Chasing Ice Director Makes Poignant Comparison Between the U.S. Ending Slavery and the Need to Stop Climate Change

Chasing Ice Director Jeff Orlowski

I had an amazing afternoon in Denver today.  First I went to see Lincoln, then I went to a screening of Chasing Ice where the director, Jeff Orlowski appeared in person for a Q&A after the film.  He made a direct comparison between Lincoln ending slavery and our current need to divorce ourselves from fossil fuels in order to create a more ethical economic model:

"We're facing a similar turning-point to what our country went through a hundred-something years ago (147), when we were using slavery as a form of our economic model.  That was the machine that drove the country economically.  We had companies, industries, that were based on free labor, and we had a debate in this country that cost 600,000 American lives over whether or not this was an ethical thing for us to continue doing. And, ultimately, we made the decision that we were going to move away from this policy that we felt was immoral, and we will deal with the economic consequences, and we are going to shift to something that we really believe in and we can proudly move forward.  I believe that future generations are going to look back at this era with that same mindset, that same perspective.  Just like we look back at slavery.  They're going to say 'The science was clear.  It was known.  It was obvious'...

"We don't want the film to be considered a left vs. right debate.  The issue is not a political issue.  It's been politicized, but this should be an apolitical issue and we really want to embrace bi-partisan support...."

One other thing, Orlowski said before the Q&A that he felt like everything he'd done in his life had led him to make this movie.  That's the thing about working to save our planet's life-support system.  Once you hurl yourself into it, everything that came before suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.  Such is the genius of devoting oneself to a cause so much bigger than ourselves.


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