The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream (2004)

The modern suburbs have ultimately become an unsustainable way of living. They were originally developed in an era of cheap oil, when the automobile became the center of the way people ... See full summary »

Director:

Gregory Greene

Writer:

Gregory Greene

Stars:

Barrie Zwicker, James Howard Kunstler, Peter Calthorpe

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview:
Barrie Zwicker	...	Himself - Host
James Howard Kunstler	...	Himself
Peter Calthorpe	...	Himself
Michael Klare	...	Himself
Richard Heinberg	...	Himself
Matthew Simmons	...	Himself
Michael Ruppert	...	Himself (as Michael C. Ruppert)
Julian Darley	...	Himself
Colin Campbell	...	Himself
Steve Andrews	...	Himself
Ali Samsam Bakhtiari	...	Himself
Kenneth Deffeyes	...	Himself

Storyline

The modern suburbs have ultimately become an unsustainable way of living. They were originally developed in an era of cheap oil, when the automobile became the center of the way people lived and an era when people wanted to escape the inner city to a more pastoral or rural way of life. However the suburbs quickly evolved into a merely a place to live that had neither the benefits of rural or urban life, and where one was reliant on an automobile both to travel elsewhere and even travel within the neighborhood. The suburbs are not only dependent upon cheap energy, but also reliable energy. The reliability of energy is becoming less so as demonstrated by the multi-day blackout of the North American Eastern Seaboard starting on August 14, 2003. Part of the problem of getting out of the suburban mentality is that a generation has grown up believing it to be a normal way of life, and a life of entitlement, which they will not give up without a fight. But many developers and planners and ...

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Plot Keywords:

suburb | energy | oil | automobile | fuel | 

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Taglines:

We're literally stuck up a cul-de-sac in a cement SUV without a fill-up

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Genres:

Documentary | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Electric Wallpaper Company [Canada] Official site

Country:

Canada USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 2004 (Canada)

Also Known As:

The End of Suburbia

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Electric Wallpaper Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The producer/editor makes a cameo appearance. He can be seen eating a watermelon in the 8mm home movie footage.

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Quotes

James Howard Kunstler: Now we're stuck up a cul-de-sac in a cement SUV with an empty gas tank.

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Connections

Features In the Suburbs (1957)

User Reviews

1st place award for most useful information

I own a Video store with hundreds of documentaries. I have seen loads of them and love all of the great info out there. Only a small handful though even come close to offering info as important as this one. I have been reading through other peoples reviews of this film and can't help but notice that the main things people are criticizing are irrelevant. Such as "It is very one sided" Such a pathetic criticism, every where in society that you look you will see the other side, and if you still need help go to globalpublicmedia.com. "It is the same people over and over" Uh one might be led to believe that these people are the experts, so maybe they are the best people to interview. "filming style is all the same, head shots with few exceptions" If you want flash and dazzle watch Micheal Moore if you want info watch real docs such as this one. As you can plainly see none of these complaints have any relevance to the information contained. My guess is that these people are just missing the point and don't wanna give up there SUV's.

My recommendation: Watch it. Learn from it, and continue your education about such subjects. It is very important stuff for EVERYONE.