The Stupid Show is pretty smart
Franny Armstrong with Ed Miliband, photo by theageofstupid (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
Here’s something good that came out of COP15: The Stupid Show
I could spend hours watching these snippets and interviews from Franny Armstrong and company. They are both alternately and simultaneously interesting, depressing, amusing and sometimes even inspiring.
Armstrong is the filmmaker responsible for the eco-documentary The Age of Stupid. During the climate change conference in Copenhagen last December she and her crew were on site talking to politicians, activists, journalists, celebrities and ‘climate witnesses’ – ordinary people who have already suffered the effects of climate change.
I highly recommend scrolling down and following all the links, exploring a bit, listening and remembering. Copenhagen the event is over, climate change is not. As a political issue, the focus has somewhat shifted towards controversies, embarrassments and polarizations – or more like Balkanizations – in which bitterly opposed groups equate or conflate environmental issues with making a lot of money from carbon markets, losing a lot of money by regulating fossil fuel or other emitting industries, getting taxed for a lot of money, etc.
Capitalism essentially controls the political process vis-à-vis the environment. The skepticism of climate science is in reality fueled by a skepticism of anything not capitalistic, anything that discourages rampant consumerism, unsustainable economic growth and individual wealth.
First, have a look at Franny Armstrong’s final thoughts about Copenhagen to remind us of the real environmental issues: sustainability and survival. Without these core points remaining central to any future action, economies become more short sighted, inequalities more pronounced and entrenched, democracy more eroded and less relevant.
The Stupid Show – Episode 8 – Final thoughts
Check out Spanner Films YouTube page for tons of videos including interviews by Franny Armstrong with luminaries like Mark Lynas, Ed Miliband, Naomi Klein, George Monbiot, Johann Hari, Kumi Naidoo and many, many more!
by Graham Land
keywords: Franny, Armstrong, Miliband, Copenhagen, Stupid, Show, climate, change, environmental
Graham Land grew up in Washington, D.C., where he was part of the local hardcore punk scene. Through this unique musical movement he became involved in grass roots anti-racist activism, animal rights and Ecology. Since 2000 Graham has lived in Europe, earning an MA in history from Malmö University in Sweden and working as a musician, English teacher, sports therapist, customer service agent and writer. Graham has a podcast with author Saci Lloyd and is currently pretending to work on his first novel.
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Tags: Armstrong, change, climate, copenhagen, environmental, Franny, Miliband, show, Stupid
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