The Crisis of Civilization
The Crisis of Civilization is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system.
Weaving together archival film footage and animations, film-maker Dean Puckett, animator Lucca Benney and international security analyst Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, offer a stunning wake-up call proving that 'another world' is not merely possible, but on its way.
The film reveals how a failure to understand the systemic context of these crises, linked to neoliberal ideology, has generated a tendency to deal not with their root structural causes, but only with their symptoms.
This has led to the proliferation of war, terror, and state-terror, including encroachment on civil liberties, while accelerating global crises rather than solving them.
I have never seen so much negativity in one documentary. This problem, that problem. The sky is falling. nothing is working. I wasn't able to find a date for this film but it seems old and still we continue on. We have all the sustainable energy we need All we need to do is take it. This is proven. "The sky is falling" And still we continue on. Nay sayers abound. The only way to do it is to do it. So do it. Really !
Sweden is socialist. What's so bad about sweden?
Brilliant. It's such a shame such 'progressive' thinking has been ignored for decades.
I just wish that All Governments stop medealing in Peoples lifes just to creat a useless Authoritarian - Totalitarian job for some lazy slob, who got his lunch money taken when they were kids .and creat jobs for education, spread democracy, and real freedom (True freedom) om.
help me see the real issues in our world today...what important is-if I cant share directly to the solution of the problems (International level)...I can still do some initiative in solving it...Live it yourself first...and be an influence to your neighborhood.
Excellent Documentary, I will recommend all my friends watch it!
This is a laughable documentary if you could call it that. While the narrator is certainly eloquent, he has very little if any knowledge of economics and the current market economy. He bases his arguments against an extreme form of free market capitalism that has been tempered by regulation and no longer exists (which is presumably why the "archival footage" used to make a point is from before my birth).
The arguments made are short and without proper depth which can be nicely demonstrated in the narrators portrayal of carbon taxes. While yes there is a price put on the carbon, these credits simply do not come out of thin air as he suggest and arn't some money factory for companies. They are part of a cap and trade policy in which the government sets a level of pollution beyond which a high level of taxation occurs. THe pollution below that level is divided into portions which are sold to companies, essentially taxing them for their pollution and decreasing overall creation of pollution by making it more expensive. This is a system that has and is working, nearly 3/5 of the value (measured in GDP) in the world has been created since the 1980s, capitalism has worked, and as the narrator unfortunatley doesn't seem to know or care to mention is that GDP per person is senonomous with an individual's living standard and the growth which he seems to despise, rises it.
If he wants to live in an agrarian society he can move to one, the future will move on and those who wish for it halt or slow down are unfortunately destined to be left behind.
Like usual, no one talk about the most important problem of unsustainably: demographic growth. This is the main problem, and no one say anything about it. To have +2 childrens per women is the biggest source of waste in the world, and this problem need to be solve in order to solve the rest.
@jpquick2
Naive is the opposite of what a conspiracy theorist is. If you're going to criticize, use the right word. A conspiracy theorist is cynical, one who doesn't trust what he is told. A naive person would believe exactly what he was told, despite any evidence to the contrary, which is a disservice to yourself and a danger to others.
Nature has been pushing us through a long, slow process of evolution. Now we are being pushed into a new state. We're discovering that we are all here TOGETHER in ONE totally INTERCONNECTED global world. If we will only overcome our selfishness we will discover the good life nature has in store for us.
We are coming up against all these crises because we are not aligned with the direction nature is taking us. If we aim towards integration instead of separation, balance with nature instead of overconsumption, and making sure EVERYONE has a good life instead of just me, we will enter this new life painlessly.
I don't believe that political and economic structures are the root of the problem. The real root is our selfishness and disregard for nature. Simply overthrowing these structures will not fix things since they are just a reflection of our egos. We all need to change our understanding and way of thinking and the rest will follow.
I'm tired of pointless work and everyone exploiting each other for the sake of endless self gratification. And I'm excited about discovering what's next together with everyone!
