The systems of the Earth are inextricably interwoven – be they environmental, social, or economic. Naomi Klein, bestselling author of This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, and No Logo, believes that the capitalist model of economics is at odds with the healthy functioning of all other systems on Earth.
Klein says that capitalism is a model based on the unfettered pursuit of “progress” and the mentality that we have the capability to control and subdue the natural world as if it is something separate from us, or inferior to us.
And, she says, the people who maintain the closest relationship with the Earth are first to hear its moans.
These are the ideas at the heart of the 2015 film of the same name, This Changes Everything, by filmmaker Avi Lewis in collaboration with Klein.
The film amplifies and exalts the little voices of the casualties of capitalism.
Voices from farmers, for example. Montana farmers Alexis and Mike, who when their land was devastated by a broken pipeline, refused to stand by in silence. The film also features Cheyenne and Cree Indigenous peoples: Alberta’s Crystal Lameman and Vanessa Braided Hair who are fighting legal and social battles for their rightful land as its poisoned and destroyed.
It also shows us that people in China, outraged by living in smog filled cities, have been taking to the streets by the thousands to protest chemical plants and coal mines.
It’s real people making tangible change by standing up against government and big oil, and it is happening all over the world.
Environmentalists around the world are laying stones on the path to unity, equality, and a chance to do something radical.
The Earth is screaming at us, through thunder, fire, and earthquakes.
“Change, or be changed,” as Klein says. Because one way or the other, everything is going to change. Klein’s philosophy is, when life gives you climate change, why not curb it “to build a better world?”
The Yukon Film Society and The Yukon Conservation Society present the film This Changes Everything on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 at 5 p.m. at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. Stay after the Screening for a post-film discussion led by The Yukon Conservation Society.
