FUEL
Eleven years in the making, FUEL is the in-depth personal journey of filmmaker and eco-evangelist Josh Tickell, who takes us on a hip, fast-paced road trip into America's dependence on foreign oil.
Combining a history lesson of the US auto and petroleum industries and interviews with a wide range of policy makers, educators, and activists such as Woody Harrelson, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young and Willie Nelson.
Animated by powerful graphics, FUEL looks into our future offering hope via a wide-range of renewable energy and bio-fuels. Winner of the Sundance Audience Award.
The events of Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina factor in both visually and thematically, providing provocative anchors for the movie's indictment of what Tickell believes is the Big Oil-cozy, ecologically indifferent Bush administration.
Johnny O'Hara's WGA Award-nominated script doesn't dwell on muckraking, however; it's more focused on broadly inspiring viewers than preaching to the converted.
Interviews with a wide range of environmentalists, policy makers and educators, along with such "green" celebrities as Woody Harrelson, Sheryl Crow and Larry Hagman offer serious fuel for thought - as well as for action.
Smartly animated interstitials, memorable archival material and a lively soundtrack round out the fast-paced proceedings.
Now this is REALLY SHOCKING!! Europeans always think wisely for the people & to the people! Unlike the U.S. where the people are slaves according to the industries!
excellent write up
great, thank you so much!
Don't forget that the guy who invented the car that ran on water was assassinated !! Great movie loved it and felt very moved. We have to move in this direction or it's game over!!
I remember when I purchased gasoline for 19 cents a gallon. That was before the EPA and the US government taxed and regulated the oil companies out of the country. There is a chance now that the US could become self sufficient but this Obama administration does everything in its power to punish and suppress the oil companies. Hence 4 dollar gasoline with an abundant supply of oil just waiting to be pulled out of the ground.
This is a beautiful piece of work. I did gardening work for Josh and his partner Rebecca for several years and helped them grow their own organic produce.
What promted me to comment here is an experience as a kid. Riding on the scholl bus, I was frequently overwhelmed by toxic fumes that wafted in through the widows that made my lungs and eyes hurt. In the fifth grade, I started riding my bicycle 5 miles to school to avoid the pain.
really nice love it that post and also wounderful
The problems still are: 1. tonnage of metal vehicles still will kill people on the roads. 2. People are still getting fat and suffering diabeties through lack of exercise. 3. With humans addiction to assisted transport, the right to a car is overshadowing that humans need to eat. What, people go hungry to give energy to a machine? Solution: 1. people live close to what they need through social organisation and they WALK to where they need to go, without getting run down. 2. People are healthier because walking is good for you. 3. the best machines humans have is their own bodies. Energy is dedicated to organic and sustainable food sources.
They've made cars that run on water but destroyed them because it interferes with the oil warlords and their money.
It just has to happen please just keep reminding the guys upstairs!
I really enjoyed the movie. I found it very informing. Now I feel a change. I want to know more. I find my self searching for answers to questions I didn't have before. I see a lot of you mention several different options for leaving the oil generation behind. You say the like it can only be one or the other. But why can't we use all of them? Just a thought. It seems the fungus they can grow is the most efficient way to produce bio fuel. Solar power would be to the ultimate but we have not gotten there yet with 100% efficiency.
I know because of this film and, Gasland, The Union I will be trying to figure out how to become part of the movement. We have a river there is got to be a way to work with that and we have a lot of wind. I would hope every one would start trying to make the change instead of just talking about it. It may be a pipe dream to some. But I have learned that you have to set goals to achieve them. I'm so glad they made this movie. :)
as an engineer i agree with the comments that bio diesel, as grown in fields is not the answer, however using old cooking oil as diesel is better than throwing it down the drain, causing more polution, the answer is totally electric vehicles, powered by electricity from wind mills, wave energy, and other forms of renewable, none poluting energy...
just to point out that diesel engines were orignally made to run on vegetable oil, and most modern diesel engines will run on any such oil, with no additives!!...i know, i'm an engineer and i've done it...and the idea of making a pump to collect the oil is ridiculous, its already in big cans so pick it up carry it to the vehicle, put a funnel in the filler hole of your vehicle, cover the top of this funnel, with two or three pairs of ladies hose stretched, across the top of this funnel, and pour the oil directly into your tank through this funnel...all you need to do is remove the larger bits of debris from this oil and away you go....warning don't do this with a petrol engine...it wont work....the operating principle is different for petrol engines
just to point out that diesel engines were orignally made to run on vegetable oil, and most modern diesel engines will run on any such oil, with no additives!!...i know, i'm an engineer and i've done it...
