Check out my first interview with Jared about his film Requiem for an American Dream.
https://filmfervor.com/film-fervor-episode-32-requiem-for-an-american-dream/
Today, film maker Jared Scott returns to the show to talk about his latest film Age of Consequences, which premieres at the Hot Docs Canadian international documentary film festival in 2016, a in-depth look at climate change from the perspective of US military veterans who see it as a clear and present danger to our way of life.
Climate change is one of those subjects that has a lot of political charge to it. On one hand, you have the scientists who are showing concrete and tangible results that are both backed up and quantified by years of research. On the other hand you’ve got the deniers and the profit engine that’s saying there is no real evidence of climate change and that we, the human race, have no impact on the climate or the world around us.
What are the consequences of our inaction?
As the American nuclear strategist Albert Wohlstetter wrote during the cold war, “We must contemplate some extremely unpleasant possibilities, just because we want to avoid them.”
The Hurt Locker meets An Inconvenient Truth, THE AGE OF CONSEQUENCES investigates the impacts of irreversible climate change, resource scarcity, mass migration, and pandemic conflict through the lens of US national security and global systemic risk.
Through unflinching and eye-opening analysis, distinguished Admirals, Generals, and Veterans take us beyond the headlines of the European refugee crisis, the conflict in Syria, the social unrest of the Arab Spring, the rise of radicalized groups like ISIS, and lay bare how climate change stressors interact with societal tensions, sparking conflict.
Whether a long-term vulnerability or sudden shock, the film unpacks how water and food shortages, extreme weather, drought, and sea-level
rise function as ‘accelerants of instability’ and ‘catalysts for conflict’ in volatile regions of the world.
These Pentagon insiders make the compelling case that if we go on with business as usual, the consequences of climate change – waves of refugees, failed states, terrorism – will continue to grow in scale and frequency, with grave implications for peace and security in the 21st century.
The film’s unnerving assessment is by no means reason for fatalism – but instead a call to action to rethink how we use and produce energy.
In any military defense strategy, time is the most precious resource.
Be sure to check out the website and weigh in your opinions.