This just in: life in the suburbs is hazardous to your health.
A report issued recently by the Ontario College of Family Physicians notes that suburban sprawl contributes significantly to air pollution and traffic fatalities. People who commute to and from the 'burbs are also prone to high levels of stress and depression.
 And that's the good news. According to this provocative documentary airing on VisionTV in August, the suburban way of life itself may be terminally ill.
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream makes its television premiere on Wednesday, August 23 at 10 p.m. ET as part of VisionTV's weekly series of social issues documentaries.
The hour-long film explains how suburbia, with its promise of “space, affordability, convenience, family life and upward mobility” has come to embody the aspirations of North American society. And it warns of a looming oil crisis that threatens to bring the whole arrangement crashing down, turning today's suburbs into tomorrow's slums.
Part of the new wave of progressive documentaries that includes Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Corporation, The End of Suburbia has been featured at film festivals and community screenings all over North America, and has been selling briskly on video and DVD. Thomas Wheeler of the Alternative Press Review has called it “one of the most important must-see documentaries of the year.”
The first North American suburbs sprang up in the 1870s, but the concept really took off with the housing boom that followed World War Two. Because population densities in these bedroom communities tend to be low, it's not economical to provide for extensive mass transit. That means suburbanites must depend on the automobile to get most places – to work, to school, to shopping or to recreation.
 In short, the viability of the suburban enterprise depends on cheap and abundant fossil fuels. So what happens when global oil production reaches its peak – as some experts predict will soon come to pass – and begins to decline? Can the cherished suburban lifestyle survive once the cost of fueling our SUVs grows prohibitive?
No way, says author and lecturer James Howard Kunstler, one of a dozen experts featured in the film. He sees unrest in the future, as suburban dwellers fight to preserve their entitlements. “Americans will elect maniacs who promise to allow them to keep … their suburbs and their big-box stores,” he predicts.
If there's hope, it lies with a movement called new urbanism, which advocates a return to “more traditional, walkable communities.” Reform-minded planners, designers and architects want to transform sprawling suburbs into collections of higher-density communities where people can live and work without commuting by car. (Officials in Toronto's York Region, for example, are proposing to remake their suburban community along new urbanist lines.) |
To its critics, suburbia is emblematic of an economic model in which practically everything North Americans consume, from eggs to iPods, must be shipped to us from far-flung locales. As oil production peaks, this model will no longer be viable, and we'll have to think and live more locally. “The age of the 3,000-mile caesar salad is coming to an end,” Kunstler says.
 Can we learn to shed our suburban dreams? It's not like we have much choice. Says Ali Samsam Bakhtiari, a corporate planner for the National Iranian Oil Company: “God does set his own limits. I believe that He likes to test humankind from time to time. And I think that test is going to come very, very soon.”
The End of Suburbia was written and directed by Gregory Greene, and produced by Barry Silverthorn. Alberta Nokes was executive producer for VisionTV. Barrie Zwicker hosts.
VisionTV is Canada's multi-faith and multicultural television broadcaster. The network's acclaimed social issues documentaries explore the real-life implications of the moral and ethical viewpoints rooted in our faith traditions.
The End of Suburbia: Behind the Scenes
Gregory Greene – Director/Writer
Gregory Greene is a Toronto-based filmmaker with a background in social and political documentaries. His television credits include the acclaimed Bravo! series Arts & Minds , the MuchMusic documentary series Musicians in the War Zone and more recently the short documentary Suhail's Jihad .
Barry Silverthorn – Producer/Editor
Barry Silverthorn is a freelancer, working as supervising video editor for VisionTV. He began his career as an assistant editor for programs such as Night Heat , Katts and Dog , Maniac Mansion and Codco . He was also editor of Barrie Zwicker's videos The Great Deception: The War on Terrorism – An Alternative View and The Great Conspiracy . The End of Suburbia is his first documentary project as producer.
Barrie Zwicker – Host
Broadcaster and writer Barrie Zwicker has specialized in media criticism since 1970. A former writer for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, The Sudbury Star, The Detroit News and Vancouver's The Province, he taught the Media and Society course at Toronto's Ryerson University for seven years, and was VisionTV's media critic for nearly 15 years.
For More on The End of Suburbia :
Visit www.endofsuburbia.com . In addition to information about the film, a product catalogue, screening dates and links, the site offers a “Community Action Pack” for people interested in helping to create local energy awareness. Visitors to the site can also arrange to send copies of the film to U.S. military personnel anywhere in the world.
The Friendly Planet: www.planetfriendly.net/
Rabble.ca www.rabble.ca |
