Avatar - the movie

Yesterday I had perhaps the most astonishing movie-going experience of my life. I went to see Avatar on the big screen in 3D.

The first half of the movie was sumptuously beautiful... gorgeous. I kept thinking that here was some kind of substitute for our disappointing lack of progress in exploring space. I still want us to go on out there, but in the meantime I lapped up the stunningly beautiful jungles from James Cameron's mind.

The second half of the movie was action stuff. I wasn't as happy with that, though it still had me gasping in awe. I'd love to see, one day, a movie where the big bad military whoop-ass guys are brought undone without resorting to their own "hit them back harder" mentality. All it succeeds in doing is communicating to people that the answer to all problems is force. I kept hoping they would do something tricky like outmaneuvering the bad guys, or defusing the weapons.

I like when force is subverted like in John Wyndham's book "The Day of the Triffids" where the bad guys with weapons have their vehicles disabled by contaminating their fuel and the good guys simply sneak away. Or when force is used against itself like in Judo, where a smaller person has the advantage because it is easier to use the attacker's momentum against them when they are big and heavy. Or power is outmaneuvered like in Gordon R Dickson's science fiction novel "Tactics of Mistake".

But these qualms notwithstanding (now that is a weird word) I loved the movie so much that I think I shall go back for another viewing.

I implore you to see it... especially if you can see it in 3d.

Who killed Copenhagen

I just contributed some money to Avaaz, raising money to fight our worst enemies on the planet.

Avaaz.org does a lot of human rights work. It was co-founded by Res Publica, a global civic advocacy group, and Moveon.org, an online community that has pioneered internet advocacy in the United States, the Service Employees International Union, GetUp.org.au, and many others.

Here is the immediate problem in their words:

Leaders disappointed the entire world in Copenhagen this month. But one group was cracking open the champagne - the polluting industry lobbyists who pushed our politicians to failure. The polluters have only one worry now: us.

Recently a few youth climate activists (funded by Avaaz online donations!) dared to challenge the most powerful polluter lobbyist group, the US Chamber of Commerce, by helping to stage a humorous satirical press conference announcing the Chamber had decided to help fight climate change.

The polluter lobby’s response? A huge lawsuit suing these young activists for potentially enormous amounts of money. Experts say a response like this is extremely rare. It appears designed to send a chilling message to our movement and silence others who would effectively challenge these groups holding our planet hostage.

Let's send a message back. The Chamber has raised $750,000 from US corporations to help launch this attack – If 20,000 of us give just a small amount each to our effort to stand up for climate activists and stop the polluter lobby, we’ll outraise them - showing their intimidation backfired! Let’s show the polluter lobby that we can’t be silenced, and show politicians that the future belongs to people, not polluters:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/people_vs_polluters

Copenhagen failed primarily because big polluters US and China wanted a weak agreement. But President Obama was heavily constrained by a US Congress that has been captured by lobbyists. The Chamber is a front group for the largest corporations in the polluting lobby, including oil and coal companies like Exxon Mobil. The New York Times (link below) says "no organization in this country has done more to undermine [climate] legislation." The Chamber were major backers of President George W Bush, and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars blocking Obama's attempts at change. The Chamber claims to represent US businesses, but even many large corporations (like Apple, Nike, Microsoft, and Johnson & Johnson) have opposed its pro-polluter positions on climate change.

While people were out in force in Copenhagen, polluter lobbyists worked in the shadows, their voices loud only in our politicians' ears. To get the climate deal the planet needs in 2010, we have to expose their influence, stand up to their intimidation tactics, and send a signal to others that the time has come, once and for all, to stand up to the villains holding our planet hostage:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/people_vs_polluters

In our journey together as the Avaaz community, we've taken on dictators in Burma and Zimbabwe, promise-breaking politicians in Europe and North America, and the forces of extremism in the Middle East. But the Chamber is in some ways the most powerful and dangerous opponent we've faced. Some have advised Avaaz to stay quiet about this, to protect our own organization. But with danger comes opportunity, and if people power can defeat even the most powerful corporate lobby in the world, we'll send a much broader message, that a new world, the one we all seek, is on its way.

ere are some links for more information:

New York Times -- "Way behind the curve" - the NYT savages the Chamber's position on climate change:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/opinion/30wed3.html

Washington Post -- "The U.S. chamber vs honesty" - the Post is scathing about the Chamber's tactics:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102602714.html

Huffington Post -- "PGE Quits US Chamber of Commerce" - about large corporations leaving the Chamber because of its climate stance:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/pge-quits-us-chamber-of-c_b_295424.html

Common Dreams - covering the satirical press conference about the Chamber:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/19-9

Huffington Post -- More details about satirical press conference, including relevant video clips:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/19/chamber-of-commerce-hoax_n_326069.html