Journalist and filmmaker Eleanor Goldfield joins me to discuss her documentary To the Trees, which documents humankind’s relationship to the sacred Redwoods and the tactics tree defenders use to protect old-growth forests from the clear-cutting practices of the lumber industry. In our discussion, Eleanor disputes the claims made by the industry of practicing sustainable harvesting practices in the Pacific Northwest, and how it is part and parcel of a larger global effort by extractive industries to greenwash ecologically destructive practices in the name of sustainability and the "green energy" transition.
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#359 | Earth’s Greatest Enemy: The US Military-Industrial Complex Is A Climate Behemoth w/ Abby Martin
Independent journalist and documentarian Abby Martin joins me to discuss Earth's Greatest Enemy, a feature length documentary that examines one of the largest polluters and contributors to global climate change in the world: the United States military. I ask Abby what the seeds of this massive project were, and why the military-industrial complex is the "elephant in the room" in the political discourse on human-caused climate change. Also, we connect this subject to the horrific mass violence in Gaza being enacted by the State of Israel—with full US complicity—to the ecocide implicit in the maintenance of US hegemonic interests globally.
Read More#280 | Invisible Hand: The Rights Of Nature Movement w/ Melissa Troutman & Joshua Pribanic
Intro: 12:32
Melissa Troutman and Joshua Pribanic, co-directors of the documentary ‘Invisible Hand,’ join me to discuss the Rights of Nature movement beautifully documented in their film. I ask them to define the philosophy and legal framework communities across the US (and the world) are implementing to battle against corporate-led environmental destruction in their localities.
Rights of Nature are the beginning of a new legal paradigm in western culture. The idea argues that nature holds inalienable rights, and that vital parts of Nature — a river or watershed or ecosystem — shall be granted personhood in the court of law and be provided with legal standing to defend itself. (http://bit.ly/37BPMA3)
Granting legal rights to natural entities and systems — in which we are inextricably connected to — is one of several tactics that can be employed to forge a path toward protecting the natural world from environmentally destructive corporate practices in communities across the world.
Melissa A. Troutman is an American investigative journalist, photographer, artist and filmmaker who co-founded Public Herald (est. 2011), a nonprofit for investigative journalism where she currently serves as Executive Director. Troutman has gained international attention for her coverage of fracking in Pennsylvania. She’s writer, editor, director, producer of TRIPLE DIVIDE and TRIPLE DIVIDE [REDACTED], which uncovered corruption in the handling of water contamination in rural Pennsylvania.
Joshua B. Pribanic is an American investigative journalist, photographer, artist and award-winning filmmaker who co-founded Public Herald (est. 2011), a nonprofit for investigative journalism, and co-directed the recently acclaimed documentary TRIPLE DIVIDE and TRIPLE DIVIDE [REDACTED]. He currently operates as the Editor-in-Chief for Public Herald. For his production and directing of the documentary feature TRIPLE DIVIDE (released March 2013), Pribanic gained international attention for his reporting on fracking shale gas in the United States.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about how you can watch ‘Invisible Hand’: https://www.invisiblehandfilm.com
- Support their work through Public Herald: https://www.patreon.com/publicherald
- The song featured is “Theme from Invisible Hand” by Heavy Color from the Invisible Hand soundtrack: https://curiousmusicia.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-the-film-invisible-hand
Video Segment:
#246 | Planet Of The Humans: Addressing The False Promises Of Green Energy w/ Jeff Gibbs
Intro: 11:53 | Book Pre-sale
In this episode, I speak with Jeff Gibbs, Director of the popular and controversial documentary film ‘Planet of the Humans.’ The film was Executive Produced by Michael Moore and released to the public on YouTube, generating over six million views since its release on Earth Day last month.
Since its release, ’Planet of the Humans’ has generated enormous controversy, backlash, and intense discussion within the environmental and climate movement at large. Some of the harshest criticisms this film has received have come from stanch proponents of "renewable" and "green" energy technologies (like wind, solar, and biomass — the subjects of the film). The harshest of these criticisms have come from activist and ‘Gasland’ filmmaker Josh Fox, who has stated that the film "is wildly unscientific, outdated, full of falsehoods, and benefits fossil fuel industry promoters and climate deniers" and has asked Moore and Gibbs to disavow the project. (https://bit.ly/3b6ElPa / https://bit.ly/3dnft7c) Pen America, preeminent watchdog in the U.S. defending free expression and human rights, in turn has responded to the calls to take down the film by stating “calls to pull a film because of disagreement with its content are calls for censorship, plain and simple.” (https://bit.ly/2YDZKgg)
In researching the dozens of reactions this documentary has generated, I recognized that the underlying point of the film was lost in all the controversy. In this discussion, I ask Jeff to provide some deeper insights into what his intentions with the film really were, as well as address some of the criticisms the film has received, in particular from Josh Fox.
Jeff Gibbs is the director, writer, and producer of the feature documentary film ‘Planet of the Humans.’ Born in Flint, Michigan, Jeff has served as a long time collaborator with Michael Moore. The first film he ever worked on was ‘Bowling for Columbine’ producing many iconic scenes including “the bank that gives you a gun,” “dog shoots hunter,” and the “Michigan Militia.” Following the success of ‘Bowling for Columbine’ Jeff became co-producer for ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ the largest box-office documentary of all time. Jeff also wrote the original score for both films. Since ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ though taking an occasional break to produce other films including the Dixie Chicks documentary ‘Shut Up and Sing,’ Jeff has been singularly obsessed with the fate of the earth and humanity.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about ‘Planet of the Humans’ and watch the film: https://planetofthehumans.com
- Read Josh Fox’s take on the film: https://bit.ly/3b6ElPa
- Read the response from Pen America regarding the calls to take the film down: https://bit.ly/2YDZKgg
- Some more resources that Jeff shared with me back up the film: https://bbc.in/2L2MGJl / https://go.aws/2WwN0VL / https://go.nature.com/2W7tH6L / https://bit.ly/2W6Rxzl / https://bit.ly/2xDxK0Z / https://bit.ly/2A3eJGd
- The song featured in this episode is “Active” by Dark Party from the Ghostly Swim album.