The Lighter Side of Green: Oscar Fright
Photo credit: UPI Photo/Phil McCartenEditor's note: Wendy Laird is our resident humor columnist. Remember, folks, it's all in fun…
Allow me to begin by saying that the Oscars are a bloated display of lopsided wealth and navel gazing. But I love fashion. There’s nothing that makes me feel as good as donning a well-cut hemp pinafore over a clean, crisp unbleached organic cotton tee, my long kitty-cat earrings just brushing the tops of my shoulders. Which is why I read with interest the Oscar red carpet round-up Monday in someone else’s copy of the local paper. Once that person threw the paper down and ran away, I could really delve into the sartorial splendor that is Hollywood’s biggest event.
And I was not disappointed. Well, I was disappointed in the sheer waste of silk. And the fabrics that were obviously chemically processed. But I was not disappointed in the wealth of things to shake my head at. And believe me, I shook my head long and hard (not too hard; that’s a carbon suck) when I learned that An Inconvenient Truth won an Academy Award® for best documentary.
That movie puts me off my tempeh, with its hopeful ending and upbeat can-do message. I haven’t seen it, but I know enough about it to condemn it outright. It’s a salve for people who want to believe they can alter the history of our ecosphere by driving a Prius and reusing paper bags. They can’t. Their mere existence all but guarantees the doom of carbon-negative earth lovers like myself.
Here we are, drowning our glorious eco-orb with globo-refuse, and Al Gore’s mincing around about how we might all get our feet a little wet if we don’t consider driving smaller cars and turning off the occasional light. He had a real opportunity to frighten the living crap out of everyone in the Western World, and he let it go. What a wuss. Give me an Orson Welles, who didn’t bat an eye when the American public wet its collective pants at his War of the Worlds broadcast.
Even the title leaves untapped fear and misery on the table. An Inconvenient Truth
But no, Al Gore chose to add to the atmosphere of waste at this year’s Oscars. Wasted resources, wasted fabric, wasted opportunities for worldwide guilt and abject fear. But I have to admit I liked Reese Witherspoon’s dress.
Tags: Academy Awards, al gore, an inconvenient truth, Beauty, carbon negative, Climate Change, Conservation, Culture, eco fashion, Environment, fashion, Fashion and Apparel, Film, Media, oscars, Television
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March 1st, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Your argument has no merit because you haven’t even seen the movie. I’d probably back myself up with that fact before spouting off about what a wasted opportunity the entire thing was. Most people believe the movie was a bit of a downer. In fact, much to your chagrin I’m sure, there are others in the industry working on films to counteract the dismal gloom in Gore’s movie with a little more hope.
Hard-core environmentalists like yourself are the very reason why I’m glad Gore is out there preaching. He’s reaching out and giving practical advice to the majority of the world that would never listen otherwise. Sure, you can sing the “We’re all doomed” tune and go live in a cave, or you can attempt to evoke change by giving the world access to information that might snowball into greater things. You can live with the glass half-empty scenario. Me, I’m going to go drink my overpriced-due-to-ethanol-madness Heineken and continue trying to make a difference. At least I’ll sleep better.
March 1st, 2007 at 6:29 pm
The movie is designed to convince the public that global warming/a climate crisis is occurring. No more, no less. It does not seek to address how to combat climate change, but solely to drive a spike of truth into a skeptical audience that has been inundated with corporate misinformation. Maybe you should watch it …
March 1st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
You guys know that Wendy is our Humor Writer, right?
Anyone who uses Skype text chat should know this one- (rofl)
Shea Gunther
Publisher & Director of Marketing @ Green Options
shea@greenoptions.com
March 1st, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Right on, Michael! Have another Heine and re-read this “humor” column. Get it? Wink, wink.
March 1st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
To defend my honor, let it be known that there was no disclaimer on this article before I read it. In the meantime, I’m going to lay off the Heineken….
..I love you Wendy!
March 1st, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Heineken?!?! You call yourself an environmentalist and you drink BEER? Do you have any idea what the beer and wine industries do to the planet every time you swill a cold one? I send a message to the inebrio-lobbyists in Washington by eschewing alcoholic beverages and drink only shade-grown fair-trade amazon yerba mate.
Plus, sobriety keeps me from the risk of becoming happy, which takes way more carbon than general ennui or even dismal gloom. Your comments above, which clearly show you've imbibed Al Gore's Kool-aid, are beneficial in that they help me maintain my mood ring at an eco-friendly black.
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:17 am
Your argument (even if it is in jest) amounts to: The movie sucks because it didn’t say/do enough. If everyone who did something for the environment had to do everything, then no one would do anything, and we would get nowhere. If you actually see the movie, you might find that Al Gore does a fair job of describing the Global Warming Crisis as a serious issue that everyone should be alarmed about. With this movie, Gore has probably done more to get this environmental issue onto the nation’s radar than just about anything else. And the fact that Oscar’s would recognize that is a positive sign.
Of course it can’t stop here, with just a greater awareness. But before you can get people to change, you have to make them see what the problem is and why they have to do something about it. I believe that’s what an Inconvenient Truth set out to do, and I believe it did it successfully.
March 2nd, 2007 at 1:23 am
Unique sence of humour.. is this irony? or satire? sarcasm? i don’t get the angle.
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:07 am
It's "irosatcasm", a hybrid of all three.
Shea Gunther
Publisher & Director of Marketing @ Green Options
shea@greenoptions.com
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I guess the bit about China should have given it away …