Free Statewide Premiere of Age of Stupid at Berea College December 4th

The Age of Stupid

6:30p.m. Friday December 4^th

Berea College Phelps-Stokes Building

Admission: FREE

Kentucky State-wide premiere of The Age of Stupid

Press Release:

Berea College will be hosting the Kentucky Premiere of Franny Armstrong’s post-apocalyptic documentary-drama Age of Stupid at 6:30 pm on Friday, December 4^th in Phelps Stokes Auditorium.

Armstrong, director of such films as Crude, McLibel and Drowned Out, uses the film to offer a glimpse into the present day from the perspective of individuals from different countries, cultures and socioeconomic classes. Age of Stupid features Oscar nominated Pete Postlethwaite, the sole survivor left behind after the extinction of mankind as he tries to understand how the human race became extinct as it gorged itself on petroleum. The film portrays Postlethwaite as an old man keeping watch over the entire remains of human civilization who retrospectively analyzes the demise of his race using several film segments from the massive information archival database as he regretfully acknowledges how addiction to petroleum and destructive consumption patterns led to the cataclysmic global climate shift due to decades spent carelessly pumping carbon into the atmosphere.

The film will be the final showing in Post Peak Berea’s film series that addresses the environmental and economic impacts of declining oil supply, rising prices and individual responses that can be made to reduce dependency and vulnerability to rising petroleum costs. The series, which featured the films, Kiss Your Gas Goodbye and Peak Moment TV’s Transforming Communities Through Local Business, were used to teach community members about the issue of peak oil and how petroleum extraction impacts the ability of local communities to be self sufficient, as well as outlined strategies that individuals and businesses could do to reduce their energy consumption, save money and boost local economic development. The group, which worked through Sustainable Berea and the Berea College Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program, encourages those interested in learning more about what they can do to reduce energy consumption to come to the free premiere and network with other active community organizers to learn what you can do to reduce your dependency upon Peak Oil. For more information about the event, please check out our blog site at www.postpeakberea.blogspot.com.

Now Playing at Berea College Friday Dec, 4th

Click the bottom right hand corner of the video for full screen mode.

The Age of Stupid: Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Berea College hosts Kentucky Premiere of The Age of Stupid December 4, 2009 : Come see what all of the fuss is about!!!

Watch and wonder: How stupid are we?

Edith Johnson , Contributor , Jakarta | Sun, 11/22/2009 4:22 PM | Screen

Source: Jakarta

Pete Postlethwaite appears in the documentary as an archivist in the future, looking back at footage from the past — that is, of now, the Age of Stupid. Courtesy of Spanner Films

After the recent screening of The Age of Stupid, an indie film with a novel approach to environmental documentary, some of the audience lingered for some climate change chit-chat, pondering the pros and cons of doomsday messaging.

Chicken Little meets appreciative inquiry - whom should we back at this historic moment?

Green Radio, Greenpeace and other co-hosts managed to attract about 120 filmgoers to an English-language film with Indonesian subtitles that deserves far wider distribution here. The 30-odd diehards who stayed after the end were cheered up when co-host Green Radio gave away the door prize, a bicycle designed and produced here in Indonesia. The winner was only a bit appreciative - how to get it home on his motorbike?

If you sit down with a Greenpeace activist, a social scientist and a handful of people active in climate change issues, you'll find the tenor of the discussion to be desperate optimism. What's the right way to engage people with the realities of climate change post-Kyoto, post-Inconvenient Truth, and just barely pre-Copenhagen?

But first the film.

Director Franny Armstrong gives us a creative montage of animation, straight-up documentary and sci-fi film traditions to tell a pressing story in real terms we can all understand. Pete Postlethwaite plays the last man on earth, recording his final testimonial in the archive of all human achievement, somewhere 100 miles north of Norway in the post-apocalyptic future. (Which is not so futuristic given global futurists have already set up the Seed Bank in Spitsbergen.)

The four documentaries interwoven through the film offset the dark oblivion of The End, focusing on four real people doing real things to fight the climate change dilemma humans have created. Windmill makers, mountain guides, subsistence farmers are all living within the new "climate code".

The scene stealer is 82-year-old mountain dweller Fernand Pareau, who takes us on an awe-inspiring climb into a recently exposed glacier in the Alps. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then his backyard tells us that this world is not about us.

Piers Guy's story is about his neighbors, incredibly narrow-minded though seemingly intelligent Britons, who think windmills are ugly and refuse to let him throw up a few in their delicious little corner of Cornwall. It shows the practical side - that real decisions take place in town council and zoning meetings in local communities, not in Oxfam offices. We understand the high barriers to accepting the new climate code in ordinary places.

The fi lm uses animation to show parts of the world, such as the Taj Mahal, in the future. Courtesy of Spanner Films

The high-quality animation and effects in the film, its futuristic, creative angle for presenting news clip after news clip, weaving a story together the way we all surf these days - it's all clever enough to make us realize that Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth is just a nerdy dressed up slide show (sorry, Al).

That high-quality and new version comes from the new production mechanism. The film was crowd-financed with social networking techniques (thanks, Barack), with everyone who contributes getting a share in the film (psst - pitch in at www.ageofstupid.net/money).

If the new media are going to make a difference, then this film's message is its way of coming into being and can give us real hope that media and messages can cut through complaisance.

Just another word on technique. Anyone admiring the twisted genius of Terry Gilliam, even if you work for Exxon, will adore this film. The filmmakers let animation director Jonathan Hodgson romp across the screen with multitudes of facts and figures in cardboard cutouts. Special kudos for representing the scale of the issue and the forces at play with "lo's o' li'l bits".

