Video Wars on Climate: Of Penguins and Polar Bears
Just as three powerful films on climate change have hit the US scene, a video war has begun on the internet between climate skeptics and the seemingly far more numerous proponents in the environmental community and blogosphere of action now. The three films have developed their own effective trailers or ads. The first of these was a Canadian produced film, The Great Warming narrated by Alanis Morissette and Keanu Reeves. The Great Warming trailer is just under 3 minutes. A 60-minute HBO documentary, Too Hot Not to Handle, that first was aired on Earth Day, April 22, marshals a strong scientific case that climate change may soon get out of hand.
The film An Inconvenient Truth, in which Al Gore stars, has its own effective trailer.
To coincide with the release of the Gore film, the climate skeptic group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, aired some spots with the theme CO2 is life.
These sparked a sharp rebuke by Think Progress.
Given his high political visibility, it was hardly surprising that Gore was the focus of some videos lampooning his stance or his style. One of these, Al Gore’s Penguin Army, emerged on YouTube, that has become a favorite web posting place for clever amateur video makers. Yet news stories soon suggested that this anti-Gore spoof was hardly an amateur production but the product of a public relations firm closely linked to the oil industry. (ABC News)
Lampooning Gore is a sport reserved not entirely to global warming skeptics: A Terrifying Message From Al Gore, a Futurama spoof, gives details on accessing Gore’s www.climatecrisis.org site.
Other videos on climate change, the vast majority promoting stronger actions to curb greenhouse emissions, come from diverse sources. Among the most prominent is the film star, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sir David Attenborough narrates another short video indicating that climate is changing outside the realm of natural variability.
The liberal Center for American Progress highlights the conversion of Frank Luntz, once a key Bush advisor on how to handle the climate change issue, to the belief that strong action is now needed to curb emissions. Climate Change is Real, a 7 1/2 minute video by Source Code, highlights results of the fall 2005 Montreal Climate Conference and subsequent actions by US mayors to limit greenhouse emissions.
The Center for a New American Dream has a detailed site on climate implications and solutions highlighting two videos, one on Drought in West Africa and the other on Troubled Rainforests.
Mass membership environmental groups are also in the fray. Environmental Defense, that is conducting an extensive media-related public awareness effort funded in part by financier Julian Robertson, has a web site with extensive access to video materials, including its own global warming spots. The Sierra Club has a global warming site with, among other things, the video Climate Report done jointly with the Climate Institute in 1996. This video, the first mass market video effort in the US, was initially produced to be aired as a weekly series in two minute segments by interested television weathercasters. It was carried by a number of stations, particularly in the Pacific Northwest where 1996 was a hot summer, and then used by Sierra as a staple in its global warming public awareness effort.
Blogs have arisen to provide easy access to information on climate risks. Aftermath blog contains links to many videos on risks of climate change. Climate Change Resources appears to be a grass roots blog with access to many climate change videos.
The polar bear has emerged as the iconic symbol of the global warming battle and a CBS News series on the Arctic, especially the polar bear, has gotten a lot of attention. WWF has prepared a short video where scientists describe how global warming may imperil polar bears, and stopglobalwarming.org makes a similar case with a cartoon video. It seems likely that penguins and polar bears—on opposite ends of the globe but both in cold regions—will be symbols of this debate, as long as they still survive.
MORE
Global Warning 50 Years Ago
Five Ways to Save the World
A Winters Tale (Planet Report)
Global Warming: Cool Solutions
