Tale of obsession

A review of Fields of Fuel

Posted by biodiversivist (Guest Contributor) at 10:01 PM on 01 Jul 2008

Read more about: energy | biofuels | cars | movies | video

Fields of Fuel, directed by Josh Tickell, is visually compelling and technically polished, which unfortunately bestows a veneer of legitimacy the film does not deserve.

Promotional films are stereotypically one-sided, ignoring or glossing over negatives while exaggerating and or fabricating positives. That is to be expected, but what set this film apart from your generic promotional film is Tickell's success at manipulating viewers' emotions.

The screening I attended at the Seattle International Film Festival received a standing ovation and apparently the same thing happened at Sundance earlier in the year. Some viewers, of course, were biodiesel devotees themselves, and for them this film was preaching to the choir -- reinforcing what they want to believe. But many were simply curious and uninformed, which is what made them so vulnerable. Being intimately familiar with all aspects of biodiesel, both negative and positive, I found this film deceptive and manipulative.

Anyone who walked into this film knowing nothing about biodiesel would walk out of it wanting to race down to the local Volkswagen dealership to buy a diesel Jetta -- only to discover that they have not been sold in the United States since 2006 because of air pollution limitations, and worse yet, that biodiesel is selling for $6 a gallon.

In this interview Tickell is asked, "I want to quickly get into a discussion about biofuel. That's one of the primary themes of the movie, right?" His response:

The film is actually a green energy movie. And even more than that, it gets into the basis of war and peace. The thesis of the film is that energy is currently the basis for war while it could be the basis for peace. So it really looks at conflict energy vs. non-conflict energy, green energy vs. black energy. That speaks on so many different levels, but yeah, we do talk a lot about biodiesel because that's the road trip that we take in the movie

Not quite. Going from memory, I'd say that roughly 5 percent of the film was spent talking about petroleum, 1 percent discussing hybrid cars, maybe that much on wind, and solar, and a little bit was spent bashing a competing biofuel, corn ethanol, which left about 90 percent of this film devoted to biodiesel. Note that the entire interview ends up being about biodiesel, and that is what occurs in the film as well. Tickell's editors have managed to take the edge off of what is in reality, a long sermon on the wonders of biodiesel. The idea that biodiesel will end human conflict over resources is one of the most naive concepts I have ever encountered.

The guy crisscrossing the country spreading the biodiesel gospel in a brightly painted biodiesel-burning bus, or in Tickell's case, a Winnebago, has become a dog-eared stereotype.

When does a passion spill over into something more? Tickell lives, breathes, and eats biodiesel. He spent years touring in a biodiesel powered Winnebago, has written two books on the subject, and repeatedly dips his finger into and eats biodiesel during the course of the film to which he devoted five years creating. The man has literally devoted his life to one specific type of fuel, which is a cruel twist of fate because his passion has turned out to be more environmentally destructive over all, and gallon for gallon to oil -- leaving the food issue aside.

This film's release happened to coincide with the recent backlash against biofuels, which was kicked off by a number of scientific studies and a food crisis. Bad timing. There is another shot of Tickell looking into the camera, again voice cracking, where he expresses his frustration with this backlash. Everything he has devoted his life to is being subverted.

Tickell uses everything he can get his hands on to promote biodiesel: The attack on the Twin Towers (actually the result of religionists with a righteous cause), the Iraq war (actually the result of a religionist with a righteous cause), our children, school buses, you name it.

The question and answer session after the film really had me wondering. In an attempt to indoctrinate our children, funds generated by the film (after being processed by a non-profit organization) will be used to distribute it for free to public schools and libraries.

We were told that emissions inside our children's school buses are four times higher than outside the bus. As you might guess, along with being the answer to human conflict, biodiesel will also eliminate emissions inside school buses. In reality it would reduce soot 50 percent, while increasing NOx 10 percent. Where I live the emission issue is being handled by retrofitting new air pollution devices onto buses -- making them 50 to 90 percent cleaner regardless of which fuel is used. Why our children are spending one-and-a-half hours a day on busses is another issue.

