Naomi in the Kootenays

Naomi Klein (Image credit: David Shankbone via flickr)

My boyfriend and I had the privilege of seeing the lovely Naomi Klein at the MIR Centre for Peace this past April. We are huge fans of her work and were really quite star struck, but in a much more profound fashion than if we had seen Lady Gaga. Here was someone who is trying to save the world (and doing pretty damn good at it too)!

This Changes Everything

I had recently read her incredible book and poignant call to action, This Changes Everything. I’ll admit at first I was intimidated by this massive blue book that would reveal all the realities of our dire situation. But I found that while Naomi is realistic, she manages to remain incredibly positive. She’s on a mission, plain and simple: to change the way we relate to mother earth, and to each other.

Climate change has become a class issue, and Naomi sees this climate shift as an opportunity to level the plain between the haves and have nots: the rich countries that have caused all this environmental turmoil, and the nations who are left bearing the brunt of the climate induced hardships. Basically, no one can hide from what is going to happen if the human race doesn’t fundamentally change. This Earth belongs to none of us, we simply co-inhabit it, and we’re doing a totally crumby job of sharing it.

“Drill, Baby, Drill”

Klein asserts, and wholeheartedly believes, that our real problem lies in our current economic system. It is the Capitalistic model that encourages drilling and digging and raping everything it can, in the shortest possible timeframe, for maximized profit. This model is based on a frantic Extractivism that is completely at odds with the way the poor old Earth works. It is an unsustainable and grossly irresponsible way to act toward our organic home. The rich get richer, and the poor get cancer from their contaminated water sources.

“Love will save this place”

Naomi Klein at Occupy Wall Street. Image by Marnie Joyce.

There was a chapter in Naomi’s book entitled “Love will save this place”. It touched me so much, and changed the way I looked at the environmental movement. Environmentalists aren’t “anti” oil, or “anti” anything. They are simply “pro” nature, and “pro” leaving some good Earth, water and air for future generations.

The title “love will save this place” was a direct quote from a Republican rancher in Montana. She remarked thusly whilst working side by side with the native population to protest a coal mine being put on their land. The coal company perceived the protesting as hate directed at them. But as the on point rancher observed, it is love that drives us to save the places we cherish, not hate.

The Film!

I have been so eagerly awaiting this film. The book was groundbreaking in its own right, but there’s something about a film, seeing people speak about these issues on their own land, with their fellow community members, people of all ages, political standings, creeds and races, that I believe will cause some real human sparks.

Sometimes this world feels lonely, like we are all sort of separated. Naomi Klein thinks that this catastrophe could be the thing that pulls us together, and changes everything. See this immensely important film, and experience the life-giving fear, joy, and intense longing for a better world that will unite us all.

See the trailer here: http://thefilm.thischangeseverything.org/

This Changes Everything is screening at The Civic Theatre, October 14^th and/or 15^th at 7:30 PM

Heather Austin is a freelance writer living in Nelson, BC. She studied English Literature and Film at Memorial University of Newfoundland.  She enjoys skiing, canoeing, and thinking.