Commentary/Book & Movie Reviews

Blind Spot

A Dry Dipstick Movie Review

Blind Spot is a powerful presentation of the state of the planet, with a primary focus on Peak Oil, but including overpopulation, global warming, and the worldwide economic infrastructure. The film is well-made, with excellent photography, editing and narration, and the choice of talking heads much more interesting than the average Peak Oil film.

I was especially pleased to see perceptive observations and commentary from Joseph Tainter, the historian author of The Collapse of Complex Societies, and from sociologist William Catton, author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis for Revolutionary Change. Both placed the planet's current situation in its proper historical and evolutionary content—which is basically more of the same except much, much worse, since we now have a global society rather than a local or regional one.

One of the more memorable quotes in the movie was from author Derrick Jensen:

"The world is saying, 'Look you have a choice. You can either fix it or I can fix it, and if I fix it you are not going to like it because I'm going to throw everything away.' And everything means most of us."

But I'll have to admit my favorite quote was from economist Max Fraad Wolff:

"Wal-Mart is basically the distribution arm of the Peoples Republic of China."

Blind Spot is the creation of Adolfo Doring, and was funded by the Wallace Global Fund, one of the more farsighted foundations that supports worthwhile groups concerned about the planet and the human family. The film would be an excellent introduction to friends who aren't yet familiar with Peak Oil which, if our experience is typical, still includes almost everyone in the United States.

Collapse +11 Years
The Napa Valley Today

Napa Valley Life Magazine
Winter Holiday Issue 2008

Journal of Mick Winter—December 15, 2020

As I sip my morning espresso, I have a brief moment of longing for an earlier time when I could make my stovetop coffee quickly on a gas burner. It takes a lot longer using this electric one. Little did we know that gas was right behind oil in peaking. Fortunately we finally have plenty of solar-produced electricity and, once again, access to coffee. So it's a minor inconvenience, but just another reminder of things we used to take for granted.

Today's one of the two days a week when I work at the office instead of home. It's a little late to go by bike so I check my cell phone. The streetcar is due in 10 minutes. If I lived much further from the trolley stop, I'd probably flag a jitney or autorickshaw and take it all the way to work. Although they cost a little more, they get you exactly where you want to go. But I've got time to walk to the trolley, so I'll ride the rails this morning.

I'm happy to see my streetcar is one of the old-fashioned designs. I prefer them over the new, ultramodern style. They're just as comfortable but in a more homey kind of way. Aboard the trolley, I see many of my usual fellow riders. There are also a few people with suitcases. They're probably connecting with the train to the Vallejo Ferry. Streetcars are a great way to travel in town. Every town in the valley has them. Except Yountville, which is very walkable and compact.

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Reinventing Collapse
The Soviet Example and American Prospects

Author: Dmitry Orlov
176 pages
ISBN 0865716064
2008, New Society Publishers

Well, first of all, it's funny. Really. I don't mean it's filled with jokes, but Dmitry Orlov has a very humorous and biting style. This humorous approach serves two important purposes:

1. It makes the book enjoyable to read.
2. It helps the reader develop a certain healthy detachment from the subject matter. If you can see the humor in the situation, it can lessen the melodrama of the Cold War in the past, and the collapse of both the Soviet Union (past) and its mirror twin the United States (very current).

Orlov observes that the citizens of both the U.S. and the S.U. were targets of marketing campaigns that successfully developed intense brand loyalty. In each country, it was forbidden (either legally or through intense peer pressure) to advocate for the other brand. The U.S. was for capitalists (Yes, we're #1), and the S.U. for communists (Da, we're #1), and never the twain shall meet.

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Post Carbon Cities:
Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty

A Guidebook on Peak Oil and Global Warming for Local Governments

Author: Daniel Lerch
100 pages
ISBN 0-9767510-5-4
2008, Post Carbon Press

Buy It Now!

