TuttleJPFilm11

John Peter Tuttle Film Annotation 11 – Six Degrees Could Change The World Word Count: 1,010

1. Title, director and release year? “Six Degrees Could Change The World” is a 2008 National Geographic documentary directed by Ron Bowman.

2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? The film focuses on the potential effects of global warming, showing the potential effects if the average temperature of the planet rises up to six degrees, going through each degree increase in order.

3. How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal? The film does use scientific information when appropriate, citing statistics about potential alternate futures when necessary, and amounts of carbon dioxide, etc. in the atmosphere. Like most of the films we have seen, it uses interviews with experts in the fields it is discussing. It also uses animation and footage from catastrophes to show the potential results of global warming. It does not use as many infographics as some of the other films we have seen. The film does have emotional appeal; it uses footage of previous disasters and catastrophes to show potential outcomes.

4. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? Political? Legal? Economic? Technological? Media and Informational? Organizational? Educational? Behavioral? Cultural? Ecological? The movie mostly focuses on ecological problems – namely, those that result from the slow increase in the average temperature of the planet. It discusses how these changes would affect society – making certain regions more or less feasible for planting particular crops or other uses; for a film that is more mainstream than most of the ones we have seen, it does a good job of showing the matrix effect we have been studying in class. With regards to cultural problems, the film discusses how our modern lifestyle – using lots of electronics (and leaving them on all the time), driving cars everywhere, etc. – results in excess power usage.

5. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? I found the predictions for the first couple of degrees above the current average to be mostly compelling; they seemed realistic, or at least more realistic compared to the extreme scenarios proposed for the higher temperatures. The interviews with scientists, etc. were also persuasive, though it could have used a bit more variety; the film tended to go back to the same people repeatedly.

6. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why? To be honest, I was not really convinced by many of the animations and visualizations of disasters; I know they were trying to be dramatic, but they used them so much that it started to get a bit tiring, and remind me of one of those pointlessly overdramatic disaster movies that were popular a while ago. (That being said, I certainly think //something// bad will happen; I just do not quite like how the film handled portraying it.) <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">I also found the whole idea of going through the increasing temperature by degrees a tad unrealistic; especially at the higher temperatures, I do not think the results would be nearly as clear-cut as the movie portrays them to be. Admittedly, it is simplified a bit for the target audience, but it still feels a bit artificial. It also was not always entirely clear which temperature scale they were using.

<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">7. What audiences does the film best address? Why? <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">Given the amount of computer-generated imagery and disaster footage the film has, and the fact that it just feels a bit more mainstream compared to many of the other films we have seen, I would say that it would best address the general public. (IMDB says it was made for TV, so this would sort of make sense, as it was likely shown on the National Geographic channel.) It would likely make a good film to show to students or other people who would not ordinarily care about this sort of topic, as it tends to make it more exciting than some of the other documentaries we have seen so far.

<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">8. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">I think that having a few more scientific facts, and a bit less flashy graphics would probably have worked a bit better; the film felt a tad too much like a disaster movie and less like a documentary.

<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">9. What kinds of action and points of intervention are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective. <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">The film suggests several types of corrective action; it mainly focuses on energy use – eliminating appliances and electronics that waste power when they are off, and using solar and wind power as an alternative to fossil fuels. Other potential solutions could include using more environmentally friendly cars.

<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">10. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? (Provide at least two supporting references.) <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">I had of course heard of global warming, but I figured I would do a bit of research on it; this led me to a page on the New York Times site about global warming; it provided a bit of information about it, as well as links to other articles the newspaper has published about the issue, and links to other related environmental issues. <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">“Global Warming- Science – The New York Times.” []

<span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">I also found the Environmental Protection Agency’s page on global warming; it refers to it as “climate change,” presumably in an attempt to be a tad less controversial for visitors who do not believe global warming is actually happening. The site provides answers to common questions, has information on greenhouse gas emissions, health effects, and other issues related to global warming, as well as sections on current regulatory initiatives and climate policy in the United States. It does have a section that lists what individuals can do, which provides advice on reducing one’s environmental footprint. <span style="font-family: 'Liberation Serif','serif';">“Climate Change | U.S. EPA.” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/