'Carbon Nation' focuses on climate change

MILLBROOK — “Carbon Nation†bills itself as a climate change solutions movie that doesn’t even care if you believe in climate change. It goes beyond the catastrophe of climate change to the economic and environmental opportunities that reducing carbon emissions could provide the country.

The prerelease version of “Carbon Nation†was shown Friday night, Nov. 19, at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies.

While climate change deniers are questioning man’s role in global warming, scientists around the world are developing technologies to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings, transportation, manufacturing and agriculture. The fact that there is no cost to pollute and no price on carbon emissions slows down this race to change in time.

At the beginning of “Carbon Nation,†a one-armed cotton farmer explains the huge economic impact of the installation of hundreds of wind turbines in Roscoe, Texas. Hundreds of landowners who used to cuss the wind blowing across their fields now receive $15,000 a year from each turbine on their property. The largest wind farm in the world has created local jobs, and children are returning to a community where even the Dairy Queen had closed down.

The movie is filled with facts and figures. For example, energy consumption in the United States is 16 terrawatts per year. A terrawatt is a trillion watts, and an estimated 2 terrawatts of that total could be generated by renewable wind power. The installation and maintenance of these turbines create jobs in the United States, decrease reliance on imported oil and dirty coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The U.S. Department of Defense understands that climate change is a global security issue and that reliance on imported oil embroils the United States in foreign conflicts. The army is utilizing green solutions to reduce fuel consumption — foam insulation of tents and solar panels, for example — reasoning that if oil is the problem, more oil is not the answer.

In between examples of real solutions to reducing carbon emissions, the movie splices in reminders about the impact of climate change, from disappearing polar ice caps and dead ocean zones off the coast of Oregon to 24 million acres of forest destroyed by the pine beetle in the west.

Worldwide transportation produces 14 percent of CO2 emissions, and in the future fuel made from algae may become a highly efficient source of energy. Electrification of transportation with plug-in cars will become an alternative when scientists develop longer lasting, more powerful batteries. Experts estimate that when these batteries are introduced, a car will operate at 10 percent of the cost of gasoline. All of the solutions are entrepreneurial business opportunities.

Buildings generate 40 percent of all U.S. greenhouse emissions, in part because 50 percent of electricity is generated by coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels. If all New Yorkers switched to energy-efficient light bulbs, the energy savings would power the New York City subway, according to the movie.

Rooftop gardens, white roofs, recycled rainwater and efficient heating and cooling systems reduce the energy demands of buildings.

Currently, the owner of the Empire State Building is renovating and retrofitting the 80- year-old skyscraper, which will reduce energy usage by 38 percent, thereby aiming to be a “leader in solution, not pollution,†and add value to his investment.

Another segment of the film illustrates the human face of green job creation. Van Jones, the former White House green jobs advisor, explains the impact of going green on the working class community of Richmond, Calif. Disadvantaged, unemployed workers are trained to install rooftop solar panels. Homeowners receive loans to pay for the panels and then benefit by selling electricity to the grid. Every home becomes a power plant, the economy and the environment are improved and local jobs are created.

“Carbon Nation†demonstrates that going green is not only a necessity but also an opportunity.

 After the screening, the film’s director, Peter Byck, spoke to the packed auditorium via Skype from his cutting room.

The final version of the film will be released in New York on Feb. 11, and 40,000 DVDs of the film will be distributed to high schools. The film will also be available online at carbonnationmovie.com.