Recipes for Disaster: The Oil Diet
The movie by John Webster talks about an "Anglo-Finnish middle-class suburban family" and their reaction to their "oil obesity."
John and his family.
John claims that he is a filmmaker first, then a husband. His wife was able to feel this first hand when he decided that his whole family will do an "oil-diet" for a year. This past Wednesday, we had the opportunity to listen to John's experiences via a videoconference (courtesy of the Duke Environmental Leadership program) Who would have thought 20 years ago that we would be able to have a discussion with a person who is living in Finland, was raised by English parents, but currently in Italy. I guess the world is flat...
The premise of the self experiment is to see how much an average family can reduce its carbon footprint, by radically changing its lifestyle. The Websters abandoned their car and started taking the bus, switched to electrical heating in their home and tried to get away from using plastic as much as possible. This last effort posed a special challenge, because things like toothpaste or hair gel are packaged in plastic containers. Thanks to the information revolution, we can find recipes for these everyday items. My personal favorite is the "lemon mouthwash," where - in my opinion - instead of getting the vodka and lemon drops separately, one could buy lemon flavored vodka in the name of efficiency.
The film is not only about the nitty-gritty logistical details how to make such a diet happen, but about the psychological reactions of the family and people around them. There is a social stigma associated with taking "environmental enthusiasm" to the extreme. In John's opinion this can only be changed if more and more people realized that their own small efforts can make a change. Thomas Friedman raises this idea in his book Hot, Flat and Crowded, and deems it a necessary prerequisite to make the transition from a "green party" to a "green revolution."
In the end, John and his family reduced its carbon-dioxide emissions by 52%, and continue a relaxed form of the initial oil-diet. The film was educational, funny and showed the opportunities we have here at Duke.
Are you oil-dieting?
John's approach to making a film on a controversial topic like climate change:
"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you." - Oscar Wilde
