Collapse Movie Depicts Troubled “Peak Oil” Messenger
Published November 24, 2009
Mike Ruppert believes the end is near. It's too late for hybrids, too late for electric vehicles, and too late for alternative energy. We're simply going to have to learn to live without. Ruppert, a former LA cop and investigative journalist, is the focus of Collapse, a new documentary from director Chris Smith—whose previous works include American Movie and The Yes Men.
Smith's portrait is one of a deeply concerned and troubled man whose personal misfortunes parallel the downfall he sees civilization hurtling towards. But Ruppert's semi-apocalyptic vision for humanity is built on a simple premise that actually isn't all that controversial: modernity is powered by oil, and one day this non-renewable resource is going to run out.
A Matter of When
As far as conspiracy theories go, “peak oil” isn't outlandish. In fact, the US Department of Energy was concerned enough about it to commission the so-called “Hirsch Report” [pdf] in 2005. The report concluded that peak of oil production is coming—perhaps within the decade—and that governments will have to act fast to adopt serious measures to mitigate a range of terrifying consequences that might come with it.
What separates the chain-smoking Mike Ruppert, and a growing movement of peak oil alarmists from others, is that they believe a catastrophic sequence of events is either inevitable or has already begun. Collapse makes no judgments about Ruppert's prophecies, but it also makes no effort to disguise his edginess. (At one point in the film, Ruppert has an emotional breakdown on camera.)
Ruppert deserves credit for his previous work in exposing CIA drug-smuggling operations. More recently, he’s been associated with the 9/11 truth movement. But whether or not one connects the dots on peak oil the way Ruppert does, there is an undeniable volatility in oil prices and nearly everyone—for one reason or another—agrees that we need to cut our dependence on petroleum.
In Collapse, the filmmakers combine shadowy interviews with Mike Ruppert, archival footage, and suspenseful music, into a compelling portrait of a peak oil theorist who can't get the world's attention.
Mounting Evidence
Two weeks ago, a new warning came from a whistleblower within the International Energy Agency. The whistleblower said the agency's estimates had been inflated due to “fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further.” The IEA's annual report is widely considered to be the most important publicly available energy forecast in the world. Serious doubts about its credibility could threaten the stability of oil markets on their own.
In the past year-and-a-half, the world has seen $35-a-barrel oil and $140-a-barrel oil. You may not be stockpiling seeds or learning to cultivate arable land, as Ruppert suggests, but like many, you've probably wondered how you would get to work or heat your home if crude were to surpass $200 per barrel.
Collapse, a breathtaking wake-up call, is a must-see for hybrid and electric cars fans motivated to reduce—and ultimately eliminate—our dangerous addiction to oil. See the movie and make your own judgments about Ruppert, the man, and peak oil as a theory. Check the Collapse website for the schedule of limiting screenings around the country in the coming weeks.
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2 years ago
May be people need to get out of their basements. Sensationalism at its best. Does this guy have large shares of oil stock or investment firm stock? Man that would be funny! Remember speculation is great for future markets like petro. If there is information in the market about supply of petro, prices will go up as more people hedge this will lead to greater conservation possibly allowing EV's to develop faster. We are not going to reach peak oil any time soon or for that fact probably another 40-60 years. Even if you can't trace oil supply through the market due to incomplete information you could look at investments and activities of large oil firms and government. I doubt these guys are dumb and will wake up without anything to sell, if supply is short, they would have diversified into other products at a greater rate like biofuels or CNG.
2 years ago
Samie,
While I agree that this film is sensationalistic I'm sure glad that you're assuring me that peak oil is at least 40 to 60 year away. That's reassuring since I'll likely be dead by then and someone else can worry about how to deal with it so I can continue to sit around the house in the evenings watching my big-screen TV instead of getting out and doing anything. I'm also glad we have smart guys at the oil companies who will keep taking care of me by diversifying into areas where they have less control.
2 years ago
A big factor in the current recession is the increase in gasoline prices, which made long-distance commuting less desirable, which helped to pop the bubble in housing prices, which ruined everybody's speculative party, which helped break the banks . . .
We're nowhere close to getting everybody to use cars that don't run on gasoline. Nowhere close at all. Even if we were, cars would still pose serious environmental challenges in terms of their life cycle and land use impacts (e.g. mining raw materials, energy used in manufacturing, roads, parking, disposing of spent car parts). We need to start re-designing our cities to be more walkable, bikeable, and viable for public transit.
Cleaning cars is important, but only PART of a broader solution.
2 years ago
Gee, nothing like a boat load of cynics. Hope the rest of the world is not as cynical, although it's hard not to be. My hope and prayer is that more and more people would see how our dependence on oil in general and more specifically, foriegn oil is going to kill us economically as well as environmentally. And second, that all fossil fuels are not infinite in their supply. And finally, that people would start carying less about "me" and more about others and future generations. Which means, our consumer mentality, which unfortunately drives our economy needs to change into a "leaving the world the way we found it or better than we found it" mentality. Now all we have to do is decide what "better" means.