So here's the debate: do we talk about climate change and get everyone engaged by talking about the possibilities, about what can be? Show me a movie about how climate change got reduced and we keep our temperature at about 2 degrees Celsius more than pre-industrial levels. Show me people living without oil in large groups, not the isolated Manhattanite writing a book or wind-farm advocates pretending to be just another regular family in the Cotswolds.

Or do we say, "not enough, not nearly enough" and start raising some ruckus because, despite all the talk, the burning continues while millions of Asians are just beginning to get the chance to say, "I want to get me some of that energy age lifestyle, thank you very much. Just give India a couple of years of pleasure and then we'll turn liberal too."

The Age of Stupid will be screened again in Indonesia on Dec. 4. Details will be announced at www.ageofstupid.net/screenings/cinemas/2017

Quotes from The Age of Stupid

The Archivist (Pete Postlethwaite): "We could have saved ourselves, but we didn't. It's amazing. What state of mind were we in, to face extinction and simply shrug it off?"

Alvin DuVernay (Shell paleontologist and hero of Hurricane Katrina): "In my opinion our use or misuse of resources the last 100 years or so, I'd probably rename that age, something like The Age of Ignorance, The Age of Stupid."

Fernand Pareau (French mountain guide): "When you're in the mountains you're roped together. The risk is the same for you as it is for me."

Piers Guy (UK wind-farm developer): "How the heck are we meant to persuade people in India and China to develop in a more sustainable way when we're not even prepared to accept the odd wind-farm in the landscape?"

Buy Local & Be All That You Can Be

Buying Local And The Circulating Dollar

Source: Blue Oregon

By John Amundsen of Portland, Oregon who describes himself as "a native Oregonian who wants to improve it's livability, economy, and communities."

Buy local. We all want to do it, but do we really know why? It's good for our local economy. Well, that's right. If we can buy at a national chain at what we think is a lower price, isn't that better for our personal or our company's economy? Well, that's wrong. What happens to a dollar spent locally versus at a national chain or formula restaurant?

Tim Mitchell in Northwest Earth Institute's Choices for Sustainable Living states, 'A dollar spent at a locally owned store is usually spent 6 to 15 times before it leaves the community. From $1, you create $5 to $14 in value within that community.' That's good news! He also states, 'Spend $1 at a national chain store, and 80% leaves town immediately.' That's bad news. Let's recap. Dollars circulating locally -- good. Dollars leaving community -- bad. Next question.

Is that enough for everyone to start buying local? Apparently not. What about that personal and professional economy being more important than the community? Why does the federal government require that government agencies only buy from the lowest bidder, which is very often outside of the local economy or a national chain? These are good questions.

Let's take that personal economy question first. The purchaser says, 'I save money by purchasing at the lower price!' That's an obvious statement, but is the national chain always cheaper? Sometimes, it is just the opposite. Many times local suppliers and retailers are part of co-op groups and buying groups that collectively have the buying power of the national chains.

GOPD is a market research and technology company specializing in the office products industry. GOPD has been monitoring chain store pricing practices since 1999 and is the un-disputed leader in the field. A study on the national chains of office suppliers and independent office suppliers concluded this:

'Our research has shown, time and time again, that most local independent office supply companies are substantially lower in overall cost to the consumer.'

'The pricing gap between the independent and the chains is so wide, and the consumer perceptions are so engrained that the chains have the lowest prices, that some independents have chosen to match the chain store prices using our services.'

Yes, you read that right. Some independent suppliers raised their prices by matching the national chains. National chains have successfully changed the perception of the consumer that they are the lowest price through advertising and price juggling. Clearly, local is better here.

to read more of this article check out Blue Oregon HERE.

OVA: Have You Been Tested... 9

Are you playing Roulette with your fiscal health?

We all contribute to global warming every day. The carbon dioxide you produce by driving your car and leaving the lights on adds up quickly. You may be surprised by how much Co2 you are emitting each year, particularly if you operate a commercial business. Calculate your personal impact and learn how you can take action to reduce or even eliminate your emissions of carbon dioxide.

CALCULATE YOUR IMPACT HERE

Fighting Oil Addiction 2008

Ranking States' Oil Vulnerability and Solutions for Change

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council

The sharp rise in gas prices has been a reminder that America's addiction to oil continues to threaten our economic viability, our national security and global environmental health. To curb this perilous addiction, we need effective government policies that will increase the availability and use of efficient vehicles and clean fuels and that will promote smart growth and public transit. This July 2008 issue paper identifies the states that are most vulnerable to spikes in oil prices?and those states that are doing the most to break their addiction to oil.

For the full Report go the NRDC website. There you can find:

OVERVIEW & QUICK REFERENCE

• Press release
• Fact Sheet

FULL REPORT IN PDF

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
Chapter 1: Oil Vulnerability Rankings: Who Is Hardest-Hit?
Chapter 2: Breaking Our Addiction: Solutions to Oil Dependence
Chapter 3: Conclusion
Appendix: Methodology
& Conclusions

Below is a document illustrating an Oil Dependency Audit conducted by The University of Liverpool

Oil _ Energy Dependency Assessment_1_ -

Even CNN did a report recently on a study performed that ranked individual state's vulnerability to oil prices. You can Access the article HERE!

Is Your Business At Risk?

The following is a study conducted for the Oil Vulnerability in the Operations of Businesses and Commercial Organizations

Oil _ Energy Dependency Assessment -

For more information about how your businesses can be affected by rising energy costs, check out the

Behavioral and Social Aspects of Energy Consumption and Production: Preliminary Report (1982)

&
the document

Small Business Energy Policy