Documentary: "What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire"

[NEOPO]

When we have less to lose then now it seems or when/once we realize that we always had so little to lose and so much to gain.

I suggest that the chains and irons were barely lifted before they were put right back in place and the sensation of freedom still lingers after 200 years serving only to comfort us occassionally and always to preserve the illusion that we are free.

How can we be free when we are so dependent?

I would never choose to believe that peaceful revolution is impossible yet and conversely I would never be so inclined to believe the same about the chances of violent revolution.

"Those that make a peaceful revolution impossible - shall make a violent revolution inevitable" J.F.K.

Once we realize that we all create the future as opposed to it simply happening to us....watch out.....as then rapid change is possible!

I can feel it happening already can't you?

Imagine normal people understanding peak oil without the internet.....would you be aware? would I?
Would we be "as" aware not being able to communicate as we do?
Rapid and radical change is possible yet its like a controlled demolition by non union pyromaniacs..............where the innocent on looker can only hope that the building falls in the best direction

I never liked the Who that much but I can see the appeal.

The Who - Eminence Front
The Who
Eminence Front

The sun shines
And people forget
The spray flies as the speedboat glides
And people forget
Forget they're hiding
The girls smile
And people forget
The snow packs as the skier tracks
And people forget
Forget they're hiding.

Behind an eminence front
Eminence front - It's a put on.

Come on join the party
Dress to kill
Won't you come and join the party
Dress to kill.

The drinks flow
People forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they're hiding
The news slows
People forget
The shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they're hiding.

Behind an eminence front
Eminence front - it's a put on
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to kill
Dress yourself, dressed to kill.

I say we are just about through with hiding........
I say we are just about fed up and it wont be long now before they can put those camps, guns and soldiers to better use as opposed to torturing and slaughtering Iraqi's........
Yep they are the bully and we are the kid who has forgotten how to fight back until one day when it comes to a boil inside our minds.......well............you all know the rest of this story.

[Narz]

I think they should come up with a better opening sentence than the "middle class white guy" bit. But I like some of those authors. Looking forward to a preview.

[Kristen]

I'm 21 and i've voted everytime i can since 18 bc of my parents influence. Maybe Parents could use an attitude adjustment too

[gg3]

Apathetic youth?

Just say Markos Moulitsas. 20-something, I don't know if/where he went to college, but he's former United States Army in a combat arms MOS, and presently regarded as the Democratic senator from cyberspace with his website The Daily Kos ( www.dailykos.com ).

The community he created played a critical role in this year's elections, easily making the difference in a couple of key races. They routinely have Representatives and Senators going over there to write columns and ask for feedback. They influence the mainstream media, which views them with a mixture of resentment, respect, and envy. They have been kicking pundits in the butt and turning the conventional political wisdom on its head. They are the "netroots" and they have been making a difference.

In our community planning group are a bunch of 20-somethings. They are not apathetic consumers, they are big-picture thinkers & doers who are going to roll up their sleeves and build. One of them has been doing extensive hands-on research on hunter-gatherer methods including living in the woods, eating what's in the woods, and crapping in the woods without toilet paper, just to figure out what works and what doesn't. One of them is an immigrant kid working and going to school to learn biotech on the off chance that there will be a way to use it after the shit hits the fan. One of them is a coder geek with farm background, and one is a big-picture dude who has just been put on the governing council of the larger 501-c-3 organization that our group merged with.

BTW, three of them are in need of girlfriends (any takers here? 20-something women with brains and vision and eager to live in rural community, PM me and I'll put you in touch with the dudes).

IMHO they're doing damn good with what they have, which is starting from working-class backgrounds and bootstrapping themselves into the kinds of knowledge and experience they will be able to use when our time comes to go to the woods.

And for anyone who thinks the 60s generation was somehow better, remember that it was they who grew up to vote for Reagan.

[Ludi]

link "VisionQuest Pictures presents a Storkboy Film WHAT A WAY TO GO
LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE

A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle.

