Actor Daryl Hannah hopes climate deniers "face reality"

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      She played a replicant in Blade Runner, but it was in her role as an environmental activist that Daryl Hannah spoke to the Straight from Los Angeles in March. Only a few weeks after her arrest in February, when she chained herself to the gates of the White House in protest of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, Hannah was getting down to the business of taking on media duties for the documentary Greedy Lying Bastards. She’s the executive producer of the film, which uncovers the massive financing behind the climate-change-denial campaign.

      "I came into the project towards the end," Hannah said by phone. "I felt like it was a no-brainer because it approaches it in a humorous way but also with the gravitas that it needs and deserves, and with the urgency that it deserves."

      To her credit, Hannah hasn’t shied away from taking her message into enemy territory, going on The Sean Hannity Show after her arrest to take a little dismissive ribbing from the Fox News host. She insists that it’s worth it if it means the film plays to more than just the converted.

      "I make a concerted effort to do conservative media," she said. "People go, ‘Oh no, don’t do that; they’ll eat you alive.’ But I don’t care; that’s what I need to do. I need to reach those people and at least give them the opportunity to listen to the information. I really believe if people have information, they will tend to make wise decisions."

      But what about Hannity himself, who told Hannah: "I don’t believe this global-warming nonsense is real." Does he really mean that?

      "I don’t know," she answered, "and the truth is that while I think it’s important for people to face reality, in the end, even if they don’t believe in the climate crisis, the prescription for contamination and pollution and lack of water and the things we’re experiencing is still the same. We still need to move away from these lethal, toxic forms of energy that are destroying our life-support systems, so clean energy is still the answer whether you believe in the climate crisis or not, because you can’t not believe in toxins, you know?"

      Comments

      3 Comments

      Chai Machani

      Apr 15, 2013 at 8:26am

      What we really need is a public debate from scientists on both sides of the issue. I, for one, started out as a true "believer", after watching "An Inconvenient Truth". But over the years, I have changed my position to that of a skeptic when I started looking at the numbers for myself. For example, the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was real and global (not limited to Northern Europe). There is archeological evidence that shows that Vikings not only settled in Greenland, but it was warm enough to raise sheep there. Climategate emails revealed a concerted attempt to discredit, even defund, scientists who were able to prove that the MWP was a global phenomenon and not a local one. Thus the claim that the "science is settled" is pure propaganda. There you have it! The story of one convert from a "believer" to a skeptic.

      Adrian Mack

      Apr 15, 2013 at 10:05am

      The goal of the climate change deniers is to sow doubt and mire the public in "debate" -- which seems to be exactly what you're suggesting we do, private citizen Chai. How deliciously ironic!

      Chai Machani

      Apr 15, 2013 at 12:04pm

      Adrian,
      A public debate will not cost much, nor will waste much time. Most importantly, it will help clear the air.

      When important scientists like Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT and Dr. Judith Curry of Georgia Tech have expressed serious doubt about the scientific process and conclusions behind IPCC's reports, then, to me, there is enough doubt.

      Convince me that climate change is man-made, not "Mann" made!