All or most of you talk about Political parties,,,such a sham and im sorry you all dont see the bigger picture,its not about politics,its who pulls the strings,and its not our Govt,,,,,,,,,lest we see that those in power,care less about us,the more we see,,,,
10 yeara ago engineers were saying we would never have computer chips the size of a gigabyte.... I have a 3 gig duo core now at it often operates at 100% so MORE IS needed. Any remewable is better than unconventional crude ANYONE. It takes 3 barrels of water to make a barrel of oil out of Canadian Bitumen....in 5 years we will be squandering 9 million barrels a day and the fascists are in control of government to make sure that it happens imagine water is more valuable than oil any day of the week. We are allowing other's to squander this resource....WE have to get much more militant in this country our grandparents were that is how we got what few rights and sevices we do have. They didn't come from an enlightened benevolent capitalist state that is for sure. I can't wait for these portable solar panels to hit the market. I could probably power my tv and puter with it easily and a few other household goods as well. Like lamps.
RR
i like the documentary. Ahmed a smart guy. Clearly .... 9/11 was an inside job but is not mentioned in this docu.
Even though I agree with the general narrative put forward the explanations given are occasionally connected by non-sequiturs.This is especially true when he discusses finance and currency creation. He seems to forget that had we not bailed out the banks the entire financial system would have collapsed. Hank Paulson and members of Congress were discussing martial law and food distribution contingency plans in case the bailout didn't pass. Everything for every business is lent on short-term credit. When the financial system crashes goods don't get delivered. Period.
The banks make incredibly risky bets, and deserve to go bankrupt like you or me would, but unfortunately they had to be propped up or far, far worse consequences would have ensued.
We should have done more thorough investigations for illegal activity, and put many of these players in prison. However, this documentary suggests we should simply let the system go under. Good luck investing in renewables, or building a garden AFTER the system collapses. I say let the Federal Reserve keep propping up the system until the inevitable happens because I'll be even more prepared by then. On the other hand, if your not preparing yourself yet you should keep in mind that delaying the crash makes its aftermath stronger.
Then again whoever believes oil prices are high because of magical speculators, evil oil companies, or bad politicians will be caught with their pants down because they lack the critical thinking skills to do basic research and discover that *gasp* prices are rising due to a supply/demand imbalance. U.S. consumption is down, and U.S. production is up. However, global consumption is RISING, and global supply is STAGNANT. This means higher prices. Are people speculating? Of course! But they're speculating because fundamentals are screaming for higher prices in the future. The MSM is somehow blind to this.
Occupy the planet!
yes, we need to face reality head-on
government does it in secret
friends and family dare not discuss it
many prefer robotics to acting out of step
as an individual, one can act
The recurring theme here is the if we came to our senses and 'worked together' for the common good of everybody, we could solve our coming massive crises. I guess he feels good to be talking about it all, as if he is doing his part. And he is doing his part, God bless him. If we could all work together, huh. I'm afraid change will come in a rather more violent manner!
Didn't know you could get a phd with nectar points!
the animation is pretty good though
@Luis. Huntington was hit-or-miss in his worldview. I began reading his works while I was in grad school (Internat'l Relations/Internat'l Economics), and found him to make many flawed statements based on Western Civilization's views on democracy and geopolitics.
"The Third Wave" was flawed in using Portugal as the example of regime change towards democracy. It was a military coup -- pretty democratic wouldn't you say? And I believe during the early 2000's, internal criticism of the regime around economic transparency/corruption was fierce -- even by recognized national news services....
"The Crash of Civilizations" - his defining work - is the 2nd most flawed Poli Sci work I have ever read. Culture is BY NO MEANS the driving behind conflict -- international economics and Western (US) world policing and rhetoric has been the driving force behind world conflict post-WW2. Don't get me wrong - Fukuyama's "End of History" is the 1st most useless theory I have studied as a Poli Sci student.
"Who We Are" is the bastard child of the neo-con worldview. In this work, Huntington moves away from the purely international arena and takes a more isolationist/fear-mongering tactic.... In a country of immigrants -- only ~2 million indigenous people still in their land -- this is hypocrisy at it's greatest....
