I recently attended a public showing of the film “Not Evil, Just Wrong” in Kalispell. Sponsored by the Northwest Montana Patriots, it was billed as a documentary exploring the economic impact of global warming “hysteria.” I hoped it would broaden my perspective on climate change issues, but the film was a disappointment.
First, while I hoped for an intelligent refute to the mainstream understanding of greenhouse gas pollution, the film instead fixated on Al Gore and, strangely, Rachel Carson. It was a transpicuous attempt to distract audience attention from science and focus it on anger toward individuals. Especially in the case of Rachel Carson, an author and scientist whose most famous work was completed 50 years ago, the film squandered valuable time that could have been used exploring pertinent climate change issues.
Second, in another frustrating attempt at distraction, too much time was dedicated to misleading person-on-the-street interviews. Although the questions were edited out, people appeared to respond to pitched scenarios about life without air travel or electricity. Apparently, I was supposed to get the impression that those concerned about global climate change seek to ban commercial flights or even household electricity. The filmmakers could have chosen any number of smarter uses of the audience’s time. For instance, why not an economic analysis of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade law we might soon see? The film contained none.
Additionally, the film fronted outlandish and discredited claims about our climate. They included the statements that global polar bear populations are increasing, arctic sea ice is expanding, and the Earth’s climate has been cooling for a decade. These tired claims appear periodically from ultra-conservative sources like George Will and the accuracy-challenged Fox News Channel, and they contradict observable conditions in the far north. They have been debunked so many times by scientists that they no longer merit serious discussion.
Instead of exploring outdated myths, the filmmakers could have addressed serious and perplexing questions about the climate issue. For instance, I would have enjoyed a reasoned rebuttal to the warning from scientists that the Earth’s climate is changing at an abnormal and dangerous speed. The scientists warn that burning fossil fuels is changing the climate so fast that up to one-third of the species sharing our planet may go extinct this century.
Finally, in a gaping lapse, the purported documentary completely avoided the topics of ocean acidification and the health dangers from airborne pollutants. For instance, the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from burned fossil fuels is acidifying our oceans, gravely threatening the coral reefs and shellfish that support the entire marine food chain. And burning coal releases so much mercury into our lakes, streams and oceans that the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration caution pregnant women against eating too much fish. Instead of even acknowledging these pressing issues, the filmmakers shamelessly promoted unmitigated use of fossil fuels over cleaner, healthier sources of energy.
Following the film, the sponsor group led a sometimes rambunctious discussion about how President Barack Obama planned to sign a climate treaty in Copenhagen this December that will do away with the U.S. Constitution. The claims were bizarre, groundless, and revealed a scary level of ignorance about America’s founding charter. For instance, the Senate must ratify by a clear majority of 67 votes any international treaty signed by the President. And the Constitution’s supremacy clause (Article VI) ensures no treaty can violate the Constitution.
I went to “Not Evil, Just Wrong” seeking knowledge and perhaps even a little pacification about the alarming news regarding climate change. Instead, I found industry propaganda mixed with cheap attempts to stir anger. The result was a further loss of credibility for those denying the impacts of fossil fuels on climate and a hardening of my desire that Congress and the President aggressively address the issue.
I heartily encourage our lawmakers to make every attempt and initiate every incentive to wean our nation from fossil fuel’s poisonous teat.
Tim Lydon lives in Whitefish.