Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore Flickr page - Harrison Ford: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/32688372464/in/photolist-RNyshG-VVVKXV-v3jFGt-v3bnC9-v3bdNA-eET3S-eET6i-eH3C5E-aaLz17-FfuTe-s3Ecq-s3FGA-s3FKQ-38se4g-nqKUbF-9HkgsK-9vBUNx-6H7sci-6HbkL5-6H7oci-6Hbcou-6H7pJ6-6H7ouT-6HbhXw-6H6ZqV-6HbjMS-6Hbkxd-6H7p9v-hmo3Ey-a67oYQ-f2AhBZ-hmrTxL-gq4Lnw-f3227a-gpQjKW-f2srHC-gpeF2j-gpmUuz-T1xMtZ-Ubzbns-SXLMH9-Uf9sst-Ufa3Dz-Uf9vDi-T1xD92-U1eJKE-U1eMuN-Uf9Gu6-SXLWHJ-SXLXBC
"We know that we only have the possibility of avoiding a looming climate catastrophe if people like us refuse to give up."
– Harrison Ford
Not too long ago, I saw someone post a question that I myself have been wondering about for a long time now. Are the elite people in power who deny climate change actually, seriously skeptical about the science, or do they really know what is going on, but feel themselves equipped to come out as winners with whatever is down the road?
This is a serious question, because in our world, the simple fact of the matter - the reality - is that we have a segment of our population who not only believe that some kind of a rapture is inevitably coming, but are actively trying to help create the conditions for this kind of apocalypse to take place. That is what their holy books tell them, and those holy books mostly belong to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions. It would be a self-fulfilling prophecy, of course, and they would, in fact, be the evil actors that help to bring about that global catastrophe based on their ignorance, arrogance, and greed. Yet, that does not seem to stop them, and they view themselves as God's chosen. Really, there seems to be no arguing against people like this.
Many are finally beginning to realize this, and to realize that action on some of the world's more critical issues has to be taken, particularly when it comes to climate change, either with or without those kinds of people who seem determined to be the monkey wrench in the global efforts to curb these crises. Quite a few famous personalities have spoken out on these things, and that certainly cannot hurt in a society that seems far too fixated on celebrities.
If there is one single actor who probably meant more to me than any other single actor during my childhood, it would surely have to be Harrison Ford. My suspicion is that there are a lot of people around my age, and quite possibly younger, who would say the same thing.
Think about it: this man brought some of the most iconic figures of our childhood to life. He was Han Solo, the swashbuckling, smuggling anti-hero who was nonetheless an undeniable hero in Star Wars, which was, and remains, one of the biggest movie franchises that defined the age. Ford also was Indiana Jones, the distinguished Princeton Professor who found incredible advantages in the most exotic and amazing, faraway lands, and providing a peek into the fascinating mysteries and intrigues of ancient history.
Just those two figures would have been enough to solidify him as one of the great and most iconic actors of his age. But he also was the futuristic Blade Runner in a grim look at a less than ideal future that helped us get past illusions that the future was only going to get brighter and cleaner. He played a police officer in the movie "Witness," and played the lead role in "The Fugitive," when his character was wrongfully accused of murder, and had to prove his case while virtually all alone in the world, relying on his own ingenuity to ultimately prove his innocence. And he played a likable and distinguished president, even though we seem to be lacking in leaders who have those positive attributes just lately.
Those are only his most famous acting roles. And he seems like a genuinely likable guy overall, off the silver screen, too. I remember seeing an article on him about how he was living in Wyoming, away from the glittering lights of Hollywood. Obviously, money is not an issue with his choice of residence, so I liked the fact that he chose solitude and natural beauty over the fake Hollywood image and trying to be seen and noticed - while pretending to hate it - like so many actors and actresses seem to do.
When you hear him talk, it is always seemingly mesmerizing. He has a way of talking that captures your attention. Perhaps it is a certain gravitas. Or that he never really seems to say a bunch of crap that will discredit him. This probably adds some of the credibility to his acting roles, and it surely adds some sense of depth in regard to the way people view him. So, when he talks, more often than not, he is taken seriously.
Ford spoke at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in September, and he betrayed what seemed like a real frustration at the state of the world today. He said, “Stop giving power to people who don't believe in science.”
