What happens when a determined young family gives up all oil-based products for a year?Filmmaker John Webster and his family decided to own up to their transgressions and kick their addiction to oil. They committed to a one-year “oil detox”. It’s quite simple really: the family will go on with their suburban lives, but without using any fossil fuels, driving cars or flying in airplanes. They won’t buy anything packaged in plastic like food, makeup, shampoo, toothpaste or kids’ toys. This last item proves a particular challenge to Webster’s two young sons.
Recipes for Disaster shows that at the core of the impending climate catastrophe are those little failures that we as individuals make every day, and which are so much a part of human nature. And a lot of it has to do with oil consumption.
This charming and intimate “family drama” reveals the overwhelming challenge the Webster’s have taken on. But despite the initial shocks, by using logic, sound judgement and common sense, this family does what it takes to combat the existing recipes for disaster that we all blindly follow.