Great Doc.
Cheesy, biased doc. Style is totally b- grade Michael Moore. Plus he only deals with vehicle fuel, which is only part of the problem of our dependence on oil. watch Collapse (Mike Ruppert doc) instead for a much more informed and complete picture.
So much of this documentary is bullshit. Bio diesel is a panacea, it takes energy and a lot of water and land to make it. The entire system is ****** and the director of this doc should know that!
The changes aren't going to happen. People are dumb and dumber by the day.
why dont we just grow Hemp again for fuels
sorry world, didn't know
As one of the co-producers of the film, and after many showings, it is very interesting that some people understand the concept of growing your own fuel supplies and some still do not. Our new Global headquarters to supply 2,000,000 trees per month to our International contracts in Vietnam and Africa will achieve us purchasing biofuels from them instead of producing it ourselves, growing our trees only on polluted lands such as the Nevada Test Site, the Hanford Site in Washington State, the Salton Sea Project in California would supply millions of gal of biofuels per year and give us clean air to breath. Why am I going to Hanoi to plant trees when we need them here in the good ol USA? Critics, Critics, Critics. Get on my soap box with me and demand the trees planted in polluted locations here.
Dr. Ray Allen
Emerald Energy
I haven't watched this yet, just read the comments.
Corn isn't the only plantation we can use for biofuels. Technology has advanced and we are in the process of making a biofuel from algae. Algae won't affect the cost of our food, it will most likely correlate with a drop in food cost. Also, algae can grow virtually anywhere on this planet including deserts with some water. Algae plants are very "gas dense" (I can't think of how to word it) so this would wipe out the use of corn or any other plant grown for biofuels. We wouldn't be having this problem if Rockefeller didn't manipulate the original diesel engine which ran off peanut oil.
Yeah, and then there was Durban.
:-(((
I am beginnning to SERIOUSLY believe that the human species is simply too ill equiped to survive another 100 years. People (masses of them) are SO EASILY MANIPULATED by self serving greed people at the top.
Look at how we follow false gods, politicians and worse of all MONEY.
I have watched nearly ALL of TDF's documentaries, watched Peter Joseph struggle to educate us and how Occupy Wall Street goes unheard.
Just look at history! World War 1 and 2 ... and down to Roman and Greek times. ALL of them failed... what makes the present time any different?
If you think technology will save us... well think again. It is technology that is going to kill us and the atmosphere... yes, I know technology is used for good or Ill... but I am sad to say it is used mostly to control and manipulate minds.
Just look at FOX NEWS.
Sure you and I can say we know our problems... but the percentage of you and I that are good and thoughtful is FAR BELOW the percentage of those that are childish followers to their death.
My wife is 50% Native American. She reminds me of how brutal and hateful white people are... even the greatest Philosophers has SERIOUS doubt that we can change (all of us, not just a few thousand that watch TDF) in time...
Human beings are simply not going to make it.... after all... does it matter? The sun will burn out and that will be that ... we are only going to burn out the atmosphere MUCH sooner.
Im sorry folks... but anyone that believes we can overcome money, twisted human concepts that go against nature are fooling themselves.
I DID have hope... and I got into many MANY arguments with my Native American wife that white people can change IN TIME.... but I see now we will not.
THERE WAS A UTOPIA.. but that was destroyed long LONG ago. Just be happy for the life we have now... love yourself and your friends and the Earth. But, our time is up and we are on our way into extinction.
Scary? Why be scared... it is what it is.
