Albert Bartlett - Blind Spot

Whatever the measures of greed, wishful thinking, neglect or ignorance, we have put ourselves at a crossroad which offers two paths, both with dire consequences.If we continue to burn fossil fuels we will choke the life out of the planet and if we don't our way of life will collapse.

"Blind Spot is a fascinating documentary, it draws on some of the most impressive scientific minds to warn us about the dangers of our dependence on oil and educate us about our role in saving the earth and the lives of our children. I was transfixed by it."
-Howard Zinn

If we lived in a rational world, inhabited by rational human beings, viewing Blind Spot would be a mandatory prerequisite to taking any federal oath of office in the coming year. Were that to happen, there might be hope that the USA would resume world leadership and our renewed influence would be used to redirect ourselves and the world away from the unsustainable path upon which we plummeted along throughout the 20th century, mistakenly regarding the adventure as unmitigated progress.
-William Catton Jr., author of Overshoot

Beautiful, crucial, straightforward, brilliantly woven images, words and music.
-John Stauber, author of Toxic Sludge Is Good for You

Blind Spot rides currents of beauty and sadness, ultimately landing with a
catharsis that comes when truth has been told.
-Jason Bradford, founder of Willits Economic Localization

The next few decades arent going to look like the last few-not at all. And the sooner we come to terms with that, the better. This documentary is a good place to start.
-Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

Noam Chomsky on Peak Oil:
Doubtless Peak Oil will come, the timing is a matter of debate. However we may be better off it it is not too long delayed, because it will accelerate what must be done to prevent environmental catastrophe.

http://www.filmbaby.com/films/3368 -

For people who have had problems hearing Albert please go to this link http://globalpublicmedia.com/transcripts/645 to read a transcript of his lecture 'Arithmetic, Population and Energy'

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• blind
• spot
• peak
• oil
• over
• population

[medlmayer]

we do need to change our whole way of life: while it may present incredible adjustment, and hardship for a time; ultimately, it is evolution. and as to population, this is fallacy. 7 billion people could be alloted 1/4 acre of land apiece, and still only use 0.001562 square meters in queensland, with the whole rest of the world unpopulated. so, the real deal is this: how much change are we willing to make? what are we willing to give up? peace and love:)

[oilcrash1]

Area of all Australia 7,617,930 sq km, or about 2.9 million square miles. equal to

1,882,431,500 acres

Or 7,529,726,000 ¼ acres

That is ignoring large areas of Aussie that can only support 1 Abbo per 100 square miles.

For every 10 calories of food on your plate 9 of them are there because of fossil fuel, limits to growth come in many forms.

Watch the first 75 min of HOME (see You Tube)

[oilcrash1]

Look at Easter Island

area 163.6 sq km = 40426.28 sq acres or 101,065 1/4 acres, yet the population only reached about 13,000 before it went into terminal decline. The oil driven equivalent population could have reached 6x that, just like the whole planet now. The Easter Island population ended up at about 100.

Yes we have some changes ahead that is for sure;)

[mrmultidextrous]

Bartlett is off about World War II, there is far more oil and coal production today than in 1945, but otherwise (the important parts) he is right.

[oilcrash1]

Maybe he is saying per capita?

[Nocturne9999]

"Science doesn't care how you vote." Love that line.

[MetallicOpeth]

man...we're so fucked

[gabiotta]

Is this the guy who hawks roast spuds?

[natqoh]

Idiocracy, the intelligent people recognize the problem, they say to themselves, we're not stable, or we need more money to properly raise a child, while the idiots shoot out children for extra welfare payments, and accessibility to social service programs.

[lazur1]

@zWe must decide for ourselves.Many people choose to have NO kids, & many more will follow by economic necessity environmentally-related sterility & pessimism for what the future holds for offspring. There's also a good chance today's youth'll be the 1st modern generation w/a shorter average lifespan than their parents'. And -that's- the SOLUTION! Eugenics is what we're trying to AVOID: If we don't CHOOSE 0-growth, the government of the (not-so-distant) future will choose it FOR us.

[zssamgh]

@lazur1 don't be a fucking eugenicist. 0% means having two kids and dying before they have kids. think about it. who decides who gets to fuck and who doesn't?

[zssamgh]

Hardly any of that oil goes to suv's. Pretty sure this is right- that navy and luxury liners use the majority by far. Simple education is the alternative to depopulation. Who would want to commit to 0% growth? I bet this guy has great-grandkids. 0% means you and your wife get to have two kids, but you have to die before becoming grandparents. 0% actually means war. so if you think it's all about oil you're only half right. do we decide to evolve into sexless androgenomes? no, we ride it out duh

[elflordbob1]

so as americans it is our resposibilty to dewtroy africa and repopulate it

[EliteDoomer]

@peaps Yes, except that we are the cancer of the biosphere, not a virus. Cancer cells stop obeying the laws of nature and proliferate out of control killing the organism that spawned them. We likely won't kill the biosphere but we are going to annihilate ourselves and several other species.

[peaps]

What all of these videos fail to say, is that HOPE is utterly pointless. In fact, the more the population grows the LESS likely it is that anything will ever change.

It is an absolute INEVITABILITY that man be be the cause of his own demise.

I guess Agent Smith was right after all.

[Orquebow]

@mrmultidextrous don't forget overall consumtion to go along with that production. We use more today as well in our everyday life.

[lazur1]

@david222444 Please watch all 8 videos..then we'll talk