Description:
The Great Squeeze picks up where the documentary Energy Crossroads left off. Our dependence on cheap and abundant fossil fuels has been feeding the engine of our economic system for the past 200 years. Although it has lifted modern civilizations to new heights, prosperity has come at a tremendous price. We are now at a point where humanity's demands for natural resources far exceed the earth's capacity to sustain us. The extraction and the consumption of these resources in the past two centuries have changed our climate and ecosystems so significantly, that a new geological era had to be created. These man-made threats become e
The Great Squeeze picks up where the documentary Energy Crossroads left off. Our dependence on cheap and abundant fossil fuels has been feeding the engine of our economic system for the past 200 years. Although it has lifted modern civilizations to new heights, prosperity has come at a tremendous price. We are now at a point where humanity's demands for natural resources far exceed the earth's capacity to sustain us. The extraction and the consumption of these resources in the past two centuries have changed our climate and ecosystems so significantly, that a new geological era had to be created. These man-made threats become even more ominous when you look at them together as part of a global trend.
The film then goes back in time and takes us on a journey through history when past civilizations made the same mistake of growing too fast, depleting their natural resources and ultimately collapsing. Instead of the usual band-aid approaches, The Great Squeeze challenges us to learn from history and transition towards a more sustainable economy that values our environment.
Our current paradigm of unending economic growth has become a threat to our prosperity and the long-term viability of humans on this planet. The film is a call to action and gives us a framework for the changes that must take place. We are faced with great challenges, but unlike the rest of the living world, we have the unique ability to adapt and decide our fate and the fate of most of the biosphere, for better or worse, in order to survive the human project.
Released in March 2009, The Great Squeeze was selected at 14 film festivals around the world and won two awards for best documentary. It features the environmental heavy weights Richard Heinberg, Edward O. Wilson, Lester Brown, Alexandra Cousteau, Jim White, Howard Kunstler and many more. The film has optional English, Spanish and French subtitles and is available in two versions. A full lengh version of 68 min. and a broadcast length version of 54 min.
The DVD also offers a bonus documentary that traces the rebirth and transformation of Greensburg, Kansas. On May 4th, 2007, 95% of the town of Greensburg Kansas was destroyed by an EF5 tornado. In the aftermath, conservative farmers and ranchers joined with environmentalists to rebuild Greensburg as a model green community. In choosing to rebuild its community with sustainable design and a reliance on renewable energy, this conservative town made a 180-degree turn and overnight became an example of a transition town.
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