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Clean Air-Cool Planet is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated solely to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.
The Planet is Saved! Fade to Black… An Earth Day flash movie about climate change -- with a happy ending? April 17, 2006 – With 2005 the warmest year in a century, and growing awareness that global warming is no longer abstract theory, but an alarming fact, here’s a flash movie about climate change with a happy ending. Say, what? “Climate: A Crisis Averted” looks back from 2056 and recounts how ordinary citizens in 2006 – realizing that global warming was a scientific fact and not a climatic theory -- take action to demand clean energy and other planet-friendly options. The movie, which launched today on the internet, describes how a movement called RenewUS effected real change with an action plan, or ‘call-to-arms’ on global warming.
At the end of the film, viewers are directed to www.RenewUS.org, to learn how to make the imagined future in the flash movie a reality. The RenewUS.org website offers monthly action alerts to help individuals take the concrete action to lessen global warming. The first action alert offers viewers a direct link state-by-state to their clean energy options. “We think this story will have a happy ending,” says Gary Hirshberg, President and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, who came up with the idea for the flash movie with his sister, Stonyfield’s VP of Natural Resources, Nancy Hirshberg, and greenbiz.com founder Joel Makower. The team then partnered with Earth Day Network and Clean-Air Cool Planet to leverage those groups’ extensive knowledge of climate change to the project and roll it out to millions across the US and internationally. “The climate change debate is over, but what do we do now?” asks Hirshberg. “That question is answered in this movie, which shows how the planet is saved by ordinary citizens taking action to stop global warming. People wake up, take action on the energy issue, and demand the same from companies and politicians.” The movie was produced by Joel Makower, a writer and strategist well-known for his work on sustainable business, clean technology and green marketing; and created by Free Range Graphics, the creative force behind the highly successful “Meatrix” and “Store Wars” internet flash movies. “This has the potential to be the ‘Rosa Parks’ moment of the climate change revolution as RenewUS offers a vision of hope and real solutions,” says Makower. The four-minute film can be downloaded at www.RenewUS.org, or from the project partners websites – www.stonyfield.com, www.earthday.net , www.cleanair-coolplanet.org or www.greennbiz.com. “This film predicts the future,” says Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network, “so we know how it all turns out – the power of people dedicated to change wins the day. The planet and its inhabitants face a bright future.” The RenewUS.org website offers monthly action alerts – information may include how to buy green power or a list of the most environmentally friendly cars– that help individuals take the concrete action to lessen global warming. Adam Markham, executive director of Clean Air-Cool Planet, points out: “Email distribution enables us to reach hundreds of thousands of people instantly, and also encourages the sharing of the movie’s message with potentially millions more around the globe. As the film is passed along to a potentially limitless audience via the Internet and email, this high-tech, grassroots movement and our impact via RenewUS.org, has the potential to bring about real change.” “If there is an upside to global warming, it’s that it’s a challenge that can bring the people of this planet together,” Hirshberg adds. This movie shows us a positive future, as long as we take quick action today to stem a climatic disaster-in-the-making,” Rogers agrees. “By visiting the RenewUS.org website, people can learn how to take action now, not only on this Earth Day, but every day, that will have a positive impact on protecting our planet- before it’s too late.” The making and distribution of this movie has been made 100% climate neutral through purchases in clean power from NativeEnergy (www.nativeenergy.com). About Stonyfield Farm Stonyfield Farm, marking its 24th year, is the world’s leading organic yogurt manufacturer, and produces all natural and organic yogurt, smoothies, cultured soy, frozen yogurt, ice cream and milk. The company advocates that healthy food can only come from a healthy planet and has received some of the nation’s most prestigious environmental business awards. It was the nation’s first dairy processor to pay farmers not to treat cows with the synthetic bovine growth hormone rBGH. Stonyfield Farm donates 10 percent of its profits to activities that protect or restore the environment; ; was America’s first manufacturer to offset 100 percent of its CO2 emissions from its facility energy use; and recently installed the fifth largest solar array in New England to help power its production plant -- all efforts to reduce global warming. For more information about Stonyfield Farm, its products and initiatives, visit www.stonyfield.com or call 1-800-PRO-COWS. About Earth Day Network Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and impact their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. EDN's international network reaches over 12,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program keeps over 3,000 groups and over 100,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. As a result, Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in our campaigns every year. About Clean Air-Cool Planet
For more information about how to bring global warming to your classroom, contact Bill Burtis, bburtis@cleanair-coolplanet.org, or 603-422-6464, ext. 105. |
