went much deeper into the corporate world of genetic tweaking and patent mongering. This would be a good film to watch along with The Corporation for an ultra-long movie night.

If you don’t watch this, you can still live it by eating locally grown organic food. And this is actually already in my rough guide to sustainable living.

We vote once every four years for the president (at least we should). But each dollar spent on food is a vote for more corporate dominance and GMO/GE organisms or a vote for sustainable farming. Like the film says, “The choices we make at the supermarket determine the future of food.”

If you rent this through Netflix, you’ll miss the great bonus material on the 2nd disc. Get it, watch it, share it with all your friends (especially the positive bonus treats).

Amy, when do we get to eat your organic heirloom produce again? Thanks for sharing the film, Alyx.

*Why We Fight, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices, The Corporation

**Starvation today results from poor distribution, not insufficient production. Also, massive food subsidies in rich nations have deleterious effects on farmers in the developing world.

>Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

>

Voted by Christianity Today as one of the Top 100 Religious Books of the Century (the last century that is; now in its 5th edition), Rich Christian’s in an Age of Hunger not only describes the problem—30,000 children dying every day from starvation and preventable diseases and a billion of our neighbors in extreme poverty—but also plots a path of action. The author, Ron Sider, is currently the president of Evangelicals for Social Action.

Action. Peter said to “prepare your minds for action,” (1 Peter 1:13). Reading this book does just that. Read it. Then act. Then give it to someone else to read.

Part 1 describes the state of the world.
Part 2 covers the biblical teachings on the poor and possessions.
Part 3 analyzes the causes of poverty, both personal and structural.
Part 4 discusses how to make the world a better place. Actions are lumped into three progressively larger categories—personal (e.g., lifestyles of simplicity & generosity), church (e.g., community development & building programs), and global (e.g., the environment & foreign policy relating to trade and aid).

I appreciated that Ron was sensitive to environmental issues while addressing the social, spiritual and economic needs of our world. I also appreciated his balanced analysis and radical call to action. Seriously, read this book. Just don’t get bogged down in chapter 8 and miss chapter 9.

>Religious leaders act on climate change

>I’m glad to read that leaders of different denominations and faiths are coming together to speak for those who don’t have a voice.

Religious leaders act on climate change (Yahoo News/AP, H. JOSEF HEBERT, 31 Oct ’07)

“While not all of us agree on much,” said the Rev. Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Churches, “we do agree on the need to protect God’s creation. It has become clear that global warming will have devastating impact on those in poverty around the world.”

The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, said 84 percent of evangelicals support mandatory limits on greenhouse gases. He said it is not a matter of political persuasion but “of moral leadership.”

>Movie Festival

>We’ve been watching a lot of films recently.

Turtles Can Fly
This was the first film made in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Brutal. Twisted.

Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America? (2004)
While not as engaging as The High Cost of Low Prices, it was worth watching.

Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
This documentary analyzes the progression from 9/11 to Iraq. The spoken reasons–WMDs, links to 9/11, ties to al Qaeda, imminent threat to the U.S.–all appear to be untrue. I was surprised it didn’t reference the Downing Street Memo (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3).

Hotel Rwanda
We’ve owned this movie for almost a year, but I hadn’t watched it until this past week. Powerful.

Then I needed a break from this cruel world. Jim Gaffigan delivered the goods. Hilarious!