Oil

The last few days I've had a ton of ideas for a documentary. The one that keeps coming into my head is on Oil. A recent national geographic has an interesting article entitled "The end of cheap oil."

Some of the pictures are, predictably, amazing. Especially the ones of oil fields in california, these massive pumps in the desert. I'd like to find out where those are and go video.

A good documentary, for me, would address the history of oil dependence, how a strategic decision was made around the time of WWI to build petroleum based machines and engines. Our current infrastructure reflects this long-standing relationship with cheap oil and will someday be threatened by shortages.

I would not be interested in a polemic about the Bush family and conspiracy's about oil companies, but would like to address the politics in oil-rich areas, which tend to be militaristic. I'd also like to address our own culpability in the state of affairs, interviewing an owner of a Humvee dealership, talk to someone about the car-culture in America, the fascination with the combustible engine. And then also look at traffic, urban sprawl, alternatives to petroleum, all through the lens of Kant's Categorical Imperative.

I dunno, sounds interesting to me.