{"id":208911,"date":"2019-04-08T03:05:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T07:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=208911"},"modified":"2019-04-08T03:05:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T07:05:47","slug":"climate-documentaries-aim-to-create-change-not-preach-to-the-converted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/04\/08\/climate-documentaries-aim-to-create-change-not-preach-to-the-converted\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate documentaries aim to create change, not preach to the converted"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bridges wanted \u201cLiving in the Future’s Past\u201d to take a fresh approach. When he first discussed collaborating with director Susan Kucera, he said he felt there were enough climate movies that pointed fingers and told audiences they were in dire straits. (File Photo<\/a>: @thejeffbridges\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2014 Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges wanted to avoid making a climate change documentary that only preached to the converted \u2014 he wanted to reach and speak to people who didn’t already care about the issue.<\/p>\n

That’s why \u201cLiving in the Future’s Past,\u201d produced and narrated by Bridges, deliberately avoids heaping guilt upon viewers or hammering them with warnings of impending doom, the \u201cBig Lebowski\u201d star said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the fear makes you throw up your hands and feel like it’s too late, or think it’s going to trickle down from the government,\u201d Bridges, 69, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don’t think we can wait for the government to be enlightened with what our scientists are telling us. I think it’s got to trickle up, if it’s trickling anywhere. I think we all have to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film is part of a rising tide of documentaries that aim to wake up viewers to the realities of climate change. But as governments, companies and individuals remain reluctant to act, it’s fair to question how much of an impact movies can have.<\/p>\n

Bridges wanted \u201cLiving in the Future’s Past\u201d to take a fresh approach. When he first discussed collaborating with director Susan Kucera, he said he felt there were enough climate movies that pointed fingers and told audiences they were in dire straits.<\/p>\n

The pair discovered they were interested in why humans as a species were responding the way they were to climate change. As a result, the film interrogates how evolution, history and psychology have shaped our reaction to the unfolding crisis.<\/p>\n

Bridges likes to use a metaphor inspired by one of his heroes, Buckminster Fuller, who invented a small rudder called a trim tab that helps turn a larger rudder on a ship. The tab symbolizes how the individual is connected to society, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all can make a huge difference, just like that little rudder on the big rudder,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cWe can all do it in different ways. I’m in the movie business, so I make movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film showcases a wide range of prominent scientists and authors. Yet one of the most refreshing voices is former Republican congressman Bob Inglis, who argues caring about the environment is not at odds with a conservative or religious identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has this idea that if you’re going to go to a group of people who are self-identified in one way, who better to talk to that group than someone from that group?\u201d said Kucera. \u201cWe’re still kind of tribal that way, and so that’s what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beautifully shot film will screen this week as part of Elements Film Festival at Vancouver’s Telus World of Science. Also screening are local films including \u201cCoal Valley\u201d and \u201cPlastic Beach\u201d and international features such as \u201cQueen Without Land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol Linnitt, who co-founded online news outlet The Narwhal and directed \u201cCoal Valley,\u201d said documentaries allow storytellers to delve deeper into an issue and often the outlet’s films reach an audience far beyond its regular readership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a fast-paced, attention-driven world these days. Often, the dry written word sitting static on a page may not be what’s going to do it for a lot of people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Of course, it also matters who sees these films. Bridges said he was excited to be working on a curriculum that would allow his movie to be taught in schools, where it would encourage kids to take action and use their imaginations to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

Keith Scholey, series producer of the lush Netflix nature documentary \u201cOur Planet,\u201d said the filmmakers created a website, OurPlanet.com, to give viewers more details about solutions, and they’re also screening the show for global decision makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, we have been able to present ‘Our Planet’ to the World Economic Forum in Davos and next week will do the same to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. We think we have already started to bring about change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, humans are so notoriously apathetic about climate change that one environmental psychologist has catalogued all the reasons people don’t take action. Robert Gifford of the University of Victoria describes them as the \u201cdragons of inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe less polite word might be excuses or justifications,\u201d he deadpanned.<\/p>\n

He said common \u201cdragons\u201d include: \u201cI’m only one person. Why should I do anything if my efforts don’t make a difference?\u201d and \u201cIt’s the government’s job, not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmental films are more likely to make a difference if they are quiet and serious, such as Al Gore’s \u201cAn Inconvenient Truth,\u201d as opposed to over-the-top Hollywood fare that will just make viewers roll their eyes, Gifford said.<\/p>\n

The most important factor in persuading people to care about climate change, however, is to demonstrate how it intersects with an issue they care about, such as their health, children or local community, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no magic message for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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