There are so many holes in this documentary I don't know where to begin. First he recommends the use of an oil substitute based on the refuse of fast food which is killing a lot of poor folk who cannot afford to eat better but that's the least of the problem here. He doesn't highlight the problem that arises from ethanol in a world where population is exploding, namely the replacement for the scarce fertile land from food production to corn for food. The UN is already reporting food shortages for 2011 as prices for wheat rise. As noted by Yale's C. Ford Runge who wrote an article called The Case Against Biofuel: Probing Ethanols hidden cost:
"In light of the strong evidence that growing corn, soybeans, and other food crops to produce ethanol takes a heavy toll on the environment and is hurting the world’s poor through higher food prices, consider this astonishing fact: This year, more than a third of the U.S.’s record corn harvest of 335 million metric tons will be used to produce corn ethanol. What’s more, within five years fully 50 percent of the U.S. corn crop is expected to wind up as biofuels.
Here’s another sobering fact. Despite the record deficits facing the U.S., and notwithstanding President Obama’s embrace of some truly sustainable renewable energy policies, the president and his administration have wholeheartedly embraced corn ethanol and the tangle of government subsidies, price supports, and tariffs that underpin the entire dubious enterprise of using corn to power our cars. In early February, the president threw his weight behind new and existing initiatives to boost ethanol production from both food and nonfood sources, including supporting Congressional mandates that would triple biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Yet a close look at their impact on food security and the environment — with profound effects on water, the eutrophication of our coastal zones Subsidy supports are a testament to the power of the farm lobby and its sway over Congress. from fertilizers, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions — suggests that the biofuel bandwagon is anything but green. Congress and the administration need to reconsider whether they are throwing good money after bad. If the biofuel saga illustrates anything, it is that thinking ecologically will require thinking more logically, as well."
It takes too much land to grow ethanol, huge acreage. These crops releases nitrous oxide into the atmosphere — a greenhouse gas 296 times more damaging than CO2 — and contributes more to global warming than biofuels save through fossil fuel reductions. This film is offering a misguided solution and if you want to address really what needs to change and what we really face in terms of crude oil then watch 'Blind Spot' and 'A Crude Awakening'. This guy is just proposing one disastrous solution to amend the present disastrous solution.
Biofuels are unsustainable!!! Ethanol is an agribusiness get-rich-quick scheme that will bankrupt our topsoil. Fertile soil will be destroyed if crops and other "wastes" are removed to make cellulosic ethanol. The government has studied the effect of growing continuous corn, and found it increases eutrophication by 189%, global warming by 71%, and acidification by 6% (Powers 2005)
An interesting & thought provoking documentary but been a few years since it was made.
I see no change in my community, my goverment or how people view oil consumption, the main reason money.
People that are unemployed, live on or below a minimum wage, or live in third world countries are not thinking how they can be part of projects suggested in this documentary that think of the future but how they can live now.
Over 160million people in Europe live in poverty. I have no doubt these people could make a difference some more than likely would actively do so but given their situation majority of what they think about is how can they get their next meal, education, health care & getting out of poverty.
Taking into account the percentage of the global population that lives in poverty, thats alot of people that could be added to "the masses" of people that could impact their goverment's, but see no change in their circumstances today. How can they see a future thats improving the planet when at present goverments cant provide for the people that live on this planet.
So considering that "the masses" will lead the goverment's maybe first "the masses" need a present then we can think of the future.
need to take in account that in some countries it aint eazy nor cheap 2 be enviromental friendly..... So besides the fact that u get educated in ^^(what to do to be environmental friendly ) ^^^^ u gotta have a second and a third job to do so.... Hybrid cars solar panels Bio fuels???? Diezel aint allowed in Greece hmmmm love it all but tooo expensive..... Make it cheaper and it works for everyone ..... 30 000 euros to put panels in our house in Greece hehehehe .... no matter the money u save u gotta get loans and when the sallary is 600 euros a month ppl dnt eaven consider that sollution.... The solution isnt ppl for me .... most older generations got no clue but the newer ones know most of this stuff but cnt do nothing because of goverments.... Sux to wanna do smthin but not be allowed to.....
