A FIERCE GREEN FIRE

Short Synopsis

A Fierce Green Fire is the first big-picture synthesis of environmentalism - grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years worldwide. It tells the story of the environmental movement from conservation to climate change. We focus on activism -- people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future. Our concerns are connecting causes, how the issues grew, exploring ideas and the evolution of a vision. The common theme is a struggle to save nature against the destructive impact of humanity – from halting dams in the Grand Canyon to battling 20,000 tons of toxic waste at Love Canal; from Greenpeace saving the whales to Chico Mendes and the rubbertappers saving the Amazon; from climate change to the promise of transforming our civilization. Our thesis is that this is the time when mankind must learn to live with nature, move beyond the exploitation at the heart of industrial society and find a way based on biology, balancing human needs with the natural world that sustains us, creating a living planet. As Stewart Brand says in the film, “We’re not passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are Spaceship Earth. We are Gaia.”  

Description/Treatment

It's the largest movement the world has ever seen - andmaybe the most important, in terms of what's at stake. Yet it's not easy being green. Environmentalists have been reviled as much as revered. Every battle begins as a lost cause and even the victories have to be fought again and again. Still, environmentalism is one of the great causes of the 20thcentury and one of the keys to the 21st. 

 A Fierce Green Firetakes a unique approach to environmentalism. Two things stand out. First is thefocus on activism; it's about movements more than issues. The best way toreveal the issues is to see how people acted on them. It's a more engaging approach, emphasizing drama and passion. Second is our emphasis on what we call a grand synthesis - bringing together all the parts and eras of the environmental movement to explore interconnections, resonance and relevance, larger visions and deeper meanings. Never has a film told the full story of environmentalism. This will be a defining film that reaches and teaches a huge and hungry audience.

 A Fierce Green Fire unfolds in five acts, each with a key story and a compelling character:

• David Brower and the Sierra Club’s battle to halt dams inthe Grand Canyon

• Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal residents’ struggle against 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals

• Paul Watson and Greenpeace’s campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals

• Chico Mendes and the rubbertappers’ fight to save the Amazon rainforest

• Bill McKibben and the collective effort to address issues of climate change

Each act also sketches the broader picture of an era:

• the ‘60s conservation movement that focused on saving wildness

• a new environmental movement that arose in the ‘70s around pollution

• alternative and radical strands, the ecology wing of the movement, through the ‘80s

• the rise of global issues, loss of resources and biodiversity, from the ‘80s into the ‘90s

• climate change and sustainability as the unifying issues through the last two decades

 The film combines interviews with glorious archival material, animation, narration and music. Interviewees include central characters like Lois Gibbs, Paul Watson and BillMcKibben; key figures like Amory Lovins, Stephen Schneider, Tom Lovejoy andCarl Pope; Barbara Bramble, whose work on World Bank loans led her to Chico Mendes; Jennifer Morgan, who led WWF’s international campaign to halt climate change; Bob Bullard, author and leader of the environmental justice movement; Paul Hawken and Stewart Brand, Vijaya Nagarajan and Mark Hertsgaard... thirty people in all.