"Gull Darn 'it" as Walter Brennan used to say limping across the farm. I
HAVE EXPERIENCED the flaming before! It was back in 2001. No, I don't
know who wrote that song. Never made the Casey Cason Top 40 anyway.
Well....been there, done that. Flaming, if it were to continue, wouldn't
phase (120v, 2-phase or 240v, 3-phase) me any more. I have been
re-conditioned (no warranty, purchase as is, though). The good Lord
gives us 2 holes to use. A mouth-hole and another hole. Sometimes when
communication is reduced from these 2 venues to finger firing electrons,
the substance or meaning of the sarcasm gets lost (no - not that reality
island on tv - God, if this is all Americans has to do with their time,
we need a oil crash post-haste. Take THAT! Reality show lovers. Watch
that over your lamps fueled by grain oil and go read EnergyBulletin.net
with a hand crank transformer)
What have I done about it since 1991? Hell, I GOT MAD! First, I joined
the Native Plant Society (which later I became Vice President of a local
chapter of the State unit, next I joined the "Master Naturalists" (1st
cousins to Master Gardeners) and got certified, then I went to Central
America 3 times to learn more about our hemisphere and finally I opened
a local native plant and landscaping company in my home town. My thanks
to who pissed me off!
What did I learn from all this? Too damn much! Regardless of which hole
some of us choose to communicate through, despite how much forests are
trying to be cleared via flames and how many times countless electrons
are passed from the right to the left hemisphere (not counting bad
breath), we all can live together. Now, while we are working on that and
to make the time more useful, let us impart our skills to the next man
so that all can be cross trained. We'll need those skills to carry us
through the Post-Carbon Age of fossil fuel adjusting.
p.s. - this was interesting. Inbox today showed I got message from a
buddy selling electricity and he has a seminar on 03/11/06 about "fuel
pills". He's tring to get 30 - 40 friends to show up. Ironically, it the
same day as:
Please join us for the world premiere of Oil Crash the Movie at the SXSW
film festival on March 11th at 2:00 PM at the Austin Convention Center.
We will be holding a press conference at 11:30 AM, March 11th, in the
Press Suite at the Austin Convention Center. We look forward to seeing
you there. Attached is the press release and flyer for Oil Crash.
Kindest Regards,
Basil Gelpke
512.450.8411 mobile
Ray McCormack
512.450.8422 mobile
Linda Litowsky
512.750.3303 mobile, please call Linda for interviews.
A film millions of years in the making... WORLD PREMIERE AT SXSW
FILM FESTIVAL
Saturday March 11, 2006
2 PM Convention Center Auditorium
OilCrash, produced and directed by award-winning European journalists
Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, tells the story of how our
civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with
geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film
visits with the world’s top experts and comes to a startling, but
logical conclusion – our industrial society, built on cheap and readily
available oil, must be completely reimagined and overhauled.
The idea that the world’s oil supplies have peaked, or will soon, is
gaining mainstream currency. Robert B. Semple, Jr., associate editor of
the New York Times editorial board, writes in the paper’s March 1 online
edition:
“The Age of Oil — 100-plus years of astonishing economic growth made
possible by cheap, abundant oil — could be ending without our really
being aware of it. Oil is a finite commodity. At some point even the
vast reservoirs of Saudi Arabia will run dry. But before that happens
there will come a day when oil production ‘peaks,’ when demand overtakes
supply (and never looks back), resulting in large and possibly
catastrophic price increases that could make today‘s $60-a-barrel oil
look like chump change. Unless, of course, we begin to develop
substitutes for oil. Or begin to live more abstemiously. Or both. The
concept of peak oil has not been widely written about. But people are
talking about it now. It deserves a careful look — largely because it is
almost certainly correct.”
Semple concludes: “These [are] not doomsday scenarios from conspiracy
theorists, but hard scientific facts backed by serious research.”
You needn’t be a conspiracy theorist to see a connection between
America’s current obsessions with the Middle East and national security,
and the world’s looming oil crisis. The frenzied search for alternative
sources of energy now being pursued by the largest multinational energy
corporations makes it clear they also believe a crisis is fast
approaching. Each day’s headlines, whether the subject is Iraq or South
America, sheds new light on the issue.
Producer Basil Gelpke explains: “Suddenly, seemingly unconnected news
about Katrina and Rita hitting the Gulf Coast’s oil refineries;
the ongoing war in Iraq; the nuclear ambitions of Iran; the populist
politics of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; the appalling corruption in most
oil producing countries; the de facto nationalization of Yukos in
Russia; the steep rise in costs of everything oil-related; and even
increasing share prices of companies involved in solar, wind and nuclear
energy all pointed in the same direction. Oil is running out, and nobody
is ready for the cataclysm that is bound to follow.”
The film includes in-depth, thought-provoking interviews with
Matt Simmons, Colin Campbell, David Goodstein, Matt Savinar and many
others. Shot on location at oil fields from Texas to Azerbaijan,
with original music by Daniel Schnyder and Philip Glass, the film
provides not only questions, but possible solutions to the most
perplexing and important economic, environmental and public policy issue
of our time. One year ago, in a report commissioned by the U.S.
Department of Energy, Robert L. Hirsch challenged the notion that the
free market can solve the onrushing emergency:
„The world has never faced a problem like Peak Oil. Without massive
mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be
pervasive and will not be temporary. Previous energy transitions (wood
to coal and coal to oil) were gradual and evolutionary; oil peaking will
be abrupt and revolutionary.“
OILCRASH ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS
MONDAY, MARCH 13, 11:15 CONVENTION CENTER
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 16:30 ALAMO DOWNTOWN
The Directors: Swiss economist and social anthropologist Basil
Gelpke was one of the youngest journalists to work for national Swiss
Television in the mid-80’s. From there on he went to pursue a career in
TV reporting working for various European channels. In addition to
sending him around the world, his groundbreaking work in television
journalism has allowed him to explore and produce documentaries on a
wide range of subjects.
Since 1989, Irish born Ray McCormack has produced and directed music
videos, arts & entertainment programs, and documentaries including the
award winning feature documentary, ‘Welcome to The Cheapseats’. He has
collaborated on projects for the BBC, Fugitive TV, and Propaganda UK
-where he also worked as head of production.
Basil and Ray are available for interviews March 10 – 13, 2006, at
SXSW in Austin, Texas. To schedule an interview, please contact Linda
Litowsky 512.750.3303
Please join us at our Press Conference, March 11, 2006, 11:30 AM in
the SXSW Press Suite at the Austin Convention Center.