Why Carbon Nation is the Most Effective Climate Change Film So Far

by Kevin Gardner

Many films have been produced that deal with the climate change crisis over the past couple of decades. These are important films that deal with a subject that has affected millions around the world, and if left unchecked, will eventually affect everyone. All of these films offer important insights, but the movie Carbon Nation may have a more widespread appeal than the others. Here are a couple of reasons why, with even more insightful data available from Tomorrow.io.

It Is Focused on Solutions

Most climate change films are really depressing. They focus on the unavoidable disasters that lie in the near future if change isn't made. Many of these films seek to scare the public into awareness of this pressing issue. While these films have certainly increased public knowledge about the climate change crisis, it is easy to walk away from watching them feeling that there is nothing the average person can do to fix it. 

Carbon Nation is a strangely positive film given that climate change is a decidedly depressing topic. The makers of the film created a movie that is focused on what can be done to fix it, not in the distant future, but right now. While the political pundits are busy arguing about the validity of wind technology, Carbon Nation highlights Peak Wind, a wind farm co-op of hundreds of small Texas farms that is an inarguable success. Retired Army colonel Dan Nolan reports on the ways that the Pentagon itself is moving toward green energy to provide safe alternatives for the troops.

Although the film highlights the better known alternative energy sources such as a solar power system and wind farming, it also seeks to bring attention to lesser-known sources such as algae farming to capture and remove carbon dioxide emissions. The film brings to light the many viable and developed technologies that already exist and the ways that they are currently being used and can be used in the future. 

It's Not Ideological

Carbon Nation filmmakers recognized that one of the issues that is delaying action on climate change is that the subject has become a political football causing opposing sides of the political world to take inflexible and entrenched stands on the subject. They sought to create a film that didn't play into these preconceived attitudes, even sub-titling their film "a climate change solutions movie that doesn't even care if you believe in climate change". Unlike many climate change movies, Carbon Nation does not seek to assign blame to a political party or ideological viewpoint, instead, it shows that combating climate change can play into a diverse range of motives.

You'll meet Texas cotton farmer Cliff Etheridge who helped found a massive wind farm by joining together with fellow small farmers. Although hardly liberal in their political viewpoints, these Texas farmers could not deny the climate change that decimated their small farms and turned their small towns into ghost towns. Wind farming has revitalized their economy and brought financial security to their families.

Bernie Karl has developed low-temperature geothermal technology that is making this alternative energy more viable for use across the country. In the film, Karl openly states that he does not believe that climate change is caused by man, but goes on to say that people that don't believe it's happening need to wake up. 

Also in the mix are recognized liberal activists Van Jones and Richard Branson, but the focus of their interviews isn't on them spouting their political beliefs. Van Jones speaks about the ways that solar panel installation is providing job growth and financial independence to low-income communities and Branson talks about green alternatives to jet fuel and energy-efficient building techniques.

Carbon Nation has been criticized by the right for being too simplistic and by the left for being too politically neutral, but there is every reason to believe that the filmmakers did that intentionally. This is a film that seeks to talk about solutions rather than politics. The makers of the film made a brave decision that solving this critical problem is much more important than the ideological motivations behind the people who are doing something about it.