By Maria Ramos
Though some people doubt that climate change poses a danger to
humans or the environment at all, the effects from using fossil fuels are
incredibly evident around the world. Fossil fuels emit heat-trapping carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere and greatly contribute to climate change and global
warming. The danger is real, but the question is how to spur people to action
and do something positive about it.
Enter This
Changes Everything, a documentary from director Avi Lewis based on
social activist Naomi Klein's 2014 best-selling
book of the same name. Rather than blame global warming on the populace and
shame them into action, the film reveals that the key to moving forward with
effective reforms to protect the environment is to stop propping up free market
fundamentalism. In other words, real change will come about once people demand
that governments stop protecting big companies at the expense of people and the
land.
The film
features grassroots protests of citizens in nine different countries who are
fighting back, as well as the struggles of those who simply want to be able to
live without their water being poisoned, their air polluted, and their local
economies stripped by mega
corporations. Lewis captures their passion and anger, as well as the
positive impact of them speaking out and taking a stand. This focus on showing
how people help, rather than pointing the finger at the citizenry, is what sets
This Changes Everything apart from most other climate change films.
In addition to footage of activists, the movie shows the
negative effects that the partnerships between governments and big business
have on nature. In one scene, the forests of Alberta, Canada are being
destroyed for the sake of expanding the ongoing tar sands projects around the
area. As the beautiful landscape is torn down, the audience learns that the
ruin of the land is for the sake of petroleum companies, who hope to earn more
than $150 billion in the coming decade from oil extracted there. This oil
contributes to the dirty energy we use every single day. Dominion Power
actually estimates that fossil fuels account for 82% of the energy consumed in
the United States alone, which is indicative of how much work must be done to
change how we’re affecting the environment.
One element of the movie that makes it work is that it
follows the path of most good stories. We get a group of underdog heroes -
environmentally conscious citizens - a good cause to fight for, and villains in
the form of exploitative corporations and crony capitalists. Deniers
of climate change and advocates of laissez-faire style capitalism may
object to the message, but it will be difficult for most others to find any
qualms with the film's premise.
While This Changes Everything makes it clear that
governments and companies who put profit over people are in the wrong, Lewis
does address the economic realities. The corporations are causing destruction
and speeding up climate change, but they are also providing jobs. In the end,
however, those jobs won't amount to much if we have no decent air to breathe,
water to drink, or land on which to live. The ones to preserve that land will
have to be the people who need it most, not the politicians we elect or the
corporate masters those politicians seemingly serve.
At the heart of the movie is the idea that normal people
play the biggest role in changing both our failed environmental policies and
economic system, and it is this enduring message that the film leaves with its
audience. This Changes
Everything is currently being screened across the country, including
near the Los Angeles, California area in Santa Ana at The Frida
Cinema on November 18th. The goal is to bring awareness to different
communities and let them know that protecting the environment isn’t an
unwinnable fight, but a necessary action.