When he tells the audience that one of the companies shown in the film has closed its doors, a collective gasp arose. He fails to mention, among many things, that Willie Nelson, who is all over this film, has also sold off his shares in the company he was fronting, which has filed for bankruptcy.

He tells the audience that a diesel Golf gets 55 miles-to-the-gallon whereas the gasoline version gets only 30 -- which is a bit of an exaggeration, to put it mildly -- and that biodiesel is 78 to 98 percent carbon neutral, and on, and on.

He finally gets to the "well-funded media" conspiracy theory and tells us that the real motivation behind one of the conspirators, the Grocer's Association, is to lower the cost of food! An uncomfortable silence followed that comment, suggesting that not everyone in the audience was brain dead.

The film was to be kicked off by a parade of biodiesel cars driven by local enthusiasts. I realized the cars had arrived only when the air filled with soot and the odor of burned vegetable oil. Duff Badgley and his motley crew were on hand with a banner quoting a former United Nations food expert, "Biofuels are a crime against humanity." A woman approached the protestors and asked them not to protest in front of the theatre. She told them they were welcome to come see the film but not to expect a free ticket. Soon Tickell himself appeared along with a few others to tell the protestors that they should check it out to see for themselves. They eventually handed out free tickets (although well-attended, the show was not sold out). I was the only one who took them up on the offer, everyone else -- assuming the film would be what it actually turned out to be -- passed on the offer.

Poking around on the internet I also found this old National Geographic video. The interviewer says " ... he has worked out that if he uses soy bean oil, his veggie car gets about 1,300 miles per acre ..." That translates to about ten acres a year. Reality can be whatever we want it to be. Look at the smoke pouring out of the car as it drives away.

For story: Tale of obsession
11 Comments | Post a Comment

Oh dear

taking land to grow fuel = higher food prices + more wrecked wildlands

It's that simple. It does not matter which fuel that is.

If you could build a biofuels infrastructure within the footprint of the oil industry's, that was not reliant on nonrenewable inputs like phosphate rock-derived fertiliser, we could start talking about sustainable fuel.

Restaurant grease will not power more than a micro-percentage of our needs. No-one, to my knowledge, has yet upscaled the micro-algae type processes to anything more than research level.

This really is just a very slick capital-raising tool for Tickell.

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 5:25 AM on 02 Jul 2008

Welcome back, Whiskerfish

How's things in South Africa?

Tickell is no snake oil salesman. He truly "believes" in his fuel. I'm not trying to vilify a guy who has simply developed an excessive emotional attachment to an idea that has turned out to be 180 degrees wrong, no fault of his own. I was hesitant to write this review because I mean him no personal harm. But these fuels are truly a disaster for our biodiversity and biosphere, pouring gas on a flame consuming the world's last carbons sinks at ever increasing rates.

The film wasn't just about using waste grease. The preview is, like the rest of the film, misleading. Several of the scenes were shot in fields of soybeans or rapeseed and many more scenes have them in the background. If we were to stop using those crops for biodiesel, 90% of biodiesel production would disappear, leaving mostly palm and a smidgen of waste.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 8:02 AM on 02 Jul 2008

AFI Dallas

I'm so glad to see your review. "Fields of Fuel" won the environmental documentary award at AFI Dallas, and I was appalled that it won over the far superior film "FLOW: For Love Of Water."

http://blogspot.idealist4sale.com

by idealist4sale at 11:27 AM on 02 Jul 2008

Am. Solar Energy Society slowly sobering up

The American Solar Energy Society is slowly starting to sober up from it's biofuelishness --
this month's issue of "Solar Today" is available free on line for a while -- they've got a story that indicates that they've still got a long way to go, but at least they've dropped the biohype a bit.

http://www.solartoday-digital.org/solartoday/20080708/

The 5% Project

by JMG at 5:55 PM on 02 Jul 2008

Double Check the Facts in This Post

Whoa, hold on there! While your assertion that Tickell's film veers towards sensationalism is partially true, it's still a valuable film and contribution to the larger debate/public education surrounding biofuels.