When I read this book, I was impressed with the attractive layout, the clarity of writing, and the quality of the information it contained. However, I felt it was a bit too basic, too simplistic. While it was a good introduction to the problems of Peak Oil and climate change that are facing communities, I felt it didn't provide the depth of detail necessary for towns to deal with the multitude of effects we can likely expect. In short, I felt it wasn't enough for what is needed.

Then reality straightened me out.

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World Made by Hand - a Novel

A Dry Dipstick Book Review

Author: James Howard Kunstler
336 pages
ISBN: 0-87113-978-2
2008, Atlantic Monthly Press
www.worldmadebyhand.com
Buy the book

This book could more precisely, but less poetically, be named "World Made by Kunstler". Author and Peak Oil commentator James Howard Kunstler has written a novel that brings to life a community and world that Kunstler himself has created. It's not just any creation, however, because what he has created is informed by his many years of study of our society, its built environment, and the Peak Oil threat.

As a novel it's entertaining and interesting. As a demonstration of Kunstler's vision for the post-Peak Oil future, it's vivid and compelling. Kunstler imagines a world where all systems have broken down because of Peak Oil, climate change, economic collapse, apparent nuclear war—a number of U.S. cities are gone—and, of course, famine and pestilence. In short, it's a world ravaged by the Four Horsemen and a bunch of their close friends.

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After the Peak - The End of Cheap Oil

A Dry Dipstick Movie Review
by Mick Winter

27 minute DVD
Filmmaker: Jim McQuaid
www.afterthepeak.com
Buy the DVD

After the Peak is a mock-TV news program. It's presented as if live from a local television station in North Carolina, with anchors in the studio reporting and talking to reporters in the field. And, yes, there's even the obligatory sports guy.

The time is "one year from today". Worldwide oil production has peaked and is declining. It's still early in the Peak Oil saga with gasoline usually available, but prices are going up. Oil is now $195 a barrel and prices at the pump average $10.29 a gallon, seriously affecting people's lives, their businesses and their commutes.

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Monbiot on the Biofuel Fantasy

George Monbiot in the Guardian has written what I consider the best, and most accessible, summary of the biofuel fantasy. Read his article: Apart from used chip fat, there is no such thing as a sustainable biofuel.

The Circle is Closed - The End of Suburbia's Beginner

In a little noticed news item, it was reported on November 11th ("Levitt and Sons files Chapter 11") that Levitt and Sons, a builder in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 on November 9th.

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There's a Choo-Choo Train A-Comin'

There's a train speeding toward me. Toward all of us, actually. I'm aware of the train. A number of people are. Far more people aren't. But it is coming, regardless of awareness or non-awareness.

I can see it coming. So how do I deal with this approaching train? I have a comfortable chair and a computer and I sit in the middle of the tracks with a cup of coffee and I read about the speeding train.

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What a Way to Go -
Life at the End of Empire

A DryDipstick Movie Review

A two-hour poem of great power and beauty. The story of a personal journey; yet a journey that is also deeply universal. As humanity rushes towards a nexus of catastrophe, is there a world beyond denial and despair? The film suggests the possibility.

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Escape from Suburbia

A DryDipstick Movie Review

"Sit, be still, and listen
for you are drunk and we are at the edge of the roof."
- Rumi, Sufi mystic

Thus begins "Escape from Suburbia", a film that suggests ways to start sobering up and moving back from the roof's edge.

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Energy Crossroads

A DryDipstick Movie Review

In a society where most people take energy for granted and assume life will go on just as it is, this film is a cold shower of fact.

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WAG YOUR BELL for GWOPO*

People love acronyms, particularly in the United States where acronyms like GWOT (Global War on Terror) are household words—at least if your house is a big white one.

Other popular acronyms are YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), WAG (Wild Ass Guess), RTFM (Read the F--- Manual), BYOB (Bring Your Own Beer) and my personal favorite TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It). Acronyms are good for time-saving shorthand and as memory devices. They also often help avoid the need for real thought and communication.