Carbon Nation: A Review

In prepping for my class next term, I watched an interesting movie called Carbon Nation that discusses global warming and our planet's addiction to carbon (aka fuel).
This film is a little haphazard in the way that it switches back and forth between topics, but it covers some important ground.The film talks about how much energy we use and how we could be (and should be) getting that energy from alternative sources. They talk with people who are invested in wind energy, people who are growing algae as a renewable fuel source, folks who are creating electricity from geothermal hot springs, companies that bring jobs to install solar panels on low income houses, and ways to make buildings more energy efficient.
Interspersed throughout all of these amazing alternative methods of energy use, the film talks about our carbon footprint and the fact that global warming is already happening. Glaciers are receding, storms and hurricanes are increasing, groundwater is being depleted, dead zones are being created because of changes in ocean currents, and bug infestations like (pine beetles) are plaguing areas that no longer get cold enough to kill the bugs off. Atmospheric carbon is currently around 387 ppm, and what has been called the "safe" level, 350 ppm, has already passed us by. This means that we need to make changes and we need to make them NOW (or several years ago actually).
My biggest complaint about this film is that they don't actually talk enough about the terrible problems that global warming is going to cause (or is already causing).... I think that people need to get scared into action, and this film is not quite scary enough. It is gives hope, but by giving that hope, it almost passes off the worry to whomever is in charge of all this stuff.. and that certainly isn't the individual, right? (wink, wink).
This is a film worth watching. And although if I were the film maker, I would have organized it completely differently, and would have put more emphasis on the WE-ARE-SERIOUSLY-MESSING-UP-OUR-PLANET aspect, but I think it is relevant and shows a lot of important information about the age of energy in which we live.
Definitely worth a watch, and if you have netflix, it is currently on instant play. Pin It Now!