by Matthew Cobb
Yann Arthus-Bertrand is the French photographer who produced that fantastic book and travelling exhibition, The Earth from the Air. Earlier this year, he produced a feature film, called simply Home, which surveys the history and state of the planet in a poetic, striking and somewhat depressing way, focusing on what we are doing to it.
The commentary is a bit over the top (sounds better in French), but the film is unmissable. You can watch the whole thing, for free, on YouTube. It lasts 90 minutes, so settle back and get the popcorn and beer out…
Mind you, it’s not a cheery view, and recalls Jim Morrison’s cry on an old Doors track “When The Music’s Over” – “What have we done to the Earth? What have we done to our fair sister? Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her, stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn, and tied her with fences and dragged her down.”
Warning: Contains scenes of unbearable beauty, and will probably turn you into a vegetarian and stop you driving a car ever again.
I’m afraid I can’t embed the Youtube link for some reason, so you’ll have to click here.
I’ve been to some very beautiful places and enjoyed the view while eating animals; there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the sight of a calf suckling in a nice green field then roasting the calf later on for dinner.
that is true
Last night I watched-PBS, Nova series- “Darwin’s darkest hours”, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darwin/ which depicts the intensity of his love for family, the tragedy of loss, amidst his agonizing over Wallace’s correspondence and the course of action. Emma, his wife, is shown, correctly, in all her important role advising, commenting and enfin all things than a loving couple allow themselves in pursuit of their lives together. Emma was raised a Unitarian and openly discussed God/noGod issues with her husband, before and after marrriage, and according to their correspondence there is no reason to believe they didnt have a most fruitful, decent and productive Dialogue. Isnt this a good model for our dealings with mother earth? Isnt this a good model for the creationism/evolution non-argument?
There is no good model for evolution/creationism “non-argument”. There will always be an argument when one side absolutely refuses to accepts anything that contradicts their argument. It’s like trying to have a discussion with someone about climate when they think the sky is purple.
My only complaint is the narrator’s redundant phraseology of “life is a miracle.”
Morrison’s song goes on to “Jesus/Save us/Jesus”.
But as his “You cannot petition the lord with prayer” indicates, he was pretty sure that Jesus wouldn’t save us.
Glen Davidson
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p