This fascinating and “draining” documentary quite literally left me exhausted. Focused on our immense dependancy on oil and how we’ve squandered what limited reserves are left – this film is a must see!

Produced and directed by award-winning European journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, the film interviews top leading experts and convincingly relates the on going war in Iraq, creation and dissolution of wealth in countries and communities across the globe and appalling corruption all associated with society’s black gold.

While the film lacks the face of Al Gore to help communicate the issues at hand, the scientists interviewed clearly show a great deal of resolve and conclude that oil production has peaked (see Hubbert Peak for a detailed explanation) and we are in a time for decisive action to create a society run on renewable energy such as solar (wind, biomass were discussed but could sadly not feed our massive consumption needs).

So what does this movie have to do with fashion & textiles… well, the chief fibers manufactured from petrochemicals (crude oil) include nylon, polyester, acrylic and olefin. So while it’s cheaper to buy than water, as the film explains, it won’t be so for very long. Nylon was first commercially produced in 1939 by Dupont Company and has a silky hand. Polyester was also first produced by Dupont and is primarily composed of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which is the same material used to make plastic drinking bottles.

The recycling of used PET into fabric has been explored by companies such as Patagonia Inc. for example. Their partnership with TEIJIN, a progressive fabric manufacturer in Japan has led the industry and saved many plastic bottles from reaching the landfill.

In 2005, Patagonia launched the Common Threads Garment Recycling Program that encourages customers to mail-in their worn-out fleece clothing for recycling, resulting in 76% energy savings and 71% reduction of CO2 emissions versus creating the polyester fiber from raw virgin material. (Press Release Patagonia Inc. Aug 12, 2005)

I will highlight more initiatives underway at Patagonia Inc. but in the meantime “A Crude Awakening” is worth checking out. It will definitely make you reconsider purchasing clothing and fabric made from a NON-renewable resource like oil!