Like i said wanna see what happens :)
naice.... currious 2 c what happens :)
Its an awesome documentary i have seen , and it makes me think that why should I use private vehicle where I can go by public transport.
this was the best documentary hands down. It gives methods, we can use today, to end our oil dependence, war, economic downturn, and do it all, while ensuring our planets survival.
Unfortunately biodiesel production uses more than 500 times as much water per unit of energy as a Canadian oil sands plant. So, biodiesel, although it is apparently a "green" fuel has a much greater environmental footprint than the industry that is being vilified as "dirty oil". And if all of the USA's arable land were converted to corn for biodiesel production, it would only replace 75% of America's current oil imports. There would be no land left for growing food. Huge investments are needed in research and technology to come up with the breakthroughs needed to make energy from alternative sources economically and socially viable. Money invested today in mass producing biofuels that are heavily subsidized by government is wasting precious water resources and more importantly time. We need to make progress on the technologies for replacing non-renewable energy sources such as oil. And while we work on that, we also need to find ways to use less energy in our daily lives and act on them. Leave your car in the garage. Ride your bicycle, walk, run. You can make a difference now!
Sooner or later everyone will realize that sustainability + profit are incredibly difficult business practices to incorporate together. It's really only a matter of time before humanity as a whole will be forced to realize that money will not purchase us a new planet.
I encourage everyone to look into any kind of alternate currency system, resource based economics, the venus project etc. There is so many solutions out there worth trying and we as a species will be picking one in the next century.
Wow a great Doco. A must watch for everyone!
It really doesn't take a huge leap of common sense for any one to recognize that what this documentary speaks to is the incredible stupidity of destroying the very life giving thing that sustains us...the Planet Earth...our Mother Earth.
great documentry until they talk about global warming.. Global warming is caused by solar activity not C02 emmissions. C02 emmissions are bad there is no question but its very arrogant notion to think we are the reason. Oh we should probably start taxing Volcanoes next
Sad this is a infomercial for Bio Diesel. Not the best solution if at all. Google Bio Diesel criticism or something like that if you want to know the dirty truth of this film.
@Cryozyme You are correct about us needing to utilize all arable land for food production due to the ever growing population. However, the video began by pointing our or dependency upon oil is fueled by government based incentives and lack of availability of alternative sources of transportation such as the Prius. As is the case, if we do not lower our usage and overall dependency on oil, incorporating such alternatives such as bio-diesel and other renewable resources will be futile.
Not that I don't think we need alternative energy but this film seems biased towards bio fuels and to me reads almost like a commercial. Bio fuels could only ever replace a very small amount of the oil we use because we need most of the worlds arable land to feed our ever increasing population. Unless instead of burning oil we chop down the forests to grow energy crops.
Interesting... We can do better for our kids, country, environment and health!
We the people really don't have the power... but we can if we stood together... will it always be about money? Losing my brother and friends in the attach of September 11, 2001, opened my eyes to many things...
Zatarra
in 10 years or so when China kicks your totally financially indebted china importing walmart buying 1 trillion dollar oil importing butts I will look forward to your comments.
The only reason you have troops around anything is because you can print money to make it happen. Good luck with the sutainability of that venture.
Only real chance we have is Fusion Power.
photovoltaics is totally inefficient at the moment, I have thousands of wind turbines, that I see from my window. it is still in question whether the investment will be returned - but I am aware of the "cheap oil" deal and investments covering...
I liked the algae the most.
Planting fast growing trees on soil, uses up the potential of soil. But this kind of set can be dealt with circulation of crop... anyway, the beautiful yellow fields of rapeseed are fertilized, that is oil. Even agricultural system has to be changed. Unless the algae, which could be easily genetically modified and controlled, do not win the day.
Go with biofuel... americans are dumb sometimes learn a thing or two from the Germans.
@Waldo
First of all Zatarra needs to realise sarcastic remarks can get lost in translation on the internet.
Secondly i know America is not the only country that is hungry for the oil and no im not blind to all else that moves bit i can say ive got my crosshairs pointed at America, for being not only the biggest player in the global oil scandal but America is also the biggest player in STOPPING clean fuel.
