Watch it grow
Filmmaker examines the roots of modern American environmentalism in ‘Earth Days: Seeds of a Revolution’
By Jana J. Monji 08/20/2009
Remember when environmentalists were the kooks on the fringe of American society? Academy Award-nominated director Robert Stone does. His latest film, “Earth Days: The Seeds of a Revolution,” looks back at the environmental movement behind the first Earth Day in 1970, as well as the people and books that led the way.
The movie recalls a time when oil was $4 a barrel, gasoline was about 23 cents a gallon and use of the pesticide DDT followed the ideology of “better living through chemicals,” a phrase borrowed from a DuPont advertising campaign. In that era, Earth Day was controversial enough to prompt the FBI and the military to put its organizers under surveillance, fueled by accusations that it was a communist plot since it fell on April 22, Lenin’s birthday.
Stone traces the sudden rise in public awareness to a single book: Rachel Carson’s 1962 “Silent Spring.” Carson, who died of cancer in 1964, was labeled a communist and a hysterical woman, but her book brought environmental concerns about pesticides and other chemical pollutants to the public’s attention. Much of the story is told via archival media, juxtaposed with contemporary personal commentary from nine people who figured prominently in the emergence of modern environmentalism.
This well-edited and thoughtful documentary is obviously biased. But while it’s depressing to think that almost four decades ago we were warned against continued dependence on oil and the problems of rampant consumerism and yet did so little, this documentary reminds us of who fought to protect the planet before Earth Day and being “green” became an acceptable part of the American culture.
“Earth Days” opens Friday at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena. Director Robert Stone is scheduled for a question-and-answer session after the 4:20 p.m. Sunday screening. Call (626)844-6500.
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT