e-culture: The End of Oil, The End of Suburbia, Houston Events, Open House
July 8, 2005


IN THIS ISSUE

Peak Oil Mini Conference
The End of Suburbia
Aurora's 7th Anniversary
Open House Preview


Peak Oil Mini Conference
Saturday, July 9, 1:00 - 5:00pm

First Unitarian Universalist Church
5200 Fannin Street (at Southmore)
Houston, Texas 77004
713-526-5200

Are You Ready to Pay $100 to Fill-up Your SUV? How About your Car?

After growing for a century, global oil production will soon peak and begin to decline. The price of oil will then rise drastically, changing our property values, food prices, and economy.

"Cheap oil is now just part of history. Expect $5.00 a gallon gasoline within the next few years" (TIME magazine 5/9/05).

Houston oil investment banker Matthew Simmons forecasts that peak oil will occur between 2007 and 2009. The US government thinks that the peak may be decades from now. Other experts predict the peak in late 2005 or 2007. We may not agree on the exact date of the peak until it is well behind us.

For decades, movements have been growing that offer wise responses to peak oil: energy efficiency, alternative energy, sustainability, organic and local food, and smart growth. Come meet Houston representatives of these solution movements. Bring your questions and ideas as we face the challenges of transition and envision a future without cheap oil.

Schedule of Activities:
1:00 - 2:30pm - Workshops on how to prepare for the changes caused by Peak Oil
1:00 - 2:30pm - Screening of The End of Suburbia
2:35 - 3:15pm - Panel discussion
3:15 - 5:00pm - Open Space Technology - When attendees identify critical issues, learn from each other, & find solutions.

Panelists:
Reginald Adams, Sierra Club BEC campaign & Pres. of LARA
Dan Barnum, architect and city planner
Bill Crosier, Progressive Action Alliance
Brian Herod, www.HoustonSustainability.net
Robin Holzer, www.citizenstransportationcoalition.org
Alfred Molison, Co-Chair of Green Party of Texas
Juan Parras, TSU Environmental Law & Justice Center
Dr. Bob Randall, Urban Harvest, www.UrbanHarvest.org


For more information please contact:

Don Cook
713-705-5594

Or

Alfred Molison
713-726-9009

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To be shown at the Peak Oil Mini Conference:

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
Gregory Greene, writer/director
Barry Silverthorn, producer, editor

"The End of Suburbia" begins with pleasant clips of vintage suburbia and its various comforts, but the ironic undertow soon strengthens. The film quickly launches into an extensive explanation of the emergence of modern suburbia and its dangerous relationship to the peak oil crisis. Mid-day and mid-heat, sitting in my air-conditioned, well-lighted living room and watching on one of three TVs in my suburban home, I feel wave after wave of guilt wash over me. And then panic.

The concept of suburbia starts to look like one giant mistake of monetary allocation and urban planning--a quick-fix, sham American Dream that will soon cause more problems than its complacent cruising was worth. The common practice of commuting has led to an inefficient sprawl and waste of resources. According to the analysts featured in the documentary, the repercussions of our continued excesses in oil and natural gas usage are exponential and are fast exposing the most basic flaws in our transportation systems, home government, international relations and dependence, economy, community conceptualizations and attitudes, and agriculture. And while the film has the feeling at times of descending into sensationalism with talk, for example, of the very future and even survival of mankind, one soon realizes that the shock is simply a result of the simple truths of impending crisis. These are not scare tactics, but candid education. Peak oil has arrived, or will arrive, by 2010--discrepancies admitted, the actual year is a moot point. Unbeknownst to the most of us American peak oil occurred in the 70s, and global peak oil is now. It is folly to assume that after peak oil, we can continue to consume natural gas and oil freely without consequences. Analysts mark the recent blackouts of 2003 as yet unheeded warnings. Eventually, we will not only have to confront the idea of living more expensively and less comfortably, but a complete restructuring of local culture and our responsibility in our own subsistence; the possibility of recession and depression; and the effects of major global conflicts over remaining resources.

One of the documentary's greatest assets is the palatability with which it presents extremely daunting social, economic, and scientific concepts. Moreover, the film's almost debilitating pessimism (read: honesty) is fortunately, at the very end of the film, softened with several encouraging suggestions. Analysts admit that no all-encompassing solutions currently exist, even in alternative fuels, but they do not preclude the possibility of solutions emerging in the near future. In this state of urgency, it is clear that experts believe the greatest danger is continued ignorance and denial. Individually, self-education, a new self-awareness of our habits, and open-mindedness toward the idea of alternative fuels and New Urbanism are the least that we can muster.

"The End of Suburbia" is a well-presented and riveting introduction to the peak oil crisis, and its commentary serves as a great launching pad for further research.

