In Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary “Before the Flood”, the focus is climate change and the effect that humans; specifically the American culture and population, have on it. In his discussions with experts from all over the world, he is shown the damage being done that is contributing to the climate change problem. Many say a crisis does not exist; however, NASA reports support that since 1880, the global temperature has risen 1.8 degrees. An impact supporting this data is rising water levels, as a look at the city of Miami Florida indicates where sunny day flooding is forcing the city planners to raise street level to prevent flooding. This problem is real.
The documentary showcases efforts and ways that the populace can help slow current rates of degradation and even prevent further damage by reversing negative practices. Some are simple and can be implemented effectively on an individual basis, others are not as easily addressed and require the government, society and the culture as a whole to make changes. The documentary addresses the Pope’s call to action, a 2015 encyclical. The website for the documentary gives key passages from the document. One passage that carries the most weight is “Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings.” This doesn’t have to just mean the ones on Earth today, it could and probably does include those who will inherit the problems that are currently being ignored. The common idea of “that’s tomorrow’s problem” is much too common place on things that need to be addressed. If this mindset is kept, there won’t be an Earth for the children of the next generation. Obama in the documentary is quoted saying he fears his children won’t get to see the wonders that he was able to.
The first hurdle that needs to be crossed is acceptance that this is happening by the world’s population. In 2016, the Paris Agreement went into effect which was a first step in battling climate change. The Paris Agreement was made by 190 of the world’s countries; stating their goals and measures for cutting their countries greenhouse gas emissions. This is only the start towards a solution. America has had a history of ignoring the scientists and instead calling it a scam made up by China. As the documentary points out, there have been stronger more powerful hurricanes, as reflected by Florence and Michael just this year. There is flooding devastating the coast. The seawater level is rising as the glaciers in the North Pole are melting. DiCaprio experienced the change first hand when visiting North Canada, a place that is expected to be covered in snow in the dead of winter, but instead had very little snow cover. The documentary shows the progressive melting of Greenland. A country is slowly disappearing, and people are not doing enough about it. One expert, Sunita Narain, shows a graphic to DiCaprio that depicts the amount of energy used by a single American compared to citizens of other countries. A single American uses as much energy as 10 people in China and 61 people in Nigeria.
How can we combat climate change? Let’s small and at home on an individual basis. One of the experts that DiCaprio meets with Gidon Eshel who talks about farming and the effects cattle raising and dairy farming has on the climate change. The documentary includes a breakdown of American land use. It shows that nearly half of the land in the US is for food production and goes on to explain that of that half land is for cattle and only a percent is used for things we eat like nuts, fruits , and vegetables. This shows we use the land inefficiently by using most of the land to feed the cattle raised reducing the amount used for food production. The other problem with cattle is the production of methane as it accounts for a third of emissions from agriculture according to the EPA. Methane is also 25 times more harmful over a 100-year period than carbon dioxide. Eshel, in the documentary, recognizes that nobody is ready to switch to tofu so instead he recommends a switch to chicken. A single person making this change will not amount to much and switching solely to chicken is probably unsustainable. However, simply limiting the intake of steak and ground beef can have a positive effect. The less that beef is eaten means less cattle will need to be raised resulting in more land that could be converted to space for renewable energy.
The next step that can be taken is increasing the use of renewable energy. Carbon dioxide accounts for 81% of greenhouse gases emitted. It is filtered from the air by plant life, but as plant life is burned or removed, carbon dioxide is released back into the environment. Thus, the destruction of plant life is limiting how much gas that the remaining vegetation, including coral in the ocean can clean and convert back into oxygen. How does carbon dioxide get into the air? Fossil fuels. The solutions for this issue have more numerous available options than other issues. The first method is to increase the use of renewable energy. The film takes viewers to China where they have begun a transition from an industrial country with citizens having to wear masks to leave their homes to a leader in wind and solar energy. In 2017, Stanford, in conjunction with the University of California-Berkley, did a study and found that it would be possible for all 50 states and all 139 countries included in the study could convert to 100% renewable energy by 2050, and 80% by 2030. This study found many benefits to the change. A decrease in early death and health care costs because of the cleaner air and an increase in jobs from the building and maintenance of the wind and solar farms. The problem with this solution is the expense involved in making this conversion.
The documentary talks about a carbon tax. Many will complain about this saying that we are spending even more money for power. As this cost adds up over time, this concept almost promotes the switch to using renewable energy as the cost for conversion would be a one-time cost while the carbon tax would be an ongoing cost. What would that take? Obviously the first thing that needs to happen is for an infrastructure to be built while at the same time a change in the government to those who see the problem and understand that change is needed would be required. After this, the tax on carbon emitting activities, such as fueling automobiles and electricity bills, would be used to build that infrastructure. The more people that then switch to renewable energy, the more that would be possible. This tax could even be applied to the giants of fossil fuels to prompt them to transition to renewable energy. The documentary shows Leonardo DiCaprio talking with Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO. Tesla is no longer just the everyday car manufacturer anymore as they begin to transition into energy as well with the Gigafactory. However, electric cars are possibly the first step a person may choose to take rather than slapping a couple of solar panels on their roof, but that still helps the environment as the more of these cars are on the road replacing vehicles powered by fossil fuels. The EPA website on Greenhouse gasses shows that 28% of emissions come from transportation.
Another problem that DiCaprio talks with experts about is deforestation. The screen is filled with images of burned and cut down forests some next to perfectly aligned rows of vegetable oil plants. This incites shock by itself but add into it the images of displaced species and this can turn to outrage. To reverse this, if even possible after the extinction of many species, we must turn to reforestation. There are many ways that this can be promoted. Recycling paper, something so simple but something that is not often done is a first step. A purchase of a recycled paper notebook can have an impact. There are also so many different companies that offer ways to help reforestation. An app that promotes productivity has partnered with an organization (Forest). Users earn credits for not using their phone for whatever time they set, these credits can then be used to plant real trees. The Before the Flood website has a section of solutions and one is just adding trees and green spaces. Something as simple that provides a place for children to play outside again, a place for people to walk their dog, and trees that in the summer can provide shade and cooling.
In general, the greatest difficulty will be answering the question of many, what is in it for me? Improved health may gain some however, there are people who will argue their health is great. Others might say that it costs too much, incentives to switch to cars or solar panels for power will gain others. However, what can be done to help the poor in other countries. That is going to be possibly the most difficult part. Publicity could be the start, as much as Americans publicize and fight to end hunger, cancer, and more recently mental health, some of these issues can in part be solved just by beginning to protect the environment. More availability and use of local produce can decrease prices a basic supply and demand principle, cancers have many environmental factors cleaner air and water can help in decreasing the occurrence rates, and studies show that exercise and being outside can help combat depression and anxiety.
We can change the world. We can limit the negative impact that we are having on the Earth. A simple Google search for the words decrease carbon foot print comes back with more than 38,000,00 pages. The first hit more than likely is “25+ Tips to Reduce Carbon Emissions” things as simple as using cruise control to turning off the lights. The documentary is a call to action. It may use scare tactics to evoke a response however, it works. The documentary itself admits to contributing to the problem, to offset this they used a voluntary carbon tax. Perhaps this is where big companies can start the change.