The Truth Will Set You Free

[Guest guest]

The following commentary is from Jim Motavalli, editor of E/The

Environmental Magazine and editor of Feeling the Heat: Dispatches

From the Frontlines of Climate Change...

 

Last week I showed the Al Gore film " An Inconvenient Truth " to an

audience in the basement of my church, United Congregational, in

Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was, I imagine, an event mirrored across

the country, as the producers of the film have made it very widely

available without charge to community groups for free showings. (A

month ago, I also spoke at a showing in a local college auditorium,

and there was a lively student panel afterwards. Groups were formed,

and work was begun.)

 

Our event was the purest form of grassroots organizing. I was joined

by Bob Wall, New England director of the group SmartPower, which is

signing up residents for green energy. In exchange for a few extra

dollars a month, anyone who gets a utility bill can have solar,

wind, biomass or hydro power added to the grid. While they won't

actually get renewable energy into their homes, it will offset their

generation. What's more, companies like SmartPower add incentives

for towns that get the most sign-ups. Bob and I and the other

members of my town's Clean Energy Task Force have already signed up

more than 200, which earns us two solar panels for area schools.

 

Also on hand was Bob Halstead from a local group that is attempting

to consolidate ownership of the dozens of community gardens in

Bridgeport. Halstead brought collard greens and cauliflower that was

the product of those self-same community gardens. (We ate some of it

the next night; it was delicious.)

 

And yet another group represented by Alyssa Israel handed out flyers

from Fairfield County Advocates for Open Space aiming to save a 422-

acre forest that has been inexplicably preserved for hundreds of

years in the heart of an industrial city. Remington Woods was once a

gunmaker's firing range, but now it is home to vernal pools, night

herons, sparrow hawks, wood ducks, raptors, deer, fox, freshwater

fish and coyotes. Since it has never been officially protected, its

scheduled fate is to become an office park, accessed by an

expressway.

 

Bill Garrett, a former energy consultant, government policy advisor,

energy entrepreneur and government official, spoke about his website

Cleanpeace.org. The group is trying to wake people up about the

imminent arrival of oil shortage. " Replacing oil with clean

renewable fuels greatly reduces pollution, global warming gas

production, the potential for decades of oil wars and combats the

social and economic disruptions arising from peak oil, " the group

says.

 

E/The Environmental Magazine was there, too, of course, and we

handed out free copies to the 30 or so people in attendance. So it

was global warming spiced with other issues, making tasty food for

thought. The scene reminded me of an old saying about the group

Velvet Underground. Only 30 people went to their shows, but they all

started bands. Most of the people at our screening were activists in

one way or another. After everyone had talked and grabbed the free

coffee and homemade desserts, we finally watched " An Inconvenient

Truth. "

 

I had seen it before, obviously, but I didn't mind a repeat

performance. I noticed a few things: The graphics are really great,

there's a bit more partisan politics than I remembered, and it's a

bit short on solutions. Taking action is not the point of the film,

however: The idea was to convince Americans that global warming is

real, and it accomplishes that end admirably. You couldn't watch it

and still say the scientific debate was continuing. I argue about

global warming every week with a fellow church parishioner, and I

promised him if he came to the show we could debate the issue live

in front of an audience. But he didn't come, and still maintains

that what's happening with the climate is within normal historical

trends.

 

Now about those " solutions. " The producers have designed free,

downloadable curricula for schools that show the film, and they're

all about empowering students to take global warming reduction into

their own hands. Here are the three options for teachers:

 

Tier One – The Green Mile to School. For this one-day lesson,

students are challenged to examine their personal activities and

estimate their own impact, while finding ways to reduce damage to

our environment.

 

Tier Two – Think Globally, Act Locally. The stage for this week-long

program is set by viewing a series of DVD chapters that detail the

science of global warming and culminate with a focus on the Kyoto

Treaty and on the U.S. cities that are taking matters into their own

hands.

 

Tier Three – Small Steps Mean Smaller Footprints. This semester-long

program is highly project-based. After discussing climate change and

renewable energies, students will interact with large sets of

scientific data and draw conclusions from those interactions.

Focusing on their conclusions, students will take action to present

their findings to local government representatives, community

members, or the PTA.

 

Great, I say. Every school should be showing " An Inconvenient Truth "

in science class. But what's that you say? The science teachers

refused free DVDs? Sad but true. Producer Laurie David wrote an op-

ed piece about it in the Washington Post, and it's worth quoting at

length:

 

" …[T]he company that made the documentary decided to offer 50,000

free DVDs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) for

educators to use in their classrooms. It seemed like a no-brainer.

 

" The teachers had a different idea: Thanks but no thanks, they said.

In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that

other `special interests' might ask to distribute materials, too;

they said they didn't want to offer `political' endorsement of the

film; and they saw `little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members'

in accepting the free DVDs. Gore, however, is not running for

office, and the film's theatrical run is long since over.

 

" As for classroom benefits, the movie has been enthusiastically

endorsed by leading climate scientists worldwide, and is required

viewing for all students in Norway and Sweden. Still, maybe the NSTA

just being extra cautious. But there was one more curious argument

in the e-mail: Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would

place `unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially

certain targeted supporters.' One of those supporters, it turns out,

is the Exxon Mobil Corp. " It turns out that NSTA has taken $6

million from ExxonMobil since 1996, and used the oil company's

curriculum materials. Business as usual. Don't we expect better from

science teachers?

 

I say, show " An Inconvenient Truth. " Show chemical industry

propaganda films and " Better Living with Clean Coal, " too. Put them

on the same bill and let the students decide. We had a lively debate

after our showing of the Gore film. People stood around in small

knots and talked and argued. That's how it's supposed to be in

America. The urgency of climate change demands we let this debate

flourish.