In a rather NSFW portrayal of their mission to convince people to lower their carbon emissions, environmental group 10:10 took unusual step of blowing up a couple of school children, some office workers, and actress Gillian Anderson, best known for her role as agent Dana Scully in the TV show "The X-Files".
A video of the very, very gory explosions was posted on the group's website on Friday. It consists of four short scenes in which a bunch of people agree to lower their carbon emissions by 10 percent. Any dissenters are told "no pressure, that's your choice," and then are summarily detonated via a magic button. Terrified onlookers are covered in bloody clothing and entrails.
If you are confused, you are not alone. How, exactly, is a film in which people who are complacent about global warming are violently murdered supposed to convince real-life people who are complacent about global warming to take action?
Perhaps the answer is Gillian Anderson. Anderson makes her cameo towards the end of the short, and you can just hear the creators now: "We'll get Agent Scully from 'The X-Files'! And let's blow her up, too, for not being on board with global warming activism! It's a quirky, macabre comedy that will appeal to today's hip geek culture, the people who grew up watching the show!"
Whatever the strategy, it didn't work. No sooner had the video been posted on 10:10's website than a storm of criticism came raining down on poor 10:10. The video was removed the next day, and an apologetic statement was put up in its place, but the damage may have already been done -- it's all over the internet now, and it's getting a predictable response from people who probably hated environmentalists to begin with.
Look, 10:10's idea to sign up people and organizations around the world to limit their carbon emissions by 10 percent a year is a great one. The science is clear: warming is happening, and it will get worse unless we get emissions under control in a hurry.
And 10:10's upcoming demonstration on October 10, like partner group 350.org's last year, could help show the fence-sitters of the world that their really is a movement brewing to help take action against climate change.
But this video...this is not the way to go about getting people on the right side of the argument. It's just throwing red meat (sorry) to any deniers looking for an excuse to demonize environmentalists.
One can only hope the whole thing blows over as quickly as possible, and that people will be savvy enough to see beyond a terrible marketing gaffe to an organization whose unexploded heart remains in the right place.
Image: 10:10
Tags: Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Global Warming
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