While I respect your opinion -- very subjective subject with none of us having the exact same outlook when making sense of the world scene. However, I do believe this doc is more pertinent than Huntington's outdated works. From the Reagan thru Bush II regimes I would posit that Huntington was verifying current US policies. However, GW Bush did such a poor job of implementing policy -- and injecting this "cultural war" -- into the minds of most Americans. Xenophobia, selective isolationism, binary worldview, and piecemeal world policing aimed at protecting US interests and resource needs is the current state of US policy.
Well,from an academic standpoint Samuel P. Huntington is more credible than the narrator of this documentary. What the latter is doing is trying to simplify complex issues like international terrorism (which in fact IS a clash of civilization, cultures and values ), global warming and enery shortage and attempting to put them under a holistic umbrella. This is a neat package, but one that misses the point and undermines the complexity of each ISOLATED phenomena. This is not serious academic work and is certainly not objective and not free of ideological bagage.
"all of us are in for a rough ride..." hang on tight. Alarming so much so that I would suggest that conspiracy is the standard operation procedure. Gov't and Corporations will use whatever means is most available to get what they want. And all of these ideas are measurable, predictable, and inevitable. Or you can ignore this and go on with life in the bubble of the WORLD OF TOMORROW.
Localization... produce only the energy that we need for the members on the community and only the food that is needed as well, reduce the size of gov't and create local homogenous groups preferably of populations of 1,000 and LESS, make local currencies interdependent upon all who are of the community, but management and oversight would need need to be very strict and transparent, i.e. reject NEOLIBERAL economic policies, which, btw, is the same as George W. Bush's Neo-Conservative beliefs/practices and Democrats are not free of culpability.
We need only exorcise the demons of unfettered wealth accumulation and all those putrid, rotting neo-liberal ideals from our consciousness.... very difficult so I think we can expect some really rough times in the future until those demons are gone. Everybody's got to learn sometime...
there is a plethora of green technologies that we could be using right now. The people who make a lot of money off the outdated technologies do a lot to suppress said new technologies.
It was an informative .doc., but not very original. Watch "Arithmetic, Population and Energy" also on YouTube.
The graphic analogies were cute, but for me a distraction. Perhaps the intent was to hold the attention of the TV addict.
Treebarhogg mentions the disconnect between research and government, but misses the cause and effect. There are two reasons that government is "erronious". One is simply that politicians have private agendas and are narcissistic like all psychopaths are. The other is the fact that politicians don't do science. They wouldn't be politicians if they could comprehend math and the sciences. Also, it is easier to manipulate the masses with faith than fact.
The film reveals how a failure to understand the systemic context of these crises, linked to neoliberal ideology, has generated a tendency to deal not with their root structural causes, but only with their symptoms.
This has led to the proliferation of war, terror, and state-terror, including encroachment on civil liberties, while accelerating global crises rather than solving them.
''all malfunctions quoted short & sharp!''
Let me see...we could drill into the earth, like we already do, but instead of pumping out oil, we pump in water. Then, when it returns out of another pipe as steam, heated by the geo thermal transference, we could then use that steam to drive electric generators. Of course, you could also then condense that steam and produce clean pure distilled water as a by product. Wow! even a dummie like me can come up with that one.
Come on people, you're telling me that our science leaders can't figure out simple technology that could be green and renewable? lol
Seems to me the world powers at play have us right where they want us, afraid of our own shadows and doing what they want in order to keep us fighting over natural recources, money, religion, politics and power. And we are slowly killing ourselves on a planetary level. The earth will be fine once we greedy selfish parasites are gone.
Nothing has changed throughout history. Someone always wants to rule the world and control the populations. War is slow, and we breed to fast, so they have got us killing ourselves slowly in other ways, so they can get rich while we do it to ourselves and then they will ride out the storm in hidden bunkers when $@%# hits the fan.
They will become the master race that has been dreamed of by many world leaders of past (think Hitler) Not because they are smarter or stronger, but because they have the money and power to crush anyone who believes that there is a way out of this global mess. The ones who have faith in our leaders do not understand the bloody history of man.
OK, I'm ready for most of you to disagree with me now. lol