But there are a few things in here I can't let you get away with in this article:

"Tickell uses everything he can get his hands on to promote biodiesel: The attack on the Twin Towers (actually the result of religionists with a righteous cause), the Iraq war (actually the result of a religionist with a righteous cause), our children, school buses, you name it."

What is the basis for "religionists" righteous cause? They don't just grow up that way... Last time I checked, US military geopositioning, esp. bases in the middle east, were a prime reason Osama gave for the 9/11 attacks. I'm not going to make a case here, since it's been made elsewhere already, but I think you've got to give the film
credit for pointing out the root cause of a lot of these problems: oil.

"We were told that emissions inside our children's school buses are four times higher than outside the bus. As you might guess, along with being the answer to human conflict, biodiesel will also eliminate emissions inside school buses. In reality it would reduce soot 50 percent, while increasing NOx 10 percent."

Double check your facts on this one and be specific. Different blends of biodiesel put out different emission levels, and B20 doesn't raise them, but does cut soot significantly. Also, NOx isn't what kills people in diesel exhaust, it's particulate matter (soot: http://gas2.org/2008/03/27/how-diesel-exhaust-affects-you ...).

B20 reduces air toxics (the most damaging pollutants for human health) by 20-40%, while B100 reduces them by as much as 90%.

"He tells the audience that a diesel Golf gets 55 miles-to-the-gallon whereas the gasoline version gets only 30 -- which is a bit of an exaggeration, to put it mildly -- and that biodiesel is 78 to 98 percent carbon neutral, and
on, and on."

That's no exageration from the people I know who have diesel Golfs. They all seem to get 55 mpg, as most older VWs do. Biodiesel made from cooking oil offsets diesel fuel usage by using a recycled source. Even biodiesel made form soybean oil can decrease greenhouse-gas emissions by 41% when compared to diesel.

"He finally gets to the "well-funded media" conspiracy theory and tells us that the real motivation behind one of the conspirators, the Grocer's Association, is to lower the cost of food! An uncomfortable silence followed that
comment, suggesting that not everyone in the audience was brain dead."

Not a conspiracy: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mo-grocers-etha ...

That's all I have time for right now. For more on biodiesel: http://gas2.org/2008/04/10/biodiesel-mythbuster-20-twenty ...

Lead Writer for Gas 2.0 (http://gas2.org)

by claybodie at 6:13 PM on 02 Jul 2008

Rose colored glasses

"...its still a valuable film and contribution to the larger debate/public education surrounding biofuels."

How can you call a film that deliberately deceives the public, valuable? To who? The 0.1 percent of the world's population who call themselves American farmers? The American consumer who subsidizes them? The biodiesel refiners who make the fuel from Canadian crops, take the dollar a gallon subsidy from American taxpayers and then ship the fuel to Europe? The biodiversity of the planet?

He continues to claim biofuels are 78 to 98 percent carbon neutral. The film fails to mention the following:

1) An international team of researchers led by a Nobel laureate has found biodiesel made from rapeseed releases up to 70% more GHG than diesel. He followed that paper with a point-by-point rebuttal to the critiques leveled by biofuel missionaries (George Monbiot's term).
2) Two studies in Science and one in he Journal of Conservation Biology have found that all crop based biofuels are releasing more GHG than fossil fuels because farmers are (predictably) clearing land to make up for what is going into our gas tanks. And in case you didn't know it, because the film makes no mention of it, land use change (deforestation) is a close second behind fossil fuel use as a cause of global warming, but unlike fossil fuels, biofuels also pour fire on the extinction event by immediately and directly destroying biodiversity. The destruction of the Cerrado and Amazon reached new levels last year, in part because of increased demand for vegetable oil and the same thing is happening in Southeast Asia thanks to palm, all exacerbated by biofuel demand.

He joins venture capitalists and Bush in downplaying the role biofuels are having in the food crisis.