I agree its going to take a worldwide change to stop what is happening, but i will say that the oil rich nations do not willingly bow down to the American government but rather they are forced to bow down (The wars going on as we speak).
And yes the global economy is run off this oil scandal but yet again who is at the center of this scandal? Yea you guessed it America will do anything in its power to make sure the global economy revolves around oil so that as you said the American economy doesnt collapse.
Quite frankly the oil bearing countries should cut America off, we can watch there economy fall and see there nation go into panic just like America puts other nations into panic, im sure the rest of the world wouldnt mind if the American dollar went boom.
I agree a global change does nee to be made and first of all it would restrict the amount of oil one nation needed to a fair non greedy amount and kept out of the hand of these giant banking corporations.
/End Rant
First of all Zattara was intentionally being sarcastic to make a point. Secondly, if you tnink America is ther only country hooked on oil and perpetuating its use you are blind to all else that moves, as they say. America is the country that has acted in the most bold and selfish fashion to secure future oil supply, I will admit that. However, the oil producing nations do everything they can to down play the need for renewable alternatives, they have a big finacial interest in seeing that the world stays addicted to oil. Many oil producing nations see oil as their ticket to being a global player, and they also see it as a tool to use against America and the other global powers. Venezuela, Russia, Iran, and China are all working together to use oil in such a way as to change the global power structure. America knows that if oil trading stopped, or even slowed dramatically, our currency would bottom out. Many other countries will suffer financial issues as well, especially the ultra rich oil producers that have no other industry in their nation. In short- the whole global economy rests on the use and trade of oil. Blaming America is everyones favorite past time, but the problem is much more complicated and requires change on a global scale, not just in America.
@Waldo
First of all Zatarra needs to realise sarcastic remarks can get lost in translation on the internet.
Secondly i know America is not the only country that is hungry for the oil and no im not blind to all else that moves bit i can say ive got my crosshairs pointed at America, for being not only the biggest player in the global oil scandal but America is also the biggest player in STOPPING clean fuel.
I agree its going to take a worldwide change to stop what is happening, but i will say that the oil rich nations do not willingly bow down to the American government but rather they are forced to bow down (The wars going on as we speak).
And yes the global economy is run off this oil scandal but yet again who is at the center of this scandal? Yea you guessed it America will do anything in its power to make sure the global economy revolves around oil so that as you said the American economy doesnt collapse.
Quite frankly the oil bearing countries should cut America off, we can watch there economy fall and see there nation go into panic just like America puts other nations into panic, im sure the rest of the world wouldnt mind if the American dollar went boom.
I agree a global change does nee to be made and first of all it would restrict the amount of oil one nation needed to a fair non greedy amount and kept out of the hand of these giant banking corporations.
/End Rant
Haaaa,.. who gives a rats butt-whole about your oil induced miscarriages ? The vast majority of us only care about our big gas guzzling H2 Hummers, our seadoos and our big luxurious air conditioned RV's complete with playstation 3.
So,.. to all you whiners out there, go step off the planet, make a hole, consumers cummin' through !
@ rich they add water to the fat just like Tersoro adds it to their fuel when they refine it. look it up on u tube they have videos from seaboard foods inc doing just that. anyhow my point was that all bio fuels are not good and need to be looked at in their full context rich.
I'm about halfway through this documentary now and I really have to give Josh Tickell a big round of applause for putting together such a powerful movie that shows everything that is both wrong with the United States politically at this moment and everything that is right with the people who want to change it.
What I hear over and over again in documentaries like this and from others like this about "Water Fracturing" that is poisoning the ground water supply of the United States is that the United States government from local municipalities to state government to the Federal government of approving and passing environmental and energy policies that are designed to kill the American people by poisoning the air they breath, the water they drink, and the food they eat.
Over and over and over again this is the message that I am hearing.
The American government wants to point a hand at the fictitious organization called Al-Qaeda that they created on the premise that Al-Qaeda was attacking America. In truth Al-Qaeda is the American Government and they are systematically destroying the United States by poisoning the air they breath, the water they drink, and the food they eat.
