End of Suburbia Video Report

Suburbia Video Report

Suburbia was an idea implemented post World War II because of social adjustments for white, middle-class families. The government spent much of their time and money supporting suburban development with help from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). This was a department that helped create neighborhoods by making them appear as unison and attractive. Also, the Federal-Aid Highway Act helped to build roads that led from quiet neighborhood to the hustle and bustle of the city. This was constructed from the ideal “American conscious” that husbands commuted to work, while women were to be stay-at-home mothers and wives, also children lived and went to school in a local community. The American conscious was to have a certain social status, in which was to own a house and support a family, this was also considered the American Dream.

Television was also a rising commodity around the 1950’s, with a faster rate of families wanting to purchase televisions/already having television escalating very quickly. This was a means of their entertainment inside their home. It appears now however that the suburban dream is dead now as America transforms more towards a dystopian future, with urban areas possibly turning in corporate controlled states. The main concern with suburbia is the rate at which we are using up resources such as gas to supply these houses, as well as how shortages of resources have correlated with an economic downturn. It was during this time that the fate of suburbia was on a decline, after the economic recession of 2008, it resulted in foreclosures of massive proportion to homes nobody could afford, thus totally adding insult to injury to suburbia.

The oil crisis of 1970 was a major crisis in America. This was the result of an embargo towards America as a result of the Support of Israel during their war. After such an even, oil supplied seized, prices for gasoline spiked, along with heating oil and oil-generated electricity. The debate that sparked between gas pricing and rationing spent America’s economy to a spiral. However, America did learn a thing or two from this event. There was a policy imposed on price and supply controls. Federal regulations made it so that domestic drillers increased the price to a certain limit. Also, they were able to place gasoline supplies to different parts of the country. The government developed a system where cars with an even number last digits could get gas Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, meanwhile odd went on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with nobody filling gas on Sunday. The end of such policies was the result of a lift on this embargo, however, ultimately making the price of oil less expensive, so in a sense yes, America has learned from that, but to an extent.

The concept of Peak Oil I that the maximum rate of crude oil extraction has been met, and that the rate of extraction is expected to decline forever. Also, it explains that whether it is a well, a field, or the world, oil becomes remarkable harder and more expensive to extract after the mid-point or the “peak”. Today, we are consuming much more oil than we are discovering, thus on a general decline in keeping these resources sacred, and becoming more scarce. In the film, Kunstler made a valid point on how a “hydrogen economy” isn’t going to fuel cars, because what’s to say one of them got into an accident. This is something I would have to agree with. Americans are accustomed to ever-changing gas prices, however, what if prices were to get to a ridiculous $5 a gallon? This would send the economy into a spiral since fewer people will purchase gas, and how there will be even fewer people using oil. However, this will change the lifestyle of a suburban living, with gas prices now going up, bills will correlate and homes will go into foreclosure, thus resulting in some sort of crisis. This can result in people wanting a new urban lifestyle, with work now being a walking distance away. Also the idea of purchasing locally grown products instead of purchasing items imported (like an apple from New Zealand).