Abortion is Murder and Other Facts From the Midwest.
The next storm on the 22nd didn’t miss us.
The previously sunny afternoon turned chill when a grey wall swung in from the west. It only lasted about twenty minutes, but they were a ferocious twenty. Eighty-ninety mile an hour winds destroyed the hay wagon and parts of two roofs on barns. The Quonset has destroyed all her moorings and has taken to walking around when the wind picks up. The power was out for 30+ hours.
Sitting on the front porch watching it, my mom asks, “What is going on?” The answer is us. After having a brief but frustrating conversation with a fellow farmer a couple of weeks ago on the topic, I had a half-formed idea to write a farmers review of An Inconvenient Truth. Put it in the local paper. Make the world a little less stupid. The next night I set out to see Al’s movie.
The movie only came out two weekends ago in Ohio. So it was rather disappointing to see only 15-20 people attending on a Friday night at 9pm. And a good half of those were the wierdos who last went to a cinemaplex to see Fahrenheit 9/11. It’s not a bad film, considering. But I could not in good conscience tell my rural neighbors that they will enjoy it. They won’t.
For those who really haven’t been paying attention, the movie is based on Al Gore’s slide show about global warming that he’s been giving for years upon years. It’s focus group polished which means it’s clean and shiny and dumb. Al gets hyper about things that, while the effects will impact us, we can’t see. Glacial ice melt will raise the water level. Whoopity fuck. I live in Ohio. We farmers need predictable rainfalls. Thaws and freezes at certain moments. Snow in winter as much as we need showers in April. It’s a complete ecosystem out here. For the most part, we get that. But it’s not what he talked about. Typhoons off the coast of Japan. Drought in china. Global CO2 charts.
My friend Chad had suggested that Inconvenient was preaching to the choir. I had kinda brushed that off, because, shit, this really affects us all. The naysayers need to be told to stop it with the sayings of nay. If there was ever an issue that should even need a larger choir, I can’t think of one. But, alas, he was right. Al went and made a movie that really tugs on the heartstrings of the people who were already the ones to care. All the Amnesty folks, greenpeacers, and adopters of AIDs orphans.
In the same way I can’t prove to my neighbors that gay people are ok by dragging them to a pride parade, I cannot ask them to see this movie to save their futures.
But you should.
The previously sunny afternoon turned chill when a grey wall swung in from the west. It only lasted about twenty minutes, but they were a ferocious twenty. Eighty-ninety mile an hour winds destroyed the hay wagon and parts of two roofs on barns. The Quonset has destroyed all her moorings and has taken to walking around when the wind picks up. The power was out for 30+ hours.
Sitting on the front porch watching it, my mom asks, “What is going on?” The answer is us. After having a brief but frustrating conversation with a fellow farmer a couple of weeks ago on the topic, I had a half-formed idea to write a farmers review of An Inconvenient Truth. Put it in the local paper. Make the world a little less stupid. The next night I set out to see Al’s movie.
The movie only came out two weekends ago in Ohio. So it was rather disappointing to see only 15-20 people attending on a Friday night at 9pm. And a good half of those were the wierdos who last went to a cinemaplex to see Fahrenheit 9/11. It’s not a bad film, considering. But I could not in good conscience tell my rural neighbors that they will enjoy it. They won’t.
For those who really haven’t been paying attention, the movie is based on Al Gore’s slide show about global warming that he’s been giving for years upon years. It’s focus group polished which means it’s clean and shiny and dumb. Al gets hyper about things that, while the effects will impact us, we can’t see. Glacial ice melt will raise the water level. Whoopity fuck. I live in Ohio. We farmers need predictable rainfalls. Thaws and freezes at certain moments. Snow in winter as much as we need showers in April. It’s a complete ecosystem out here. For the most part, we get that. But it’s not what he talked about. Typhoons off the coast of Japan. Drought in china. Global CO2 charts.
My friend Chad had suggested that Inconvenient was preaching to the choir. I had kinda brushed that off, because, shit, this really affects us all. The naysayers need to be told to stop it with the sayings of nay. If there was ever an issue that should even need a larger choir, I can’t think of one. But, alas, he was right. Al went and made a movie that really tugs on the heartstrings of the people who were already the ones to care. All the Amnesty folks, greenpeacers, and adopters of AIDs orphans.
In the same way I can’t prove to my neighbors that gay people are ok by dragging them to a pride parade, I cannot ask them to see this movie to save their futures.
But you should.
posted by Lord of the Barnyard at 1:38 PM
6 Comments:
Hey, my prize for winning the first WTF? contest arrived today and it was pretty nifty. So to say thanks, I just turned off a light in my apartment. It's kind of like a thank-you to Farmer Drew and Al Gore. And maybe later I'll consider replacing my oil-burning SUV-shaped night light some kerosene and a wick.
Thanks, Lord of the Barnyard.
I thought it was a good movie. Al Gore acted like a human. Too bad he didn't show that side of him when he was running back in 2000. I really liked him, and have enormous respect for what he's done.
It's a powerful movie, and I think everyone should see it. As far as preaching to the choir...am I in the choir? I certainly didn't know this much about global warming. And I really don't know what the film makers could have done to make things any different. The filmmakers can't help it if that's who shows up. But you can...get your farmer buddies down there. It's a pretty relevant issue to their livelihoods.
okay. your trusty barn repairperson will be out. hopefully soon-but prolly not. :(
i haven't seen al's movie yet but i'd love it if you could explain why the U.S. isn't a part of the kyoto protocol yet we produce more than 25% of the world's Co2 emissions. preaching to the choir he is. and i'm tired of it. grown QUITE weary, actually.
I was in Downtown Lima at work last Thursday when that storm came through. It was pretty scarey with the tornado sirens going off, police, fire and ambulance sirens too..it sounded like the end of the world. We had quite a bit of damage around town, tons of trees and power lines down and it closed down I75 because of semi's that got blown over in the fericious winds. Luckily at my house (about 20 miles away) we had no damage except I had no internet or phone for 4 days because lightning fried my splitter :)
What's this global-warming shoe-gazing bullshit? The storm is God punishing you for your beliefs, pure and simple. Get used to it.
that last comment sorta 'stole my thunder' in sarcasticaly saying that severe storms never occurred in Ohio 100 years ago...
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