What is it doing to us as thoughtful human beings as we face the overwhelming challenges of:
• Dwindling fossil fuel reserves?
• Critically degraded ecosystems?
• A changing climate?
• An exploding global population?
• Teetering global economies?
• An unstable political climate?
• And what is it doing to the rest of the life on this planet?

Featuring interviews with Daniel Quinn, Derrick Jensen, Jerry Mander, Chellis Glendinning, Richard Heinberg, Thomas Berry, William Catton, Ran Prieur and Richard Manning, What a Way to Go will look at the current global situation and ask the most important questions of all:
• How did we get here?
• Why do we keep destroying the planet? and
• What do we truly want?
• Can we find a vision that will empower us to do what is necessary to survive, and even thrive, in the coming decades?"

[128shot]

hook line sinker...

[skiwi]

Appears to be available for local screening

http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/

UPDATE: The movie is now complete. We’re submitting it to festivals
and looking for a distributor. Copies are not yet available for
purchase. However, if people are interested in organizing local
screenings, that’s a possibility.
Email Sally Erickson at producer@whatawaytogomovie.com .

A REVIEW OF THE DOCUMENTARY "What A Way To Go: Life At The End Of Empire", by Tim Bennett and Sally Erickson

[peripato]

Another review of the documentary from Jan Lundberg of Culture Change.

The documentary is in four parts: "Waking on the train", "The train and the tracks", "The locomotive power", and "Walkabout." So, in a well organized fashion, in just over two hours, the film thoroughly explores elements of our planetary predicament: how we got into it, how bad it is, and what our prospects are for recognizing our collective dilemma before it's too late. One gets the clear sensation of needing to immediately save our planet for the approximate half of today's living species that may still be around in a few decades.

Looks worthwile...

[kochevnik]

The 'youth' of today are nothing more than the cannon fodder for the next war. Shadow-Boomers.

Who you should really watch are the Gen-Xers - those born from the early 60's to the very early 80's. They are the ones who will be in positions of power as the 60 something Boomers (Clinton & Bush) fade from power over the next decade.

[Blacksmith]

My only regret is that I will not live to see the changes that will take effect, but if I could suggest you look anywhere look at Cuba they have been doing without a surplus of oil for quite sometime. Oxen and horses are really loving animals, not as much fun as an ATV or an SUV, but fun never the less.

"Every man is a smith who forges his own happiness"

[Roccland]

What a Way to Go Movie

[Roccland]

bump

[Roccland]

Two trailers here

[Roccland]

I saw this last night.

Cried.

[JohnLudi]

Just got my copy in the mail yesterday. Only had time to watch the first 10 minutes...but if that was any indication, it is a quality piece of work. I'll comment more when I've watched all of it this week.

[TheDude]

"What a Way to Go" - Meet the Filmmakers. About 26 minutes long. There are two trailers at YouTube as well.

[vsixpack]

I saw this film at a screening in NYC. It was amazing. It is very information dense so your "average" person is probably not going to be able to handle it too well.

I was well aware of everything mentioned in the film but seeing in put together in a 2 hour documentary was very powerful.

There are many credible professors from large academic institutions (duke, etc) in the film. I felt that was really important because your "average" person will be less likely to tune them out or use the excuse that my mother give me about peak oil.

"Robert, people can write whatever they want in books." or I get the answer "They are just trying to scare people to sell books"

This film is the ultimate wake-up call that looks at HOW our society got HERE as well as stating the large problems we are facing with:
-peak oil
-Global climate change
-Mass Extinction
-Overpopulation

[NEOPO]

I thought the following was an appropriate bump for this one...

Castles made of sand

[Resurrection]

This is now what I show people who I'm trying to enlighten. I figure if they can watch this and not be affected, or in some way have their eyes opened, there is no hope for them.

[BlisteredWhippet]

BTW, three of them are in need of girlfriends (any takers here? 20-something women with brains and vision and eager to live in rural community, PM me and I'll put you in touch with the dudes).

I'm most interested in how this particular search goes. Keep us posted, gg3.