The Big Problem With Climate Storytelling--And How To Fix It

“Let’s kick this monster’s ass!” roared Harrison Ford at the Global Climate Action Summit yesterday.

Harrison Ford against climate change.

Now, as a girl, Indiana Jones and Han Solo got me hooked on storytelling, character and yes, fighting monsters. So, the idea of climate change as a monster story hooked my imagination.

But there’s a problem.

Because if you review most climate messages in the media, then this story actually has two acts: man makes monster, then monster destroys man.

It’s a grand morality tale which neatly fits a primordial structure in our subconscious. This plot sings to something deep within us, a tale we’ve told since we sat around fires weaving myths in the dark. From the Minotaur and the crazed Golems of ancient legend to the morality plays of medieval England and the modern incarnations of rampaging Godzilla born from a nuclear test, or the AI dystopias of the Terminator or the Matrix. We learned this narrative arc in childhood, even if we only discovered the science of carbon dioxide as an adult.

Read the story by Solitaire Townsend from Forbes Magazine - “The Big Problem With Climate Storytelling--And How To Fix It.”

Climate change "brings" Harrison Ford to Shepparton

Harrison Ford will be at Shepparton’s Terminus Hotel on Saturday, May 10, from 3:00pm to give us a better understanding of present dilemmas unfolding around the world.

Not in person, sadly, but he will certainly be there on the screen talking about the difficulties and complexities arising from climate change.

Ford, along with several other U.S. personalities, including fellow movie stars, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is also the former governor of California, and New York Times reporter, Thomas Friedman, will be the correspondents for this first part in a  10-part series about to be released in America.

Saturday’s premiere screening comes to Shepparton courtesy of 350.org and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and has been organized locally by Beneath the Wisteria convenor, Robert McLean.

The event itself will be free, but people who choose to have coffee, or something else to drink, or stay for a meal in the evening will be responsible for those costs.

Mr Ford and the executive producer of the 10-part series, Mr James Cameron, are both concerned that most people don’t understand or appreciate the dire consequences of climate change.

The series, entitled “Years of Living Dangerously”, is an attempt to further expand the conversation about climate change and though a movie-like experience help people understand, the urgency of an immediate response.

Those with any questions about Saturday’s premiere screening of “Years of Living Dangerously” can contact Mr McLean on 0400 502 199.