Further readings are suggested throughout the documentary which may well be supplementary before or after the conference:

-The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream, by Peter Calthorpe
-The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of Americašs Man-Made Landscape, by James Howard Kunstler
-Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century, James Howard Kunstler
-Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict, by Michael T. Klare
-The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies, by Richard Heinberg
-Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, by Richard Heinberg
-High Noon for Natural Gas: The New Energy Crisis, by Julian Darley
-Crossing the Rubicon: Americašs Descent Into Fascism at the End of the Age of Oil, by Michael C. Ruppert
-The Coming Oil Crisis, by C. J. Campbell
-Hubbard's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage, by Kenneth S. Deffeyes

http://www.endofsuburbia.com


We also recommend:

-The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World, by Paul Roberts

Note: Houston Institute for Culture named "The End of Suburbia" the documentary film of the year for 2004. The committee believed it gave an interesting and timely analysis of the culture of suburban living based on abundant energy (even if ignoring the historic phenomenon of 'white flight' that is a revealing trend of the growing division of rich and poor in the nation, as is its modern reversal), and that it effectively raised awareness of modern issues as evidenced by the numerous and wide scope of organizations screening the film locally during the past year.

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Aurora Picture Show's 7th Anniversary Weekend

EXTREMELY SHORTS 8: WORKS THREE MINUTES AND UNDER
Juried by Mike Plante

Saturday, July 16, 2005
8pm & 10pm

Sunday, July 17, 2005
3pm & 5pm

Tickets are $5.

SUNSET PICNIC
Sunday, July 17, 2005
6pm-10pm

FREE for Current Members/$10 for non-members

Join Aurora in celebration of our 7th anniversary weekend and 8th Extremely Shorts Festival! Extremely Shorts 8 features 25 short films and videos selected by our 2005 Juror, Mike Plante (shorts programmer for Sundance Film Festival, programmer for CineVegas, and the creator of the online avant-gutter magazine Cinemad: www.cinemad.org).

The annual Extremely Shorts program, a tribute to Aurora's June 1998 inaugural show, is designed to showcase emerging talent with a DIY approach to media making. The short, three minutes or under format makes film and video making financially and technically accessible, and encourages many first time artists to pick up a camera.

Saturday's screenings will also open with live music by The Wiggins - super raw anti-pop, lo-fi dance beats with hot, wild guitar poured on top. Sunday, at Aurora's Sunset Picnic, we'll ask all the stars-in-the-making to rise to the occasion for Krazy Karaoke.

Juror's Selections for Extremely Shorts 8:

Apple, Gregg Biermann (Hackensack, NJ)
Aqueous, Laura Harrison (Houston, TX)
Because They Fall, Melissa Tvetan (Portland, OR)
Crimenals, Greg Araya (Los Angeles, CA)
Cycles of Repetition, Deborah Wing-Sproul (Stone Ridge, NY)
Dos Blokes, Brian Clark & Jack McWilliams (Austin, TX)
Ebullition, J. Mack (Portland, OR)
A Eulogy for Memory, Karl Lind (Portland, OR)
First Fall, Richard Alvarez (San Mateo, CA)
Interlude, Joost Van Veen (The Netherlands)
The Light, Rob Smith (Houston, TX)
Magic Hostess, Rob Tyler (Portland, OR)
Manager's Corner, Skizz Cyzyk (Baltimore, MD)
Men Ordering Donuts, Dan Monick (Los Angeles, CA)
Mrs. Flossie, Flora Georgiou (Melbourne, Australia)
Obervation 5, Sanny Overbeeke (The Netherlands)
Pushing Cowboys, Lilly McElroy (Chicago, IL)
Rowing, Anna Abrahams and Jan Frederik Groot (The Netherlands)
Solar Kaffi, Nicole Linde (Portland, OR)
Spam Letter, Andre Silva (Iowa City, IA)
Spring Song, Aaron Valdez (Iowa City, IA)
Still I Remain, Tom Gibbons (Oakland, CA)
Suskin Sisters, Kadet Kuhne (Los Angeles, CA)
There's Something About Aunt Mary, Ben Sayeg (Houston, TX)
True Story, Stephanie Via (Roanoke, VA)

For more information, please visit:

Aurora Picture Show
800 Aurora Street
Houston, Texas 77009
Tel. (713) 868-2101
http://www.aurorapictureshow.org

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Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) Summer Camp Session

July 18-22, 2005

The YWCA Houston is hosting a Summer Camp Session called South of the Border Week that aims to expose children to diverse cultures.

For more information please contact:

Jeanne Pate
Director of Children's Services, YWCA Houston
jpate@ywcahouston.org


Stay tuned to the calendar for more upcoming events.
http://www.houstonculture.org/events

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In Our Next Newsletter

Stay tuned to our upcoming newsletter for a history of the Mormon Trail, in time for Mormon Pioneer Day, July 24.

For those interested in the historic Mormon state of Deseret and the modern Navajo Nation, as well as early Spanish and Indian contact in New Mexico, we will offer an educational adventure to the Four Corners region in August.

Lake Powell/Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial
August 6 - 14, 2005
(During the Fiesta de San Lorenzo)


Open House

Please join us at 5555 Morningside #204, in the Rice Village, for an informative Open House on Sunday, July 31, from 2:00 - 6:00pm. Stop by to learn more about Houston Institute for Culture and have refreshments while you are here. At 6:30pm there will be a slide presentation covering several of our programs, including Camp Dos Cabezas, research and relief efforts on the Mexico border, as well as a forum for anyone interested in the educational benefits of travel. We will let you know more about it in our upcoming Newsletter.


Thank you for supporting great educational and cultural activities.

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A  n  n @houstonculture.org

Ann Wang, Editor

Houston Institute for Culture
5555 Morningside #204
Houston, Texas 77005

http://www.cultural-crossroads.com