The Long Emergency - James Kunstler

Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

A five-week video exploration with author. lecturer, and de facto cultural historian James Howard Kunstler

Part I: How the Hell Did We Get Here? (6:18)
Before trying to figure out how we're going to get out of the oil mess we're in, it might help to know a bit about how it all happened. Kunstler offers a casual history of the industrial experience (fossil fuel use), from the 17th century up to the modern period.

Part Two: Hubbert's Curve, and Other Inconvenient Facts
On the rise of OPEC and the turbulent 1970s -- how it all happened, and what it means for us today.

Part Three: Reagan's Short-Lived "Morning in America"
On the 1980s, the 1990s, the "Jiminy Cricket" economy, and an awful lot of wishful thinking about alternative energy.

Part Four: The Twilight of Wal-Mart (and Everything Else That's Huge)
On the symptoms of systemic failure. As the federal government becomes more impotent and ineffectual, will everything that's big collapse?

Part Five: Keeping the Lights On
On facing the New Reality. Whether or not we militarily contest the world's remaining fossil fuel reserves (land war with China, anyone?), it's all going to be gone pretty soon anyway. How can we begin to envision a post-oil "American Way of Life?"