This Changes Everything

This documentary on climate change and its causes focuses largely on stories of human connection to the land, some who try to control the land, while others who see humans as temporary stewards of the land to pass to future generations. The two opposing viewpoints can be seen in two western society examples, the first concerning the Alberta oil sands, and the second fossil fuel energy production and transportation in what is traditional Montana farmland. The catastrophic effects of climate change are viewed through the lens of those in the US northeast coast who suffered through Hurricane Sandy. The economic drivers of the carbon society are highlighted by the economic crisis in Greece in the early 2000s, where some saw the only solution to get out of the crisis being to sell off the land to the highest bidder, those highest bidders often being resource extraction companies. Emerging economies in the developing world have tried to follow the western model for economic prosperity, with arguably the most marked example of the negative consequences being in China where many cities are continually shrouded in smog, some children in those cities who have never seen a blue sky. Some positive developments are shown in China and Germany specifically. A right wing think tank provides its view that the climate change issue needs to be dealt with through market forces. The story goes full circle back to Alberta and what should or needs to be done to combat climate change while dealing with the economy and thus people's short term well-being.