The Fuel Film

Yet again, I find myself post documentary, with a lot to say. This time, I watched Fuel. It was an intriguing look at our country's (and world's) addiction to oil.

This flick had me hooked from start to finish. Going in, I had some very generalized ideas about biofuels, biodiesel, and ethanol.. but I surely had no idea which ones were energy negative or positive (aka: how much energy it takes to make it, versus what you get out of it). And as someone who didn't grow up anywhere near a farm or a diesel truck, I also had no idea that diesel engines were actually designed to run on "bio" renewable fuels.

Now, I won't go over every little tidbit that I learned. You really should watch the film.. even if you are familiar with diesel. It was eye-opening to see how much big oil has controlled, manipulated, and steered our country, politics, and policies. From prohibition to wars in the middle east. Is it all about oil? No. But nothing exists in a bubble; and everything effects everything else. Oil has, no doubt, played a role in shaping this country, and world. "Money makes the world go round." Well, oil's got it.

And really, the oil companies can only be blamed so much. Sure, they profit greatly. Sure, it's generally unsafe and toxic from start to finish. But at the end of the day, it's supply and demand. It's us. We consume, and consume, and consume. We don't even stop to think "Where is this coming from?" and "Will there be any left in 20 years?" Because oil isn't just for our fuel.. It's responsible for loads of other things we take for granted... like plastics.

In the United States, as the film will tell you, we take up far more than our share of fuel (and pretty much every other resource on the planet). We can't really blame anyone but ourselves for that. Sure, we get marketed to; and marketed hard. Americans are typically led to believe that bigger is better. More is better. Everything is custom fit for you.. and of course, it's disposable. So, in turn, our cars are literally built bigger. Because that's what we want.. or that's what we believe we want. We need an SUV that is capable of off-roading.. even if we've never done such a thing in our lives and we're just driving our kids to soccer.

But eventually, we either have to decide that we want it different.. or we're going to get a very rude awakening when there is little or no oil left. Our 'old-fashioned' gas powered vehicles will be sitting abandoned.. as diesel, once again, takes the reigns; along with electric and hybrids.

Here's yet another glitch though. Guess who just bought a vehicle? I did. Guess who didn't get a hybrid? Me. Why? I couldn't afford it. I knew it would pay for itself in the long run, but I didn't have the extra 15k up front. So, I bought a used car. Granted, it was an improvement over my previous SUV; but not as much as I would have liked. In our current economical state, there's no doubt that something must be done to make these next generation cars more affordable. But knowing what I know now, I probably will opt for a diesel next time; if still unable to afford a hybrid. There is good news though. Hybrid prices are coming down. Some are even within a couple thousand dollars of their gasoline-only cohorts. Supply and demand. It's time to demand something different. We can't wait for our goverment or big business to lead us where we need to go. We just need to go.

"When the people lead, the leaders will follow." - Gandhi

The good news is that Fuel doesn't just go over all the problems we have. It talks about the solutions. Did you know that algae may very well be the wave of the future for our fuel? That it can be grown in waste water and supply all our oil needs? It really is awesome how issues like these lead to amazing innovations. Now we just need more people to get on board and support this movement in the right direction.

Obviously, any topic needs to explored more than any one documentary will allow. One should always take a film like this at face value; as all documentaries inherently have an 'angle.' You have to make up your own mind. But one thing is absolute fact. Oil resources are limited. They will not last forever. Costs will continue to rise. Global stability will be affected. Do you want to wait until things get really bad (which won't be long now)? Or do you want to be ahead of the curve?

For more information, you can also check out the Film's website at: http://www.thefuelfilm.com/