Tag: Age of Stupid

No pressure – 10:10 on the button

Warning: this new 10:10 promo is not for the faint of heart — but it does include Gillian Anderson, assorted Spurs footballers past and present (David Ginola is a stand out), and music by Radiohead. Script’s by Richard Curtis (Blackadder, Four Weddings, co-founder of Comic Relief and Make Poverty History) and Age of Stupid film director Franny Armstrong also had a hand (or perhaps a bucket) in it. More at the Guardian, and don’t forget 10:10NZ.

[Update: Anthony Watts calls the promo “unbelievably vile“, so it’s obviously effective… 😉 ]

[Update 2, 2/10/10: The 10:10 campaign have pulled the video and apologised for any offence it may have caused. Apart from the massive sense of humour failure evident in the comments arriving here from µWatts, it appears that Franny and the team hadn’t realised just how mainstream the “eco-fascist” meme has become for the political right — especially (but not exclusively) in the USA. On the other hand, where were the howls of protest from Watts and Morano when one of their favourite ranters, James Delingpole in the Telegraph called for a Nuremburg trial for “warmists”? Watts was happy to make sure his readers knew all about that nasty little item… A fine example of the asymmetry of the PR war being fought by the campaign against action on climate change.]

[Update 3, 5/10/10: A Modest Carbon Proposal by Jonathan Swifthack]

[Update 4, 6/10/10: Joe Romm at Climate Progress: More thoughts on the offensive ‘No Pressure’ video — and the denialsphere’s hypocritical reaction]

10:10NZ campaign launches

New Zealand now has its very own Ten-Ten campaign, part of a global effort to promote personal commitments to emissions reductions. Based on the hugely successful 10:10 campaign launched in the UK last year by New Zealander Lizzie Gillett (producer of The Age Of Stupid), the NZ campaign aims to get as many people as possible to commit to making a 10% reduction in their carbon emissions over one year, starting this year. Here’s Gillett on the scheme’s impact in the UK (from the press release):

In the UK, the 10:10 campaign aims to cut carbon emissions by 10% during 2010. It has amassed huge cross-societal support including Adidas, Microsoft, Tottenham Hotspur Football club, 55,000 individuals, 1,500 schools, and a third of local councils (representing 25 million people), all the cabinet and the Prime Minister.

I suspect the chances of getting John Key to sign up are slim, but if enough people demonstrate a willingness to make cuts it should show our politicians that this is not an issue that can be ignored or where action can be delayed. Cutting your personal emissions by 10% in a year is an easily achievable target for most people, as 10:10NZ spokesman Rhys Taylor explains:

It’s an easy figure to handle – for example 10% represents one of 10 weekday commuter journeys, either to or from work, switched from driving a car to walking or cycling. Walk or cycle both there and back one day in five to knock an easy 20% off fuel demand for that week’s commuting. If a bus traveller or car-sharer, your journey still requires fuel consumption, but significantly less per person than driving alone. Car sharing or using a bus to go both in and back on one day in five would achieve the passenger’s 10% drop in commuting fuel. That’s not hard to do, is it?

There’s more information on how to make cuts at the 10:10NZ site, including links to the interesting Project Litefoot. The campaign is currently focused on personal and household commitments, but there is also plenty of scope for businesses to join. And there’s the obligatory Facebook page.

Hot Topic is happy to endorse and support 10:10NZ: more news as the campaign develops.

10:10 trumps 50:50

Imagine this: the prime minister and his entire cabinet, the opposition front bench and the largest other party in Parliament all sign up to make personal emissions cuts of 10% in 2010. Not 10% in 10 years, — 10% next year. Not in NZ, sadly, but that’s what has just happened in Britain. The 10:10 campaign, created by Age Of Stupid producer Franny Armstrong and her team, was launched last Tuesday. Armstrong is impressed by the rapid response:

“It’s amazing that within 48 hours of the campaign’s launch, the leaderships of the three main political parties have committed to cut their 10%. Who said people power was dead? These politicians clearly recognise that each person in Britain must start cutting their emissions as part of a national war-effort-scale response to the climate crisis.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s government flounders around trying to find support to water down the emissions trading scheme. Rod Oram in today’s Sunday Star Times considers National’s options:

..almost anything is possible because National has dissembled, prevaricated and otherwise failed to reveal its true beliefs on climate change in opposition and so far in government.

Time for a 10:10 campaign in New Zealand. Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party should jump to join in. Rodney and ACT are obviously a lost cause, but if enough people signed up — the momentum in Britain has been impressive, and the Greenpeace Sign On campaign here has done well — the pressure on Key and Smith might force them to do the right thing. But I won’t be holding my breath.

Prescott presses climate case

Prescott Tony Blair is not the only former UK Labour Party leader to seek to influence the direction of the climate change talks.  John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister, is deeply involved in trying to secure a successor to Kyoto.  A Guardian article reports on his efforts and his views, both of which I found heartening.

Continue reading “Prescott presses climate case”

The Age Of Stupid – coming soon (or here now)

The NZ green carpet premiere of The Age Of Stupid — Franny Armstrong’s powerful drama documentary about global warming — is being held in Auckland on August 19th, in a solar-powered cinema tent. The blurb:

‘The Age Of Stupid’ is the new documentary from the Director of ‘McLibel’ and the Producer of the Oscar-winning ‘One Day In September’. This enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching “archive” footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change while we had the chance?

Bloody good question. Here’s a good recommendation: “The most powerful piece of cultural discourse on climate change ever produced.” — Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet

Limited ticket sales at $30 from Oxfam and Greenpeace. Phone 0800 400 666. Public screenings begin at Hoyts Sylvia Park that same evening — tickets available direct from the cinema. An additional first night screening is being hosted by Grey Lynn 2030, the local transition town group, at Bridgeway Rialto, 122 Queen St, Northcote. 8.15pm Weds 19th Advance ticket sales only, $20 from Jayson at The Wine Vault, 453 Richmond Rd, Grey Lynn.

There will be showings at cinemas in other parts of New Zealand, see here for more details. If anyone else wants to arrange screenings, contact me to be put in touch with the organisers.