Urgent Documentary Released on Climate Change
Filmmaker Charles Ferguson first started thinking about Time to Choose, an Abramorama release that opened in New York City theatres last week, a few years ago, when he realized that while climate change was a serious problem, "it was a completely solvable one."
Speaking by phone, Ferguson admits that until that point he had not followed climate change carefully or thoroughly enough. "I had the impression reading through media that this was a very grave problem," he continues, "and that solving it was going to be very difficult and costly. But I began to be disabused of that notion, and I found that if we addressed it now, the world would be a better and more prosperous place."
Time to Choose unfolds on a global scale, with scenes shot on several continents. For Ferguson, "Climate change doesn't mean the same thing in the United States as it does in China or Saudi Arabia. There are some places where I am quite optimistic that things are moving, maybe not fast enough sometimes, but moving in the correct direction. I would say that of China, I would even say that of the United States."
The director allows that it was difficult to remain optimistic when covering countries like Nigeria, Brazil and Indonesia, where environmental devastation is often the result of political corruption.
Andrew Knapp