Before the Flood is one of those documentaries that makes you think about a very unpleasant subject, our own demise. As a climate documentary, in a field that is quite depressing, it is well put together in the information that it provides its viewers around where we are now (doomed), how we got here (our own greed and denial), and how we can make changes (there might not be a chance). It's interesting to see in the film how human behavior has driven the issue, and who we are all in some way or another just victims of our own circumstance.
Our own denial of the evidence of climate change parallels the approach used by cigarette companies all those years ago where bad science was used to put together arguments that can't really hold up under scrutiny, but the power players push through the agenda regardless. But what was the difference between Big Tobacco and the increasing of our global climate? What are the ramifications of continued warming? I guess the difference is that fossil fuels underpin entire economies, whereas cigarettes never did. The vested interests at play for short term political careers is a significant problem that can only be addressed at a grass roots level.
Before the Blood left me with many questions, as does anything having to do with climate change. There is a saying in French, "Après moi le deluge," meaning 'after me, the flood." I think of that saying every time I go to the store, or when I use my microwave. It doesn't matter anymore what level of consciousness I have because we have made it to the place where we are all just circling the drain the hopes that the stopper will just magically appear. I say that knowing I'm completely misguided in my attempt to just "give in."
The truth of the matter is that it is not too late. It is not so late that all we can do now is just circle the drain, or wait on the corner with our kayak in hand (as many San Franciscans joke). There is still time to create true change that promotes our own well-being.
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