Collapse Video Notes

By Eric J. Ledgerwood

Factoids:
• There are 7 gallons of oil in every tire.
• Ghawar is an oil field in Saudi Arabia, it is located about 100 km (62 mi) WSW from the city of
Dhahran in Khobar county of the Eastern Province. Measuring 280 by 30 km (170 by 19 mi), it is by
far the largest conventional oil field in the world was discovered in 1948 and was put into service in
1951. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghawar
• Saudi Arabia has 25% of the known oil reserves on the planet.
• Iraq probably has over 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil, which at the United State’s 2008 daily
use of 85 million barrels means a billion barrels only lasts about 11 days. Ultimately, 90 billion isn’t
all that much.
• There are 800 million internal combustion vehicles on the planet. Each vehicle has thousands of gallons of oil that go into the
manufacturing of all the various components, plastics, etc.
• The Bush Administration had a goal of having 15% ethanol used in fuel by 2015, but did not mention it would require all of the
current arable land for growing corn crops in the United States to be dedicated to that purpose.
• There are 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy used for every 1 calorie of food consumed in the industrialized world.

Key Terms & People:

ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) – ANWR is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists
of 19,286,722 acres (78,050.59 km2) in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country,
slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. May be no more than a 6 month supply of oil for the United
States found here, yet oil companies are eager for rights to drill there.
Marian King Hubbert – Marion King Hubbert (October 5, 1903 – October 11, 1989) was a
geoscientist who worked at the Shell research lab in Houston, Texas. He made several
important contributions to geology, geophysics, and petroleum geology, most notably the
Hubbert curve and Hubbert peak theory (a basic component of Peak oil), with important
political ramifications. He was often referred to as “M. King Hubbert” or “King Hubbert.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._King_Hubbert
David Pimentel – A Cornell University ecologist who studied energy input and output for use of
ethanol as a fuel. In terms of energy output compared with energy input for ethanol production,
the study found that: [2011 Research suggests this is outdated and much better efficiencies are being developed.]
• Corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced;
• Switch grass requires 45 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; and
• Wood biomass requires 57 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced.
In terms of energy output compared with the energy input for biodiesel production, the study found that:
• Soybean plants requires 27 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced, and
• Sunflower plants requires 118 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July05/ethanol.toocostly.ssl.html
Ethanol – Ethanol fuel is ethanol (ethyl alcohol), the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic
beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline.
Bioethanol, unlike petroleum, is claimed by certain advocates to be a form of renewable energy
that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks. It can be made from very common crops such
as sugar cane, potato, manioc and corn. However, there has been considerable debate about how
useful bioethanol will be in replacing gasoline. Concerns about its production and use relate to
increased food prices due to the large amount of arable land required for crops, as well as the
energy and pollution balance of the whole cycle of ethanol production, especially from corn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel
Canadian Tar Sands – In Alberta, Canada, the tar sands is a very thick, sticky, obnoxious
substance buried hundreds of feet down which is a source of oil that requires intensive amounts
of energy, freshwater and resources to extract. No evidence anywhere to suggest that
production will exceed 3 million barrels a day. The crude bitumen contained in the Canadian oil
sands is described by Canadian authorities as petroleum that exists in the semi-solid or solid
phase in natural deposits. Bitumen is a thick, sticky form of crude oil, so heavy and viscous
(thick) that it will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons. At present, three
times as much energy in natural gas is expended to extract the oil as the energy we get from the oil product itself. Another key
issue is that the operation is essentially a mining operation where the land is being strip mined at expense of the ecology of the
area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_sands
Key Ideas:
Peak Oil – Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of
production enters terminal decline. This concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, and the
combined production rate of a field of related oil wells. The aggregate production rate from an oil field over time usually grows
exponentially until the rate peaks and then declines—sometimes rapidly—until the field is depleted. This concept is derived from
the Hubbert curve, and has been shown to be applicable to the sum of a nation’s domestic production rate, and is similarly applied
to the global rate of petroleum production. Peak oil is often confused with oil depletion; peak oil is the point of maximum
production while depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
Viable Alternative Energy Sources – Solar and Wind are the only two really viable sources for alternative, non-fossil fuel based
energy production. Coal, oil, nuclear, and tidal all have major drawbacks.
Mechanized Farming – Interruptive of the natural cycles. Reliance now on fossil fuels for most of the production aspects of
growing food has damaged the soil to a point of being entirely dependent on humans.
Derivatives –Financial instruments which are derived from the inherent value of something else that’s tangible.
Infinite Growth Model vs. Finite Reality – How can we sustain something that is unsustainable by definition?
The Bumpy Plateau – The path of peak oil where you come “up the curve” you will hit a peak and then have to destroy demand,
and then repeat that process several times.
The Grief Cycle – Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross pioneered methods in the support and counseling of personal trauma, grief and
grieving, associated with death and dying. She also dramatically improved the understanding and practices in relation to
bereavement and hospice care. Her ideas, most notably included the five stages of grief model (denial, anger, bargaining,
depression, acceptance) are also transferable to personal change and emotional upset resulting from factors other than death and
dying.
The Hundredth Monkey Effect - The hundredth monkey effect is a supposed phenomenon in which a learned behavior spreads
instantaneously from one group of monkeys to all related monkeys once a critical number is reached. By generalization it means
the instantaneous, paranormal spreading of an idea or ability to the remainder of a population once a certain portion of that
population has heard of the new idea or learned the new ability. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth-monkey_effect

