The Planet and The Plan

Madman

R4 DVD

This documentary does nothing to further the cause of changing our impact on the planet, as far as I could see. It is a disjointed series of interviews purporting to show how individuals are trying, in their own way, to make small changes. There is little actual history but in an opening clip of the Copenhagen 2009 Conference on Climate Change the comment is made that “The great leaders have flown in as if they are coming in to shape the future and they’ve really done nothing.” This was quite true. If anything Copenhagen highlighted the need for Government action, especially on industry, but they will respond only to public pressure from the people who elect them. That such rapid industrial change is possible is highlighted by Roosevelt’s activation of the U.S. auto industry to produce planes and guns during WWII. He did this simply by banning the sale of private cars, forcing the switch of industry to a wartime footing. It CAN be done.

Unfortunately many of the people interviewed for the documentary are unlikely to change that public opinion.

“There are a lot of very abstract, almost spiritual, notions about what needs to be happening now.”

How will a Dutch “kinetic sculptor” who makes windpowered sculpture “animals” affect peoples’ opinions on climate change and generate public pressure? I could see no connection at all with the documentary.

Some examples given have been covered to exhaustion before. The destruction of native forests for monoculture crops like sugar, this time in Uganda rather than the Amazon basin, has been well aired. A Ugandan woman politician was vocal in her demands that the clearing of the Mabira forest stop, and was arrested and imprisoned for her “crime”. In an ensuing riot four people were killed. How can you put public pressure on a government when they have a vested interest in the sugar company that will benefit most from the clearing?

Chris Darwin has bought a reserve in outback Australia that he monitors for a number of rare species. In his own way he is trying to preserve endangered species and even reforest some of the sterile areas in cities. It is a praiseworthy endeavour but is he doomed to failure? If the continent is drying out, as predictions indicate, will the plants die off anyway?

This seems to be the problem with many of these well-meaning individuals. In their own way and in their own little area they are doing their best but they may fail unless the bigger picture can be changed. Dangling banners from the roof of the British Parliament may be spectacular but does it really influence peoples’ opinions? Tony Blair, then the Prime Minster, said that such matters will be decided on the floor of Parliament, not on the roof. The same could probably be said of all the marches, demonstrations and placard-waving. Rarely do they lead to significant change.

The documentary doesn’t really address the issue of the U.S., one of the biggest causes of the problem. How do you apply “people pressure” to a government that is so much in the pockets of industrialists?

It covers wildlife problems and has the usual heroic raiders of the Sea Shepherd organisation intercepting Japanese whaling ships and the usual dreadful pictures of baby seals being clubbed. Very emotional, but these bits and pieces serve to fragment the DVD, leaving the viewer to wonder what it is really all about. The entire documentary has a rather disjointed feel and whatever message it carries is lost.

The documentary was disappointing in that it offered little that was new and the people who were interviewed seemed destined to have little impact anyway. It urges people to network over the Internet and spread their ideas, but doesn’t really explain how this will help. Rather than being a documentary on individual impacts on climate change I feel it soon degenerated into a tutorial on How NOT To Make A Climate Change Doco. This is a pity as there were the glimmerings of some good ideas there.

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