This is not a little issue, this is about the very survival of the United States.
The oil and natural gas industry is destroying the United States for what... money and profits!!!
Good grief!!!
And this is not just happening in the United States but Canada as well where oil and natural gas money from the big players have bought out not only the Canadian Federal Government up to the Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but also all of the necessary politicians in Alberta to approve the Canadian Tar Sands projects.
And just like the state of Louisiana the province of Alberta, Canada is being systematically poisoned to death by the tar sands oil industry. All the fresh water in the province of Alberta is slowly being poisoned, the air is being poisoned and the fish in the streams, rivers and lakes are being poisoned and killed by the petro chemical runoff from the tar sands industry.
And just like the environmental agencies in Louisiana and other oil dependent states, the environmental agencies in Alberta have all been bought out by the energy companies.
At what point did the government in the United States and Canada stopped serving the health and welfare of its people and instead decided to start to kill them through its energy and environmental policies to satisfy their own greed and the greed of the energy companies.
So far I have not heard any talk yet of the electric Tesla sports car being developed in San Bruno California. This should be the poster child car of the United States government and it is not.
The poster child car of the United States government is the Hummer. How did government start to go so wrong?
When the United States government and the Canadian government stopped serving the health and welfare of the people of their respective countries, this was an unmistakable sign that power was in the wrong hands.
Dramatic changes need to be done to get energy companies out of government because as of right now their influence is destroying the United States fresh water supply, fresh air, and food supply. It must be stopped and it must be stopped now!
Until I saw this documentary I was completely unaware of the huge Exxon Valdez like oil spill in Louisiana after hurricane Katrina. So well covered up was this ecological disaster that it has not been reported until now to my knowledge. This is absolutely criminal on the part of the United States government and the media who were obviously bought out.
This new knowledge goes hand in hand with the "Water Fracturing" technology that is poisoning the ground water all across the United States to extract natural gas.
It makes one so angry that these politicians are in power, in control and completely destroying the country they have been elected to serve and protect. Nothing could be further from the truth. Politicians are now being elected to destroy the countries they serve in exchange for money and power. And I thought Iraq and Afghanistan had it bad.
The greatest day in American and Canadian history will be the day when oil supplies finally run out around the world stopping this oil based ecological disaster in the United States and Canada.
A very well done documentary by Josh Tickell and all the effort that has gone into making it. The 11 years working on this was well spent! I would like to get a copy of so that I can start to spread it around my community in addition through Facebook.
Not since the release of “Loose Change V2” in 2006 that showed the complete involvement of the United States government and the US military in the planning and execution of the domestic terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, have I been so moved by a documentary.
At the present time the United States government and the Canadian government are both destroying their respective countries in the criminal energy and environmental policies they are enforcing to support the oil and natural gas companies. These energy and environmental policies that seemed specifically designed to kill the American people by poisoning the air they breath, the water they drink, and the food they eat by petro chemical processes and waste products.
Al-Qaeda seems to be the American government and it is indeed attacking American citizens and killing them paid off by the oil companies, energy service companies, and the natural gas energy sector.
The greatest enemy of the people of the United States is their own government.
The greatest enemy of the people of the Canada is their own government.
What a revelation for historians who look back at this epoch of time.
This is as bad as the Romans using lead for their water pipes.
Arnold Vinette
Ottawa, Canada
Las Vegas, Nevada
"Zatarra 2
... SEABOARD FOODS INC. can turn 1 pound of pig fat into 1 gallon of fuel. ……"
Besides all the other opinions that are wrong, Zatarra doesn't even know basic conservation of mass principles. For example, one gallon of diesel weighs about 7 pounds. So turning 1 pound of fat into 7 pounds of fuel is quite an achievement.
That by itself is definitive proof Zatarra knows nothing.
i was wondering why the hemp plant was not mentioned as a bio mass source. the hemp plant can also be used to make bio fuel/diesel. the hemp plant helps clean contaminated land, helps stop erosion, grows well on marginal land and does not require fertilizers.
pity how the bad news coverage killed the bio diesel.
all in all, i thought movie was pretty good.
my 2 cents