Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The end of Suburbia


The End of Suburbia


            The movie that we watched today in class is titled “The end of Suburbia” It is a documentary film about the end of all suburbia as we know it.  It starts out with simple life and then shows us how we have increasingly gotten bigger and bigger and more dependent on oil and natural gas and all the resources we get from other places.  Peak oil is one of the main focuses of the film peak oil is the point at which we reach and we will reach it where we run out of oil where we have “peaked” our maximum amount.

            This movie really opened my eyes to really how much energy I use in my own life and how much energy I burn.  We have so many freeways that go from one area to the next without even seeing any farm land.  There is no end to how much we grow and how much we use in our daily lives.  We are buying and consuming like there is no tomorrow.  I don’t think I know any different though I was born into this way of life and I am guilty of taking advantage of it.  We have this amazing place to live and so many things at our fingertips but what will we do when it is all gone when we have used so much that there is no more left?  That is very scary for me to think about to really step back and look at the car that I drive and the places I go.  Would I be able to do the things I like to do if I did not have my car or the gas to put into my car?  I loved the point that they made in the film that we need to be shocked into awareness; we need to start being careful now, now is the time to be aware.  I know that the way I live may or may not be the same forever but if I choose to live the same way that I do right now I realize that, that will cost a lot to live that way.    

            Another major point that was made in the film is how peak oil is going to be the reverse of globalization.  We have sent so many things over to China to be made for cheaper in order for us to buy them cheaper.  But what will happen when it is too expensive to get them back and forth when we can longer get goods from over there?  That is how the government has helped develop our way of life the life that we have right now is that we can get work for cheap over there and get goods for cheaper here.  There will be a time when the work needs to come back to us when we will need to be the workers and the farmers.  It will be a very interesting change is so many of our lives.  Will we be able to give up our suburbia? 

            I really enjoyed this movie because it helped me become more aware of what I use.  I am very excited to talk to my family members about it and see what their thoughts are and really if they have ever thought about it and the situation that we are heading for.  “We have backed ourselves into to corner” and we will need to figure out a way to function.  We will need to help create the new normal of society.   

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