The Great Warming

In one month, an incredibly powerful movie will hit theatres nationwide:  THE GREAT WARMING (TGW). 

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In one month, an incredibly powerful movie will hit theatres nationwide:  THE GREAT WARMING (TGW).  TGW is unique for a climate change movie for two reasons, both of which help make it an ideal medium for religious outreach and mobilization.  First and most importantly, a significant portion of TGW is dedicated to the moral and theological implications of climate change and the positive role the religious community (and especially evangelicals) has been playing in raising this issue in the public and political consciousness.  This is a message that resonates with religious communities and has resulted in hundreds of screenings of this movie in churches over the past 6 months.

Second, unlike most environmental movies that tend to leave me wanting to just crawl into a hole and wait for the sky to fall down, TGW concludes with a very powerful message of hope.  The transition from the problems we face to how we will solve them starts with the focus on the religious community's role, but it extends far beyond that.  The last 30 minutes of the movie are based on current technology and technology just around the corner that can help us turn back the tide of factors leading to climate change.  As a mobilizing strategy, it is much more effective to show people that there is hope and that their actions can make a difference than just to tell them about a problem.  TGW provides hope.

But TGW is more than just a movie.  It has also spawned a movement.  At the movie website, http://www.thegreatwarming.com/, you can find wonderful exegetical resources for pastors who want to preach on climate change and a 2-week Sunday school curriculum for those who are interested in leading devotionals or Sunday school classes on environmental stewardship.  The site also has letters from prominent evangelical and civil rights leaders to pastors imploring them to make this issue a priority in their ministries and missions.  And it provides information to churches on how to set up screenings of TGW for their congregations along with action-guides for simple steps churches can take to become more "green."

But perhaps most significantly, for the next four weeks leading up to the theatrical release, people and groups who have been associated with TGW will be coming together to launch "The Great Warming Call to Action."  The Call to Action is an attempt to use the movie as a catalyst for societal and political change.  The Call to Action will begin with the publication of a united statement on climate change that has been signed by top political, scientific, and religious leaders along with a good helping of other famous names most Americans will recognize.  Then each week, the Call to Action will focus on a different ways to raise awareness and affect change. 

You can find out more about the specifics of each week and how to get involved at the website.  To briefly summarize this initiative here, the first week will be dedicated to getting the press interested in this movement with full-page ad buys of the climate change statement with its signatories in major newspapers, media blitzes by partner groups, and getting the message out in the blogosphere.  Week two will focus attention on local heroes who are making changes in their communities.  Week three will be a week of education on how local congregations and their members can make small changes in behavior that will lead to massive reductions in energy consumption and pollution nationwide (e.g., if every household in America changed 5 light bulbs to high-impact fluorescents, we could take 21 coal-power power plants off line tomorrow).  And week four (the last week in October) will focus on bringing about change in the policy and political world with letters to the editor, letters to Members of Congress, and direct engagement with campaigns and candidates to help force a discussion about climate change.  Finally, on November 3, TGW will be released in theaters nationwide. 

This is an incredible opportunity for Faithful Democrats to expand the debate and reach out to faith communities where we have not had strong ties in the past.  The more people and more congregations who become involved in the Call to Action, the bigger and more effective it will be.  So make sure you take a moment to check it out, and let your friends know.  As the final line of the united statement on climate change says, "Nothing less is at stake than the future of this planet we all call home. "