Carbon Nation (2010)

An optimistic (and witty) discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing and what the world needs to do to prevent (or at least slow down) the impending climate crisis.

Director:

Peter Byck

Writers:

Peter Byck, Eric Driscoll

Stars:

Rohit T. Aggarwala, Jerry M. Allums, Lela Allums

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Rohit T. Aggarwala	...	Himself - NYC Mayor's Office
Jerry M. Allums	...	Himself - Home Owner, Richmond CA
Lela Allums	...	Herself - Home and Solar Roof Owner, Richmond CA
Peter Barnes	...	Himself - Economist and Senior Fellow, Tomales Institute
Richard Branson	...	Himself - CEO, Virgin Group
George Bravo	...	Himself - Driver, KKW Trucking
Lester Brown	...	Himself - President, Earth Policy Institute
Sean Casten	...	Himself - President & CEO, Recycled Energy Development LLC
Ralph Cavanagh	...	Himself - Lead Attorney, NRDC
Jim Chevallier	...	Himself - Garrison Commander - Garrison Fort Irwin Army Base (as Col. Jim Chevallier)
Roger Duncan	...	Himself - Deputy General Manager, Austin Energy
Michael Dunham	...	Himself - Director of Energy and Environmental Programs, Jaco Environmental Inc.
Cliff Etheredge	...	Himself - Partner, Peal Wind LLC
David Etheredge	...	Himself - Partner, Peak Wind LLC
Bob Fox	...	Himself - Partner, Cook+Fox Architects

Storyline

An optimistic (and witty) discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing and what the world needs to do to prevent (or at least slow down) the impending climate crisis.

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Plot Keywords:

environmental issues | global warming | climate change | nature | educational | 

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Taglines:

A climate change solutions movie [that doesn't even care if you believe in climate change]

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Genres:

Documentary | Family

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Earth School Educational Foundation, Lemelson Foundation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.9 (2011)

User Reviews

Intelligent entertaining treatment with a fatal flaw

I just saw a showing of this documentary at a local college followed by an extensive Q&A with the producer, Peter Byck. The film managed to be informative, conveying both dire consequences of increasing atmospheric CO2 along with what is being done to combat this. The brilliance of the film is it remains upbeat by focusing on individuals who are using techniques both within the ecosystem and the world economy that are effective.

He starts with a cartoon of Mr. CO2, with two little oxygen ears, that is disarming without being insulting. There are the stock images of glens that had been glaciers not that long ago, with explanations of what is lost beyond scenic views. There is enough earth science, botany and microbiology to be challenging without the need to pull out a notebook.

Byck, who made this film over the course of four years with only his wife as a co-creator, weaved the many individual interviews together perfectly, including a man who had organized small Texas farmers into a large cooperative wind farm, they had a steady income for the first time, as we all benefited, when the farmer stated that he did it single handedly, we were all in on the joke since his loss of one arm had been evident from the beginning of his interview.

The flaw, I hope not fatal, was the minimization of the political opposition to what he is suggesting, which will take an expansion of "big government" to implement. His choice of the major human interest subject, Van Jones, a person who was forced out of his Obama White House position, based on his documented left wing radical statements, was a bit of unfortunate self indulgence.

It will be difficult enough to convert those industrialists who are profiting from the status quo, without further supporting the right wing canard that green is not the new Red, White and Blue, but just the new Red.