3) America supplies most of the world's corn. Last year 25% of our corn crop went into our gas tanks-- an area the size of Indiana to increase liquid fuel supplies barely 2%. This year over 30% is expected to go into our tanks. Admittedly, his film is about biodiesel. Rapeseed based biodiesel would have taken and area the size of Indiana and Ohio to produce that much mileage and soy based biodiesel would have taken an area the size of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and part of Kentucky.
4) Rather than promote the retrofitting of school busses with modern air pollution controls (now feasible with the introduction of low sulfur fuels) he has crafted a scheme to divert valuable food oil from the mouths of poor children across the globe.

"What is the basis for the "religionists" righteous cause?" ...I think you've got to give the film credit for pointing out the root cause of a lot of these problems: oil."

Obama had nothing to do with Iraq. Hussain had nothing to do with the twin towers. The association between Iraq and the Twin Towers is the result of Bush repeating the lie over and over again until most Americans came to believe it, including you, apparently. It is intensely naïve to believe that biofuels will limit human conflict. Your response to my review is an example of human conflict, caused by biofuels, as is the food crisis, as is the biodiversity crisis.

"Double check your facts on this one and be specific. ....B20 does not raise them but does cut soot significantly. Also, NOx isn't what kills people in diesel exhaust, it's particulate matter [soot]."

He insinuates biodiesel will eliminate air pollution inside the busses, not simply reduce soot 10 to 50%. Soot and NOx are both problems. B-20 reduces soot only 10%. B-100 only 50% (http://www.epa.gov/otaq/models/analysis/biodsl/p02001.pdf ... page 69). Installation of air pollution controls reduces soot 50-90 percent, which is more than B100, without destroying one carbon sink or causing a single food riot. See the soot pouring out of Tcikell's B100veggie car? I saw and smelled the soot pouring out of the parade of biodiesel cars before the film. If that had been a parade of hybrids I would not have seen or smelled anything.

NOx is a health hazard pollutant regulated by the EPA. Visit the EPA website to learn about their decades long efforts to control it.

That's no exageration from the people I know who have diesel Golfs. They all seem to get 55 mpg

Everything in this film is exaggerated or flat out wrong. I'm sure he can occasionally milk 55 out of one but most will not. The EPA says 31/41, average = 36, Edmonds 37/44, average = 40 ( http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/Index.do and http://hffo.cuna.org/12433/article/1456/html ).

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 6:42 AM on 07 Jul 2008

Plugin hybrid conversion

Maybe a film like this, about do-it-yourself plugin hybrid conversion would create a media buzz bio-d? But could people really get emotional about batteries?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 7:00 AM on 07 Jul 2008

Always thinking DrX

They would if we hired Tickell to do the film...

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 7:59 AM on 07 Jul 2008

Tichell's Film Was Misinterpreted

Josh's film does NOT promote "BIOFUEL" ! !

(Corn alchohol, for instance is 'biofuel'; that is inefficient, wasteful production, continuing subsidization of corn which is used also mainly as an economic weapon, such as by dumping corn below market value and destroying peasant agriculture.)

The film promotes ALGAE-OIL, hybrid and plug-in vehicles, and new diesel technology and de-centralization of production and distribution -- because anyone can grow algae-oil.

Algae-oil does not lead to deforestation. 20K gal/acre is current production possible for algae oil. This could replace petrochemical industry.

Diesel produces less harmful gas emissions than gasoline internal compression engines. Diesel's particulate matter, like soot, can be potentially filtered more easily than gas emissions. Water mist chambers are one potential method.

by JimWest at 5:37 AM on 01 Sep 2008

Jim,

algae oil is the biodiesel equivalent of ethanol's cellulosic. It's a lab experiment being used to justify the continued government support of food-based biofuels.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 9:36 AM on 02 Sep 2008

exageration

That's no exageration from the people I know who have diesel Golfs. They all seem to get 55 mpg, as most older VWs do. Biodiesel made from cooking oil offsets diesel fuel usage by using a recycled source. Even biodiesel Seks Hikayeleri porno porno Teknoloji made form soybean oil can decrease greenhouse-gas emissions by 41% when compared to diesel.

by Mikaels at 8:07 PM on 01 Oct 2008

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