Crude Impact

The 2007 Documentary Film Festival is on in Auckland at the moment, so today I went to the Academy Cinema and saw Crude Impact, which explores the interconnection between human domination of the planet, and the discovery and use of oil.

First off, I want to say that this is an important film, and I think everyone should watch it. It presents the subject matter in an accessible way, without being too preachy, and made me realise the influence oil has had in shaping today's society.

It begins by linking the world's population explosion during the last century to the utilisation of oil. Thanks to oil, agricultural practices advanced and the result was mass food production. Basic evolutionary theory states that if the food supply is abundant, the population will grow.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States, and as one would expect, the US seems to be the country that the sustainability message is most aimed at. The US is a huge consumer of oil when you consider its population, and this stems from the days when it produced more oil than any other country. This is what enabled the ascent to power - it was able to use oil to produce a wide range of products, which provided export income. With increased wealth came increased expectations. In the 1950s, the American dream of owning a large house, a car, and many possessions began.

The film mentioned that Americans are no more happy today than they were in 1950, yet today consumption levels are many times higher. Ever-increasing consumption levels require an ever-increasing demand for energy, yet if more possessions will not lead to more happiness, then why has this culture of excess become so ingrained?

In 1992, President George W. Bush Snr famously said "The American way of life is non-negotiable" and it was this attitude that provided the justification to strike oil deals with the Middle East. More oil had to be found to preserve the American way of life, and US supplies had long since failed to meet the demand. In 1956, Shell geologist M. King Hubbert had warned that oil production in the US would peak in the early '70s and decline steadily thereafter. He wasn't taken seriously.

But Hubbert was right. The demand for oil in the US has continued to rise, but now the vast majority of it is imported from Third World countries. One such country is Saudi Arabia, and the fact that the US willingly compromised its ideals to create a partnership with the Saudis is a good example of the power that oil exerts. Saudi Arabia is a country that is not concerned with its citizens' general well-being. The government rules in an authoritarian manner, and would seem to have very different values to those which the US espouses. Yet a deal was struck with the Saudis - the terms being that they would provide the US with oil, while the US would help them maintain their power and provide weapons when needed.

The human impact of this insatiable demand for oil was also explored in the film, with the example given of how the indigenous peoples of Ecuador had their habitat destroyed by oil drilling. Their water sources were irreversibly polluted by sub-standard drilling practices and has lead to many of the natives dying from the carcinogens. The Crude Impact website states: "As oil production increases, often the poverty level of regular citizens and indigenous peoples increases as well. These people rarely benefit from the wealth extracted from the land on which they live."

Another example of the human impact showed a prominent protestor in Nigeria being executed for trying to stop oil drilling from taking place on his people's land. African countries are often ruled by dictatorships, and the dictators will make deals with foreign countries without a thought for their fellow countrymen. The people on these lands are having their most precious asset stolen from them, and they can't do a thing about it.

Environmental issues were also raised, such as widespread species extinction due to pollution and global warming. Our continuing dependence on fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming, and while the film did have a shot of a field of solar panels, there were not really any ideas given about how to meet our energy needs in an alternative way. The advice for now seems to be "reduce your energy demands, so that the oil that is left will last longer."

This may be easier said than done, considering the fact that the Chinese are experiencing an industrial boom. It was said in the film that if every Chinese person were to consume as much as each American, we would need six Earths. Another interesting statistic was given, and this was that if each American household replaced one of its lightbulbs with an energy-efficient bulb, the resulting reduction in energy consumption would be akin to removing one million cars from the road.

Current consumption levels cannot continue. The Earth has its limits, and to replace one energy-producing resource with another will not change this. Four recommendations were given to pave the way for sustainability: 1) Reducing the population. The film states that when women are given social, political and economic power, population stabilises and may even decrease. This is really about gender equality and giving women in less developed countries the same right to education as men. Women with more education have less children. 2) Reducing dependence on fossil fuels. 3) Buying locally produced food and other goods. This means that less transportation energy is consumed. 4) Spreading the sustainability message to the political leaders.

Our technological skill has progressed exponentially over the past century, but little attention has been paid to the long-term costs of our actions. The "bigger is better" attitude needs to be erased from the human psyche and new paradigms have to be developed. Without sustainability in the forefront of our minds, our short-term gains will do nothing more than bring long-term pain.