Then, he let out a long, exasperated exhale, perhaps betraying his fatigue and disgust with the people who keep managing to get elected into very powerful positions. Trump and Bolsonaro in particular come to mind. Both are climate change deniers, and both have been elected leaders of big nations that potentially have a huge impact on climate change. The United States has long been one of the largest producers of pollution in the world, and until roughly one decade ago, it had long been the biggest polluter in the world. And Brazil is at the heart of the issue regarding climate change, as battles to either preserve the Amazon or clear that forest for still more grazing land is front and center. Both leaders have expressed only cynicism towards climate change, suggesting that it is a hoax. Trump said that he intended to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, and despite hugely negative reactions around the world, he did exactly that. Bolsonaro has threatened to withdraw Brazil from the Paris Climate Accord, as well, although he has not been in power long enough to actually do so...yet.
These two men seem to be among the two most prominent figures of a worldwide trend towards leaders who are all about style, and not about substance. Democracy seems to be in danger all around the world, and these leaders too easily get away with ignoring facts, and creating their own version of the truth. Hell, the Trump administration already gave us the Orwellian notion of "alternative truths." Clearly, the "debate" about climate change is at the heart and center of this, as one of the first things that Trump did once in power was to censor the term, and squelch any discussion, of climate change and the urgent need to take action. Bolsonaro seems to be gravitating towards doing the same in Brazil, and this troubling trend appears to be spreading with similar "leaders" who focus on style over substance. So, the situation looks dire.
Ford blasted those who either remain skeptical about climate change or, worse, he said, pretend not to believe it (the same thing that I mentioned that I have been wondering about), in order to promote their own self-interests. If things continue on as they are, the people who will pay the most for climate change will be the people who had the least to do with bringing it about. On that, he is absolutely right.
Ford blasted those who either remain skeptical about climate change or, worse, he said, pretend not to believe it (the same thing that I mentioned that I have been wondering about), in order to promote their own self-interests. If things continue on as they are, the people who will pay the most for climate change will be the people who had the least to do with bringing it about. On that, he is absolutely right.
"Elect leaders who believe in science," Ford urged those listening. Of course, speaking at a conference on climate change, he was basically preaching to the choir. The people who need to seriously listen to that kind of a message likely were nowhere to be seen or heard from, and more importantly, tend to shut their ears and minds from such messages.
Still, it is a great thing that Ford spoke out on the issue. We need more people - perhaps more celebrities in our celebrity fixated society - to speak out on this issue, and urge people to take climate change seriously. The more people, including celebrities, accept the reality that human activity is a huge contributing cause, and that the responsible thing that we need to do is curb our own excesses, and the more those "leaders" who deny climate change will look and feel isolated and completely out of touch with not only the people that they supposedly lead, but with the realities of the world more generally.
Here is some of what Ford said during the speech:
"If we don't change the path that we are on today, the future of humanity is at stake".
"We can put solar panels on every house, we can turn every car into an electric vehicle, as long as Sumatra burns, we will have failed."
"So long as the Amazon's great forests are slashed and burned, so long as the protected lands of tribal people, Indigenous people, are allowed to be encroached upon, so long as wetlands and bog peats are destroyed, our climate goals will remain out of reach.
"And we will be shit out of time".
Ford then seemed to show some of the steel that he showed in some of the characters that he portrayed towards the end of his speech:
"We've got people in charge of important shit who don't believe in science."
"Stop for God's sake the denigration of science! Stop giving power to people who don't believe in science, or worse than that, pretend they don't believe in science for their own self-interest," Ford says, his voice cracking as it rises in volume.
"They know who they are. We know who they are!"
Calling climate change "the greatest moral crisis of our time", Ford cautions that unless something changes (and soon), those "least responsible will bear the greatest costs".
Throughout it all, he brings us back to his core argument: that natural carbon sinks are currently "the only feasible solution" for fighting climate change.
"Simply put, if we can't protect nature, we can't protect ourselves," he says.
The end of his speech could not have been written by anybody else:
"Let's shut off our phones, roll up our sleeves and kick this monster's ass".
Here is the full video of Harrison Ford's speech:
Here is the link to this article:
Harrison Ford: "Stop Giving Power to People Who Don't Believe in Science" by Carly Cassella, 14 Sept, 2018:
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