Quotes (numbered for convenience sake only):

1. “There’s been a lot of talk about Abraham Lincoln, but the president we need today is not Abraham Lincoln. The president we
need today is Thomas Jefferson. He said that we needed a revolution every generation. Thomas Jefferson said t you have to be
ready to, to preserve the energy and the vitality of your freedom, to defend it not by overthrowing anything that you haven’t
been holding in your head that may not be applicable any more. We’ve gotten very lazy, we’re many generations overdue for a
revolution in our thinking. I’m not talking about blood and violence although I’m afraid that’s already happening. I’m talking
about a revolution that’s probably the hardest kind, the kind that takes place inside the human soul and the human mind. To be
able to tear everything down, throw everything out and start with a fresh piece of paper and say ‘how do we solve this
problem?’” – Michael C. Ruppert
2. “All plastic is oil, most paints, all pesticides are made from oil, everything from toothpaste to toothbrushes is made from oil.
There are 7 gallons of oil in every tire. There is nothing, anywhere, in any combination that will replace the edifice built by
fossil fuels.” – Michael C. Ruppert
3. “Electricity is not an energy source. Electricity is generated by burning or using some other kind of energy.” – Michael C.
Ruppert
4. “There is no such thing as clean coal. And there never, ever will be.” – Michael C. Ruppert
5. “It’s kind of sad because we as a species have become so disconnected from the earth. We don’t have any real contact with the
earth. We don’t have any sense of its functions, its feel, its nature, its seasons, its timing.” – Michael C. Ruppert
6. “First of all, the topsoil that food is grown on now is nothing more than a sponge onto which we pour chemicals we get from
oil and natural gas. And without those chemicals, the soil has been turned into a junkie. The soil is worthless.” – Michael C.
Ruppert
7. “There was a guy named [Karl] von Clausewitz, who said that war is a continuation of politics by other means. Politics is a
continuation of economics by other means.” – Michael C. Ruppert [Actual Quote: “War is not an independent phenomenon,
but the continuation of politics by different means.” – Karl von Clausewitz].
8. “To understand all this mess, you need to understand one term, it’s a big financial term, and it’s real simple to understand. It’s
called the derivative. A derivative is any financial instrument which is derived from the inherent value of something else that’s
tangible. As of the start of the collapse, let’s peg at September of 2008, there were derivatives with a notional value, meaning
that if you added up all the pieces of paper, were worth 700 trillion dollars. In other words, if they all cashed out at once you
would need to have 700 trillion in cash and, of course, there isn’t that much money. So with all of these hedges and derivatives
and puts and calls, those are all derivatives, and all these other things they do all they cared about was making the minimum
monthly payment on the credit card bill. In other words, to service the 700 trillion dollars in notional value derivatives they
had to pay a certain amount of cash every month and God forbid they should all come due. What’s happening with all these
bailouts, around 11 trillion if you add up all the US bailouts, they’re chasing a 700 trillion dollar derivatives bubble down the
drain.” – Michael C. Ruppert
9. “Three things only anybody around the world needs to know about the way money works. 1: Fiat Currency. What is money?
You cannot print more money than there is energy to back it up. It’s that simple. 2: Fractional Reserve Banking. 3:
Compound Interest. If you have a $10.00 deposit, I can make up to $90 in loans. You can loan up to $90 dollars because not
 everyone will want their money at the same time. If they do it’s called a “run on the bank.” The whole global economy is a
pyramid scheme; the whole global economy cannot be sustained indefinitely unless there is infinite growth. The problem is that
the infinite growth paradigm collides with something more important that money, which is finite energy.” – Michael C.
Ruppert
10. “The people who have run the planet to this point and who are running it now are losing control.” – Michael C. Ruppert
11. “What I see now is the end of a paradigm that is as cataclysmic as the asteroid event that killed almost all the life on earth and
certainly the dinosaurs.” – Michael C. Ruppert
12. “All of those people exist on this planet only because of oil [referencing the 6.5 billion people currently on the planet], that’s it.
So it’s axiomatic that if you take the oil away the population must go away also.” – Michael C. Ruppert
13. “No amount of technology and no amount of human ingenuity can possibly overturn the laws of physics, the laws which govern
this planet. Those are intractable, immutable, real, and science has never been able to do that. Man’s great arrogance, I
believe, and one for which he’s paying a price now is to believe that mankind really could become God and even turn over and
upset or revoke the laws of the universe.” – Michael C. Ruppert
