A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash

I feel privileged to be part of the DOC generation. Through out my life, there have been a wide range of documentaries that have both educated and entertained me about the planet, the gods, the spoken word, the way we love, and much more. I can honestly say I am more aware, more empowered and more open to the possibility that there are multiple sides to every story. This ability to easily find well documented, concise and impactful information is not something that has been available for a long time. Only in the last 20 years did the interest of the Doc come into awesomeness. Then came the evolution of access to information, which made the filmmakers ability to make Docs well rounded; offering information from multiple perspectives and historical facts to substantiate the subject matter. This offers a great segue into the most recent doc I saw, A CRUDE AWAKENING, THE OIL CRASH.

CRUDE AWAKENING offers a wide span view into the worlds VERY, VERY short history and romance with OIL. It marries interviews, historical data and fore sighting to give the viewer a picture of where we could be in 40 years. It reminds us that less than a century ago the world didn't rely on oil at all, and the thought of it was but a distant twinkle in Texas's eye. It was a time when coal was king and horses still ruled the roads. Of course that was then and this is now and we are looking at a future of continued oil dependency.

The best part of CRUDE AWAKENING is not the top experts in the field or the numerous statics referenced such as the millions of barrels a day the current oil producing countries must make to keep our cars on the road. The best part of CRUDE AWAKENING is the traumatic imagery shown of places in Baku and Venezuela. At one time they were major oil producing regions with growth, wealth and prosperity. Baku and Venezuela's rusted oilrigs line the waterfront by the dozens reminiscent of dinosaurs and how they ruled the Earth. But now the rigs litter the shoreline that was once home to rich and diverse ecosystems. The water now thick with sludge leaves a haunting picture of things to come in current oil producing communities.

It is clear through the picture painted in CRUDE AWAKENING that we will run out of oil; it's just a matter of when. By referencing Marion King Hubbert (October 5, 1903 – October 11, 1989), there will be a point when we will need to reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of oil we need. We can now drill off shore and deeper than in 1975 when Hubbert put his peak theory forward. This means we will have more time than he suggested, but how much?

So what are the world leaders doing to get infrastructure, the manufacturing sector, technology and the economy ready for the next stage of fuel and energy innovation? CRUDE AWAKENING does not answer this question, but it does arm us with the knowledge that we need to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. WATCH IT!! TRY AND GET YOUR MIND BEYOND THE NEXT...