More information at http://www.sizzlethemovie.com/ (Sizzle poster from http://www.sizzlethemovie.com/sizzle_poster.tif)Let me clear. By "successful" I don't mean "successful in raising challenges that affect the overwhelming scientific consensus." I mean "successful in raising challenges that allow non-scientists to think that there are credible reasons to doubt the consensus." Proponents of ID and climate skeptics seem like nice, ordinary people. They talk in language that other ordinary people can understand. We talk like scientists, because we are.
After a production meeting in which Randy proposes a PowerPoint presentation for the movie because his cameraman kept interrupting and ruining the interviews,1 his mother (Muffy Moose) sneaks out of the meeting with his cameraman and soundman for a night on the town. They tell her that Randy's movie is in trouble, and she tells Randy that he needs to listen to them. Soon they're off to New Orleans and the lower 9th ward to see how the richest country in the world recovers from a disaster.
Summary of 21st century socioclimatic exposure (from Diffenbaugh et al.; view larger image in a popup window)
Sizzle premieres this Saturday at Outfest in Los Angeles. On the following Saturday it will be shown in my own back yard as the opening night film for the Woods Hole Film Festival, with a panel discussion to follow on Sunday. I won't be able to attend,4 but I hope to add UConn to the list of universities at which screenings are planned.
Get yourself to a theater where it's showing. Encourage a college, university, or museum in your area to show it. And in the meantime, enjoy the trailer...
1Of course we know that he had things planned this way all along, but still the conceit works nicely. (Notice the "non-ordinary person" writing there - "conceit" used in a phrase where it doesn't mean "stuck up", and the whole thing buried in a footnote. Sorry. I am what I am.)
2There isn't much debate about whether extreme weather events will become more common. They will. the IPCC synthesis report concluded that
4I'll be in Vancouver, BC for Botany 2008.
1Of course we know that he had things planned this way all along, but still the conceit works nicely. (Notice the "non-ordinary person" writing there - "conceit" used in a phrase where it doesn't mean "stuck up", and the whole thing buried in a footnote. Sorry. I am what I am.)
2There isn't much debate about whether extreme weather events will become more common. They will. the IPCC synthesis report concluded that
- it is very likely we'll see increases in the frequency of heat waves and heavy precipitation,
- it is likely we'll see more tropical cyclones, i.e., hurricanes, and
- there is high confidence that many arid and semi-arid areas will have fewer water resources than they do now.
4I'll be in Vancouver, BC for Botany 2008.
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