The Age of Stupid hasn’t called it quits now that their film is finished and out in the world. They are broadcasting live from the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen with the aim to make “the most important meeting in human history comprehensible to people without degrees in hot air”. The filmmakers are working in close collaboration with NGOs to distribute the Stupid Show via the internet to a number of audiences and engage a number of global citizens in Copenhagen.
You can watch it live on the ageofstupid.net or view past shows. Tonight they will be talking to environmentalist, writer and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben.
The Stupid Show is hosted by oneclimate as part of their Copenhagen 24/7 webcast.
Filmmakers and organizations are coming up with creative ways to incorporate a spectrum of social media into film campaigns, including interactive websites and games, issue-based social networking communities, podcasts and web TV shows. Associate Director of the No Impact Project, Stephanie Bleyer, joins us as a guest blogger to share how she’s using a widget as part of the No Impact Project’s campaign.
The No Impact Project and the Center for a New American Dream have joined together to help communities simplify the holidays this year. During the two-weeks of the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (December 7th-18th), we’re bringing people together to talk about the impact of holiday spending on their lives and the environment.
We organized 50 simultaneous community screenings and for this effort we needed one all-inclusive marketing tool that would be very easy for people to share and post on their blogs, websites, newsletters and e-vites. The No Impact widget is a terrific web marketing tool created for us by Call2Action. It is a mini-website that has the film trailer, film details, project details, event details and a space to make a pledge related to our film screening event.
Our goal for the widget was to allow people to view the trailer, inspire them to RSVP for the No Impact Man Holiday Screening Spectacular and make a pledge to simplify their holidays, which is linked to the theme of the screening event. We definitely recommend this tool to other audience engagement film campaigns.
What do indigenous communities in the Amazon and a rather prosperous coastal town in North Carolina have in common? Not much you might think, and generally you would be right. There are certainly many differences, but it turns out that folks concerned about the environment and public health in Wilmington, North Carolina have much to learn from communities struggling for environmental justice in the Ecuadorian villages featured in the film Crude. A screening of Crude at the Cucalorus Film Festival in Working Films’ hometown of Wilmington, N.C. gave me the opportunity to make the connection between a powerful international David and Goliath story and local struggles to protect our health and environment.
Joel Bourne, and Andy Myers with me, Anna Lee
Crude is a real-life, high stakes legal drama that uncovers the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case in which indigenous communities are suing Texaco/ Chevron for the environmental, cultural, and medical devastation that the companies’ oil exploration have wreaked on their communities and land. We don’t have any oil exploration happening on the coast of North Carolina, but we do have a multi-national corporation called Titan America that has gotten 4.2 million dollars in tax incentives from our county commissioners to build the fourth largest cement plant in the country, right on the banks of the beautiful Cape Fear River.
For those of you that don’t know much about cement plants, they are coal fired kilns that spew particulate matter including mercury and other toxic chemicals into the air and water. In order to make the cement, companies have to quarry limestone, a process that has the potential to drastically deplete and pollute our local aquifer.
This year we’ve worked with a number of films on environmental issues, including The Age of Stupidand No Impact Man, where a prevalent theme is the need for a binding and just international agreement to address climate change. With world leaders set to gather in Copenhagen in just under a month to negotiate a new international climate treaty, we need President Obama and the Senate to show leadership in enacting bold climate solutions. Leading organizations, such as 1Sky, are urging people to make a creative statement through “Make Art for Climate” gatherings across the country, where people will come together to decorate pieces of cloth with images reflecting the urgency of the climate challenge.
The art gatherings will then culminate in a series of nationwide public actions during the first week of December – just before Copenhagen – to reinforce the need for strong action. As part of this week of action 1Sky will deliver the murals to important members of the Obama administration and the Senate, creating a powerful visual reminder of the need for bold climate solutions. Are you interested in holding an art gathering or public event in your community? Sign up at 1Sky.org or contact Ada Aroneanu at ada [at] 1sky.org.
