Time to Choose

Director: Charles Ferguson

Charles Ferguson, director of the hard-hitting Inside Job, which examined the causes of the financial crisis, is back with a sobering, penetrating documentary Time to Choose, which tackles the climate change crisis. Though we've seen many films on this subject before, Ferguson's film mingles startling photography with exposes about the global warming's major culprits and how they circumvent government regulation and public outrage to make billions of dollars destroying the environment and exploiting the poor. But unlike many films on the climate problem, Ferguson's offers optimism. He also shows how the crisis is being challenged through private sector innovation and political activism.
This is a film that will naturally stir outrage (unless you're a climate-change denier), though it hopes to galvanize the audience into action. If you're fully aware of how humans are altering the atmosphere with CO2 but you regard the issue passively, this film will jolt you out of your complacency. Ferguson's film is a powerful antidote to ignorance and apathy.

The film lists the biggest contributors to global warming; fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrialized farming, which Ferguson addresses in order. Ferguson employs data, facts and talking heads to shed light on a relentlessly grim story though optimism leavens its gloom.

In the film's first reel, we see and hear facts about global warming's impact on the environment, expressed by narrator Oscar Isaac. The frequency of violent storms, drought and the melting ice caps are but a few of natural catastrophes mentioned early on. A scientist discusses the dangerous rise of sea levels, which, if unimpeded, could reach 23 feet. Such a seemingly insignificant height would be enough to flood most coastal cities of the world, leaving millions homeless and property deluged.

Corroborated by stirring facts and data, a harsh light is cast on the culprits behind global warming. In the first part of the film, we learn about how our coal dependence--a major factor in climate change--has polluted--almost irrevocably--many areas of the world. We learn about Boone Country, West Virginia, where coal companies have effectively turned a large swath of land into what one talking head describes as a lifeless, lunar landscape. We see the devastating effects of what is known as mountain-top removal mining and how coal extraction has led to the exposure of toxic elements which otherwise reside harmlessly inside the earth. Evidence of such is the mud created by the "cleaning" of the coal; a process that rids the stone of arsenic, lead, antimony, aluminum and several other elements, which collect in large pools of viscous, toxic sludge. The toxins then seep into the ground, contaminating the water system. Several residents talk about loved ones who have developed cancer and other deadly maladies from drinking the water.

What is particularly infuriating is hearing how the U.S. Geological Survey conducted tests on the pollutants released into the environment from West Virginian mining, only to curtail their investigation when they didn't like what they found. Nice to know the U.S. Government doesn't brush their findings under the rug (don't let my heavy sarcasm escape you!).

China's coal industry is also addressed, which is far worse than its American counterpart in terms of environmental devastation. We hear about how China's dependence on coal has made it one of the world's biggest global warming culprits. Stunning shots of the Shanghai skyline at night are contrasted with a shot of a fleet of coal barges floating past the same skyline during the day. The fact that coal is the major source of electricity in China, the spectacular glow of the Shanghai skyline becomes something more ominous than beautiful. The horrific impact of Chinese coal mining on the environment and the atmosphere recalls Boone County but on a more Biblical scale.

Throughout the film, the correlation between fossil fuel mining and human exploitation becomes a recurring theme. We learn a little about the how mining in China and places like Boone County makes people captive laborers. With no other industry than coal to provide jobs, the populace becomes beholden to the very industry imperiling their lives and environment.

The film moves ahead to address the depredations of the oil industry. Footage of many oil spills of the last thirty years share narrative space with the history of Nigeria's oil industry, which serves as one example of fossil-fuel's criminal impact on nature and humanity. A former Nigerian activist (who has since died) discusses the savage impact of oil drilling in his country, which made one-time, life-sustaining fishing and foraging impossible. What is particularly astonishing (but not surprising) is that of the 600 billion dollars generated by oil revenue since 1960 in Nigeria, 90% of it has gone to the wealthiest 1%. Sound familiar?

Just when you might despair, Ferguson balances the bleak with something optimistic. A counter to oil and coal are the rapidly booming solar and wind power industries. Data about the incredible cost-saving alternatives and their growing ubiquity are a ray of hope. Several individuals talk about the free, clean solar power that will bring electricity to the third world poor, which will provide better access to information and education. The benefits of wind power--a environmental documentary staple--are discussed in length as many testify to their low, operational cost. Electric cars are touted as a viable alternatives to gas-guzzling, air-fouling motor cars. The Tesla corporation figures prominently in this segment, as we watch and marvel at an electric car out-running a Maserati. It is satisfying to learn of the electric car industry's robust growth.

Subsequent chapters on deforestation, where vast tracts of land are cleared in the Amazon for soy and Indonesia for palm oil, respectively, highlight its terrible carbon impact. Many viewers may not realize how much land is cleared to feed livestock. An interesting fact about how livestock once shared space with farmland; providing soil-enriching dung for crops has been replaced with industrial farming, where cows are fed with the produce grown on other farms, such as the Brazilian soy variety. Such Amazonian farms have cleared vast tracts of rainforest; eliminating habitats and vegetation. The corrupt palm oil industry in Indonesia gives us an idea how illegal deforestation is accomplished with a government's passive complicity. Again, the lucrative palm oil business, which has created several Indonesian billionaires, exploits those who work the groves where 4 dollars a day is standard pay for back-breaking work. An agency created to stop deforestation was met with heavy government and military resistance, rendering it highly ineffective. As Ferguson's film is quick to point out, palm oil is a key ingredient in many products we find on our grocery store shelves. And as the film makes clear, changes in our diet and our grocery lists can have an impact on the environment and indirectly, global warming.

As we might expect, no one from any of the fossil fuel industries or those responsible for deforestation cared to be interviewed for the film. Conversely, those seeking solutions to the problems; from various CEOs' in the solar and wind industries to politicians like former Governor Jerry Brown of California and animal activist Jane Goodall weigh in heavily on the issues.

A tough critic might criticize the film for its one-sidedness but what other side is there to global warming, except denial? As one Republican politician in the film states; "Global warming is a hoax," which is followed by a list of fossil fuel energy corporations donating to his office. Again, not a surprise.

As the title suggests, humans have the ability to choose what kind of world we wish to inhabit. As it eloquently points out, we have the power to reverse or retard global warming's deadly progress. The have-nots outnumber the infinitesimally small number of energy barons who reap billions from the industries that help wreck the atmosphere. What will we do? Ferguson's film, like most eco-documentaries, suggests action. Awareness just doesn't seem to be enough anymore.