2 years ago
I don't see foreign oil as the problem. We're perfectly happy to get damn near everything else from foreign countries (look at the "Made in . . ." labels in a Wal Mart some time).
The problem is oil in general. It doesn't stop destroying the environment just because it comes from America.
If foreign oil is the problem, the solution is to drill for more oil here. That's not a good idea. We need to graduate from oil and fossil fuels generally.
2 years ago
I think it is rather amusing the debate centers on the time frame of a few years or decades. Boy, are we fcked. Do folks in the United States of America really BELIEVE that the rest of the world is going to tolerate us consuming 25% of the worlds' oil with 5% of the world's population, just because we are in the position to "print" the world's currency.
What really is being discussed behind closed summit doors is "What are we going to do about the United States?"
Besides the point, the earth's atmosphere is already bloated to the point of climate change. Oh, I forgot, our Republican party says that is just a hoax...too bad they didn't speak up that way about those "weapons of mass descruction"!
2 years ago
The man does not go far enough. He couldn't be blunt enough and you won't be able to, if that ever becomes your desire. Try telling others.
2 years ago
Hooray for Mr. Ruppert's concern, but Peak Oil, like nuclear fusion or honest politicians, is always years into the future. That may be part of the problem. America already has the technology, the courage, and the resilience to raise the price of oil enough to make conservation realistic, and we can do this without damaging the level of happiness and freedom Americans already possess.
If you think oil companies are evil, try doing without their product for ten days. If you think conservationists are evil, try imagining what life would be like without clean air. We're all in this together. Unfortunately, polarizing leadership or thinking has not helped unite a representative democracy over the last 17 years.
2 years ago
Those interested in Peak Oil may be interested in two articles from the 20 November 09 (Vol 326) edition of Science magazine.
The first article, by C. Holden, summarizes the Global Depletion Report from the UK Energy Research Center (ukerc.ac.uk, then key in the report). The center performed a meta-analysis of over 500 publications and 14 forecasts, and considered the past production of oil resources. Their conclusions? 1. Drilled oil will probably peak within the next couple of decades, 2. peak production will probably not give as clear a warning of its arrival as we would like, 3. Plenty of oil is still available in non-conventional sources like tar sands, shale, hydrates, etc.
Did someone mention tar sands? Alas, the second article, by S. Kean, paints a rather dreary picture of the already-developed tar sands in a section of northern Alberta (fortunately for the oil producers, it's not near Robert Kennedy Jr.'s back yard). Reclamation is still somewhere on the learning curve, water quality in the reclaimed areas is somewhat uncertain, and the delicate landscape has been transformed (one of the site's holding ponds is framed by the world's second largest dam). Well, people still want lots of oil, so maybe technology or driver's conservation efforts will come to our rescue. But then again, ...
2 years ago
Well at least we're finally seeing a shift by consumers and auto makers. The GM Volt, Ford's numerous hybrids, and the champion Prius. Rather than ignoring fuel economy and pumping out more Hummers, we're finally seeing a shift towards fuel economy. I personally don't think hydrogen fuel cells will ever be viable in my lifetime, but it'll be great if they are. Remember though that fuel cells are really just a chemical battery. Your propulsion will still ultimately come from an electric motor. Thankfully EV, PHEV, and gas-diesel/electric hybrids are currently available technologies. Batteries will continue to get better too. If we can move off foreign oil for our transportation, that will greatly extend the useful life of oil used for heating and airplanes and big equipment like trains/locomotives (which themselves are diesel/electric in case you didn't know).
1 year ago
We are addicted to oil and doomed...you know it.
1 year ago
I don't think it's cynical to note that EWG predicts that oil production (conventional) will be at around 40% of current levels by 2030. Considering growing demand, that will leave us about 70% short of the energy we need to continue functioning. A 5% production-supply gap tripled oil prices in the 1970s and threw us into a deep recession. What will a gap FOURTEEN TIMES that size do to the price of oil? Hard to imagine. $300/barrel? $400/barrel? Maybe even more.
And look at the charts for oil prices and food prices. They track VERY closely. When oil spiked in 2008, so did food prices, and there was a worldwide food crisis and millions thrown into starvation. Next year there will be another food crisis, and food prices are already spiking back up. There is no currency more important than food.
We're at the undulating plateau now, the calm before the storm, with the Olduvai cliff dead ahead and no way to avoid it now. We'll have a series of recessions and frail recoveries until at some point in the neat future we will have the recession to end all recessions, during which the lights will go out and never come on again. And that will be that.
50 weeks ago
Why is there no mention of natural gas as a stop gap? The north slope of Alaska flares enough off in a day to heat the city of Anchorage for 24 hours not to mention what is available.
Some taxis in Vancouver BC use it. Easy retrofit. It's all a scam. It's there...use it.
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