Outside the Box with Peter Coyote: Beyond Big Oil

Beyond Big Oil explores the political, economic, health and environmental implications of living in an oil-centric society, while also examining the viability of alternative technologies such as bio-diesel and vegetable oil. It presents CEOs of oil companies, being questioned by democratic and republican senators, and tackles head-on, in a candid, humorous tone, what a growing number of scientists and politicians consider to be the single-most important issue of our time — energy.



Beyond Big Oil offers viewers a ride-along conversation with singer and songwriter Willie Nelson, founder of a new bio-diesel fuel company, on his eco-friendly concert tour bus, to learn first hand about the potential of bio-diesel, both for the struggling American farmer and for our gas-guzzling society. The show also visits a Hummer dealership, rides along with a young woman gathering vegetable oil from a local restaurant to power her diesel car and meets a spokesman from an African-American community in Richmond, California that lives under the constant threat and toxic influence of a huge oil refinery.



Joining the Outside the Box team is oil policy analyst and author Antonia Juhasz, whose book “The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time,” addresses America’s unquestioned thirst for oil and explains how the US government’s energy policies, taxes and incentives have been affected by special-interest groups. This program goes backstage with Coyote, Juhasz and the Outside the Box production team, as they discuss a wide range of energy-related issues and examine mainstream television news sources -- to see what questions are not being asked, and how, in general, the energy issue is being framed by the U.S. media.



Outside the Box with Peter Coyote


Outside the Box with Peter Coyote, a Link TV production, offers a refreshingly unconventional approach to the investigation and analysis of America's most critical issues. It takes viewers outside the familiar parameters and conventions, and away from the usual pundits and editorial framework of mainstream television news, as it explores a range of topics close to the American heartbeat -- the death penalty, the environment, intelligence gathering and, for its first two programs, energy.



Host Peter Coyote takes on the role of a "citizen journalist," working together with the Outside the Box production team to bring complex issues often considered too controversial or complex to national, prime-time television and into the public discourse.