February 08, 2007
Heating up the climate change debate
By
Katherine Dodds
I get the New York Times Headlines in my inbox everyday. This weekend's chilling, but utterly unsurprising story was on the "unequivocal" nature of scientists' warnings and that "human activity" is the main driver…" And there was that sad image once again of polar bears balancing on shrinking ice floes. Since I spent my childhood in Canada's arctic, the polar bears' plight always gives me a pang. What I felt is the same sort of déjà vu that I felt when watching Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" recently. At the same time, Canada's conservative paper, the National Post, has official opposition leader Stephane Dion slapping our current terrifying Prime Minister Harper's wrists for killing "Project Green" and cutting the $5.6 billion worth of climate change programs that would have made Canada a leader in this solution-seeking struggle.
So I find myself asking the question I've heard often enough – what can I do? Which would be a good thing if I hadn't been asking that question for at least 20 years already. I suspect environmental activists, old and new, are experiencing a similar dreadful "I told you so" style of ennui. But the fact remains, that what is new about this old news, is possibly the public's readiness to take it in, and therefore hopefully take it on.
So that means it is no longer the "territory" of those of us self-identified, enviro-activist-hippy-cum-yuppie (or slacker/boomer) earth lovers. In other words those of us early doomsday adopters have to rustle up enough optimism to seize the PR moment. Which of course, politicians on both sides of the border are already doing.
And here at HelloCoolWorld we are getting ready to launch a few new films with some bearing on the subject. "Manufactured Landscapes" will be out on DVD (Canada only) in March, and pre-sales are up on our site now. Then we will be getting ready to sell a fine but chilling film — "A Crude Awakening" that explores the imminent peak oil crisis, (available in April). We also will have for sale the Oscar™ nominated "Jesus Camp" – which shines a sickening divine light on the kind of impact that the American Evangelical movement is having on the US political process and future generation of voters and politicians.
These films raise the questions more than they prescribe solutions. But I do think that questions are part of the solution. I don't have a glib answer to the question I am asking myself, but I do think that the solution(s) need to strategically link together personal consumer choices supported with enough public policy to give real legs to the movements to significantly reduce energy use, and harmful gas emissions, dependency on fossil fuels, and to offer sensible sustainable urban lifestyle options on a global scale. In addition to The Corporation we'd like to continue to promote thought provoking films, connect them to the movements and initiatives to try to create change. One connection is to "Manufactured Landscapes" and the book WorldChanging, a users guide to the 21st Century. Check it out at WorldChanging.com or buy the book through the link on our store's home page. It's full of practical actions/solutions/products/initiatives to promote urban sustainability.
Take Action: Sign Petition!
www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action/cf.php
Tag(s):
Environment,
Climate Change,
Campaign 4 Corporate Harm Reduction
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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On August 27, 2007 at 06:11 AM Damien Sass wrote:
Katherine Dodds
Greetings Ms. Dodds,
You mentioned in your blog article your intention to make new films which I presume are on the basis of climate change and its disastrous impacts. I also assume that the films will have more of a leaning towards the man-made global warming issue.
Like yourself, I?ve also watched Al Gore?s ?An Inconvenient Truth? and felt a sense of dread with regards to the picture he painted of rising CO2 levels and their effects on global warming, especially the man-made component. However, by chance, I came across a documentary by the BBC titled ?The Great Global Warming Swindle? in which scientists (including two lead authors of the IPCC) spoke against the man-made global warming issue, citing that CO2 comprising less than one percent of the atmosphere is not responsible for global warming. A co-founder of Green Peace was also interviewed, giving his views on the harmful potential behind the politics of global warming ad its effects on developing countries. Needless to say, the body of evidence which was presented in the documentary was rather wholesome, and came to the conclusion that (apart from global warming being huge business and a playing field for political debate) the evidence simply does not fit the theory. I was wondering therefore, if you would make a documentary which further explores the other side of the story so to speak, the side taken by the documentary I?ve just mentioned?
Kind Regards,
Damien Sass (MSc student, Environmental Science, The University of Cologne, Germany)
On January 11, 2010 at 09:12 PM james keegan wrote:
Nice site and the user comments are nice. -------------------------- James keegan
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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