14. “In the new human paradigm, everything will be local.” – Michael C. Ruppert
15. “Community is what will save us. You’re going to have to do it in conjunction with your neighbors and your family and the
people around you. You will fail as a rugged individual. You will survive as a member of a tribe or a family.” – Michael C.
Ruppert
16. “Every aspect of human existence is on the table. As far as political parties go, they are all anachronisms. They’re all
products of centuries gone by. The human race now is only going to be concerned, not with an ideology but what allows them
to survive. Capitalism, socialism and communism are all terms that need to be tossed in the trash can immediately because all
of them were created on the assumption of infinite resources. Not one of those ideologies that are dead dinosaurs, archaic
fossils that no longer relevant to our way of life, not one of them recognizes that there must be a balance between growth and
the resources and the planet. So forget the idea that you can have as much as you want because until mankind surrenders to
the fact that it lives on a finite planet and it must have balance with that planet, with the planets resources, with the animal life,
and all the other life there can be no happiness for anything. Anything. It’s all about getting balance back. And who sold me
the idea that it was my destiny to grow…nothing grows forever, there’s no such thing as infinite growth, it’s not possible, look
around at everything you see around you that’s living there’s a cycle. Birth, growth, maturation, decline and death.” –
Michael C. Ruppert
17. “The challenge being faced by the human race now is either evolve or perish, either grow up or die, God doesn’t care, God’s
not going to play baby sitter for us. The challenge is either grow up and mature and change the way you think or perish.” –
Michael C. Ruppert
18. “This is going to be the greatest age of evolution in human thinking that has ever taken place.” – Michael C. Ruppert
19. “You walk towards your fear, you embrace your fear, you don’t try to hedge it, that a part of real living as a human being , as a
spiritual being is to embrace it, encompass your fear, your love, and not run away from anything, because that’s the life
experience. And it’s in that richness that I think we find the most beautiful art, the most beautiful music, we find the richness of
what the human soul can offer, and I see all that richness buried under such bullshit.” – Michael C. Ruppert
20. “I quote a Christian Saint Timothy, and I find it to be true, what he said, that ‘the love of money is the root of all evil.’ That’s
the end result of my spiritual, intellectual, quests, it is the end, it is the fundamental truth that I have verified through three
decades of empirical, investigative, legal, academic research, trying to answer some fundamental questions about human
existence, and why we behave the way we do, why we think the way we do, why we act the way we do, the love of money is the
root of all evil. It is the love of money which has the potential to exterminate, to render extinct, the entire human race.” –
Michael C. Ruppert
21. “So here we have this likable, sincere, guy in the White House [Barak Obama] and he is as imprisoned as we all are. He’s a
prisoner of government, he’s a prisoner of politics, he’s a prisoner of economics, he’s a prisoner of the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York, he’s a prisoner of the Federal Reserve, he’s a prisoner of a governmental system that’s archaic and not quickly
responsive, so we should not make the success or failure of human civilization rest on his shoulders.” – Michael C. Ruppert
22. “The only thing in the world that you and I can possibly change, to give ourselves a chance of survival, and to give our
children a chance at some kind of a human, civilized life, is our minds. You have to believe, not wish, not hope, not pray, not
beg, you just have to believe that there’s a way out of it and you’re going to find it. This is perhaps the greatest part of the
American character, is when we get pissed off and we put our minds to something and we clearly understand what needs to be
done, and we believe in it, we really can change things.” – Michael C. Ruppert
23. “We are all collectively, as a species, responsible for what may be the greatest preventable holocaust in the history of planet
Earth, our own suicide. How do you walk away from that? How do you sleep at night? Who is anybody? Who are you to tell
me that it would have been easier to walk away? You aren’t in my skin, it was never easier for me to walk away. To walk away
would have meant to compromise. To walk away would have meant selling out.” – Michael C. Ruppert

Ideas for Self Advocacy:

1. Buy and own physical gold.
2. Do whatever you can to reinsulate your home if you own a house.
3. Restore your soil; get away from a reliance on petrochemicals.
4. Get a land line, don’t rely on cell phones.
5. Get books on first aid and holistic medicine.
6. Establish moderate fresh water supply and reasonable food storage. You can’t store that much anyway.
7. Get seeds, not Monsanto! Grow your own food.