Group goes to Rachel Carson to challenge environmentalism
April 28, 2009
By Christopher Huber
Earth Day had special meaning for Rachel Carson Elementary School. Not necessarily for the students and staff, though.
But for a pair of independent filmmakers, showing their new film at the school helped paint a curious picture of the environmentalist efforts of Rachel Carson the woman, who is considered by many to be the founder of the modern environmentalist movement.
Todd Myers, Washington Policy Center director for the center on the environment, addresses the crowd before the film screening. Photo by Christopher Huber
Nearly 225 people from around the Seattle area packed the Carson cafeteria April 22 to view a screening of “Not Evil Just Wrong,” sponsored by the conservative think tank, the Washington Policy Center.
“The biggest problem we face is making sure we don’t give in to eco fads,” said Todd Myers, the center’s director for the center on the environment in a later interview. “I think that eco fads are the biggest threat to progress on the environment.”
The movie is a feature-length documentary that highlights how what the filmmakers call extreme environmentalism is damaging the lives of the most vulnerable people in developed and developing nations, from the ban on DDT to the current campaigns on global warming.
Carson’s 1962 book “Silent Spring” was the catalyst for the eventual worldwide ban on the synthetic pesticide, which, the film claims, was responsible for millions of malaria deaths in Africa.
“I thought it went very well,” said Irish producer and director Phelim McAleer. “That shows that there’s an appetite out there for the other side of the story. They smell that there’s something wrong with it and so they want to hear the other side.”
In the film, McAleer and co-producer/director Ann McElhinney focus on the negative affects the ban on DDT has had in Africa.
They also examine the scientific foundations of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” through interviews with academics, journalists, scientists and leading environmentalists like Patrick Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace.
The film deliberately lacked hard statistics to argue its points, but McAleer and McElhinney let the subjects speak or offer specifics for themselves.
“Isn’t it enough to show data that says it hasn’t warmed in 13 years? We want to give people some things to go home with and to think about, to say ‘there’s something more to this,’” McAleer said. “Stop and think before you change the way we live … based on science that’s disintegrating before our eyes.”
Numerous interviews discussed a perceived notion that the so-called extreme environmentalists care more about trees than they do people.
“Environmentalists don’t seem to really care about the repercussions (of their agendas) on human beings,” Moore said in the film.
“Not Evil Just Wrong” also follows a family from Iowa, which earns livelihood in the coal industry, as an example of the lost jobs that would result from closure or downsize of that industry.
“It’s a good message and it’s good to get the debate going again,” said David McGee, a scientist from Bothell. “I’m glad to see that maybe it’s not closed. It’s at least good to get the discussion going.”
McAleer and McElhinney said they plan to release the movie in theaters nationwide by this fall. This was the film’s fourth and largest private screening in the United States, McAleer said.
Visit www.noteviljustwrong.com for more information and to view the film’s trailer. Learn more about the Washington Policy Center at www.washingtonpolicy.org.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.
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6 Responses to “Group goes to Rachel Carson to challenge environmentalism”
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I have been to many journalistically-covered (or intentionally ignored) events in my life and I was also at this film screening. This is one of the few times in my life I’ve seen a nicely-written, unbiased report. Good job!
This film will definitely be for thinking people. Make sure to see it next fall.
This is such a poorly written article. The author ignored a basic tenet of journalism, which is to remain objective.
This was one-sided and uninformative. First of all, why was this group screening at Rachel Carson? Did they pick the school just to give a big “finger” to supporters of Rachel Carson and/or environmentalism, or was it just coincidental? And why did the Lake Washington School District allow the screening to be held at the school? Is this something approved of by the district, or are school buildings open to all community groups? Did this group pay for use of the building?
And most importantly, why did the reporter not even bother to contact local environmental groups to ask them what they thought of this film (or even the concept of the film)? Why did you not seek a single comment from someone who has a differing opinion? I know nothing about this group or the film, but just based on this article it seems as if the film is nothing more than a piece of right-wing anti-environmental propaganda that the reporter (and/or this newspaper) has bought into.
Patrick Moore is no friend to the environmentalist movement.
http://www.fanweb.org/patrick-moore/liar.html
To give this anti-science, anti-environment biased right-wing propaganda an audience at Rachel Carson is an insult to her legacy, and an affront to all of us that care so deeply about the environment in our community and the world.
Frank Blau calls the film anti-science and anti-environment. Did you see the film Frank? I have not. But I do know this if you are committed to the idea of AGW then YOU are not at all concerned with science. You are a religious zelot. You are a book burning, scare monger, you are the flat earther, you and those like you have no respect for truth. In fact it is the likes of you that wil in the end cripple the environmental movement. The likes of you tried to silence the science of the early enlightment, it is you Frank and tose like you that are the enemy of knowlege, advancement and the humanity. You would have us all bow down before the lies, pay homage to liars and gove over our voise our freedom and our future to the propagandists that would rule over us. To you we say, get a life!
Frank, what legacy? Being the cause of 40 to 60 million deaths since 1970. mostly children. Yes I would say her and the envo-nuts have a legacy like Hitler and Stalin. By the way Great movie.
I saw this documentary and agree with Kay wholeheartedly. Excellent! It shows the many factual errors and scare tactics in Al Gore campaign on Global Warming. The British High Court found nine significant errors in Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth”. Here’s the movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/user/noteviljustwrong. The movie comes out in October. I highly recommend it!!!