On Thursday Night we watched the ABC documentary 'CRUDE'. It was a fantastic look at the carbon cycle, oil and how we use it. There were some very moving interviews with men who recall the beginning of the age of oil and various other experts who provided pretty convincing evidence to support the concepts of Peak Oil and Global Warming.
What I gathered from the film.
The experts all agree that we are facing the decline of oil. Although their speculations varied about the actual time, date or year when we would or have reached 'Peak', the consensus was that the time is pretty much now! The warning was pretty clear that alternatives need to be found and more importantly adopted if civilization is to continue in any semblance of what we now take for granted.
The program gave a great explanation of how oil was/is created. It was fascinating and mostly news to me. The carbon cycle has huge implications for all life on earth and the documentary showed how imbalance can disrupt so many other systems on Earth.
There seems to be two major areas where our use of oil will impact on our future. One is economically (supply will not continue to meet demand) and the other is environmentally (Global Warming resulting from the release of CO2 into the atmosphere). The world as we know it is fueled by oil and world economies are so totally dependent on oil that the impacts of rising oil prices will be catastrophic unless we can drastically restructure our transport and energy sources. However the cumulative effects of Global Warming may overtake any presumed impact caused by reduced access to the oil itself.
What I gathered from the film.
The experts all agree that we are facing the decline of oil. Although their speculations varied about the actual time, date or year when we would or have reached 'Peak', the consensus was that the time is pretty much now! The warning was pretty clear that alternatives need to be found and more importantly adopted if civilization is to continue in any semblance of what we now take for granted.
The program gave a great explanation of how oil was/is created. It was fascinating and mostly news to me. The carbon cycle has huge implications for all life on earth and the documentary showed how imbalance can disrupt so many other systems on Earth.
There seems to be two major areas where our use of oil will impact on our future. One is economically (supply will not continue to meet demand) and the other is environmentally (Global Warming resulting from the release of CO2 into the atmosphere). The world as we know it is fueled by oil and world economies are so totally dependent on oil that the impacts of rising oil prices will be catastrophic unless we can drastically restructure our transport and energy sources. However the cumulative effects of Global Warming may overtake any presumed impact caused by reduced access to the oil itself.
Anyway I'm posting this to remind you all that if you missed it the whole documentary is available as an ABC Video On Demand (VOD). HERE.
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