"Cool It"

Last Tuesday, I went to watch the movie "Cool It" by Ondi Timoner. It is a documentary based on the book of the same name written by the Danish Bjorn Lomborg. Lomborg is a very controversial author in the scientific community. Many accuse him of not understanding what he talks about. Through his book skeptikal Environmentalist, Lomborg shows that our era is the safest in the history of humanity. For him, many environmentalists have based their opinions and their success on fear, terror of the people. For Lomborg, the fearful tone or “catastrophizing language” used by some such as Al Gore is a strategy that works, unfortunately. Lomborg believes that there are more reasons today to be optimistic than pessimistic. For the Danish, we must establish a scale of priority. He thinks it would better to focus on issues such as education, the fight against inequalities, diseases (malaria, HIV / AIDS), and work to provide access to clean drinking water for all, improve living conditions of populations.
He made a small survey in at school in a slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Students expressed their priorities through drawings. Several wanted a nice and comfortable house. Lomborg concludes after the survey that global warming is not a priority for people in developing countries. I do not think that he is absolutely right.

There are many things to say about this movie, but I will limit myself to a few points. The film opens with the words of a child who predicted a disaster scenario for the planet. The word of the child is exploited by environmentalists, knowing that the child is the symbol of truth. It is also interesting to note that the film closes with a song of Kenyan children who say, "It takes a village to raise a child". The film's director takes advantage of both the African proverb, and the theme of the child to get the message. Not only are the children singing, they also speak of raising a child, that is to say future generations. The message is clear: The fight must be collective if we are to save the lives of our children. However, this message is still largely ignored, even in industrialized countries like the United States where people do not care enough about the climate problems. I found myself alone in the cinema, fortunately two men entered a few minutes later. We were three at the end to watch "Cool It". The gentleman behind me used the film as a lullaby, as from time to time, I heard him snoring. I spoke at the end of the film with the second gentleman, very interested in the subject and he made me understand that he works for a company working on solar panels. One wonders if environmental issues are an elitist topic. Everyone is free to draw his/her conclusion.