During the last few years, themes like green energy, sustainability or fair trade have shown their prominence. For example, becoming carbon-free is impossible without re-thinking our consumption patterns. Before talking about renewable or nuclear energy we MUST understand that our ('Western') lifestyle is not compatible with our finite world! This necessity of re-thinking our society is also linked to the necessity of filling the gap between the North and the South of the world. This example shows how all these themes are linked: for realizing one we also have to take into account the others! Being indifferent is now nonsense.
We are certainly the green generation. We are, in theory, concerned about the environment and in harmony with the major green principles. However, we are bothered by what it takes for them to be applied. Though familiar with all kind of '-ables' (equitable, durable, reasonable, responsible, bearable, renewable), we remain guilty of inaction. Leaving a clean planet for the generations to come is our lofty goal, but telling is easier than doing.
HOME is a documentary released in June 5, 2009, directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and gracefully narrated by Glenn Close. Arthus-Betrand, French photographer best known for his aerial photographs of the Earth, is a master identifying colours, angles and patterns that show the Earth at its most beautiful.
© Yann Arthus-Bertrand
He delivers us his 'earth from above footage', a feast for the eyes with a strong ecological message. Indeed, he takes the viewer back to the beginning of time and explains how and when life on Earth came about. He also puts us directly onto the facts: 'It is too late to be pessimistic'.
The documentary follows Al Gore's famous environmental movie, An Inconvenient Truth. With the last climate change summit, the COP 15, and its failed slogan 'System change, not climate change', the documentary is completely up to date!
HOME is a beautiful, indispensable and responsible film which won't let you down. When it's over, you leave with its fantastic images floating around in your head, reminding you how beautiful this planet actually is. What can you do to save it? At least, that is the idea.
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The cinematography of this documentary is amazing, even the images of pollution of the environment that humans have caused look remarkably appealing to the eye. But this documentary is much more than a stream of beautiful images from across the world.
© Yann Arthus-Bertrand
The message that the documentary contains is a strong one: unlike our nations, our ecosystem doesn't have any borders. As humans organized in nation states, we spend 12 times as much on weapons to defend ourselves from each other than we spend on aid for the poorest. The effects of the exploitation of our shared ecosystem will affect us all and will hit those who already face the toughest circumstances the hardest. The problems that our world faces cannot be solved by any country alone. Too long have we focused on what separates us as citizens of specific countries, without realizing that we are all bound together as human beings. Without a rapidly growing global awareness of the situation we are facing, we will leave a much harsher environment for our children, in which natural resources on which we all depend will become increasingly scarce.
I am a student in my twenties. The state the world is in today is how my generation will inherit it, before we will have had the chance to have any effect on this trend. Can this really be the inheritance of a generation that dedicated itself to peace, love and happiness? Maybe it's not too late just yet. You might still be a sceptic about the message the documentary tries to convey after reading my comments, but I promise you this: it will be much harder to be sceptic about that message after having watched Home.
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