What if the real problem when it comes to climate change isn’t our human nature, but the stories we’ve been telling ourselves? Naomi Klein raises this intriguing question in this new documentary based on her book of the same name.
According to her, the story of the Earth as a machine for humans to tame and control — the story of capitalism — is one of the most damaging factors when it comes to climate change because industrial society has taught us that this is the best way to view the planet. But there is another way to view the Earth: as a living system that we need to work with instead of against.
Klein interviews many people who have been affected by climate change and spends a large portion of the film in Alberta’s tar sands region. She meets with the Beaver Lake Cree, who are fed up with the government’s inaction to ensure that the safety of their land is not jeopardized. One striking scene shows Crystal Lameman being told that she doesn’t have the proper permit to even set foot on her traditional lands that have been affected by an oil spill.
The areas affected by extreme weather events in the United States such as Hurricane Sandy show that nature is a force to be reckoned with, and as much as we think we are in control, one storm can flatten a city. In Montana, a couple who owns a ranch are devastated after an oil spill contaminates their water, and potentially their livelihood.
The Heartland Institute, a large think tank of climate deniers, are also included in the film — Klein attends one of their conferences to see what they have to say. Their vehement denial of climate change and their extremely neo-liberal economic theories are quite shocking.
One Heartland interviewee says, “If you want more trees, use more wood [. . .] if you want more elephants, market their ivory.” But Klein says that they do have one thing right: climate change has the potential to change everything about our society, and almost anything may be justified as a response to it — this is why they are working very hard to make sure it is not taken seriously and the status quo is maintained.
Klein’s explanations of concepts like sacrifice zones and our Carbon Budget are succinct and simple enough that anyone watching this should be able to understand the severity of the situation. Directed by her husband Avi Lewis, and narrated by Klein, it’s a well-produced film that tells an important story.
First Nations, environmental groups, farmers collectives, and citizens who are fed up with the status quo are fighting back all over the world to protest coal fired power plants, pipelines, and the tar sands, and the film ends on a hopeful note that perhaps people are starting to rewrite the story for themselves.
For more information, visit thischangeseverything.org.
