OK, user-generated content is, like, so over. Supposedly. But what pro media outlet would finance a SIX HOUR documentary on the global warming debate?
Greg Craven, a science teacher in Oregon, did just that. On his own. In SIX WEEKS. (He downed a lot of energy drinks, apparently.)
OK, so what? Al Gore already covered that territory, right? Well, yes. But hardly this comprehensively. And certainly not this... what's the word... normal-guy-ily. The dude is actually damn entertaining.
That's just the beginning.
The Gore-beating genius of Craven's project isn't in his unpretentious, Ze-Frankish format, or his semi-insane commitment to comprehensiveness. It's in the platform -- YouTube, where the whole thing is broken down into unintimidating 10-minute chunks that you can browse like chapters on a DVD. In fact, it's better than a DVD, because Craven can add to it whenever he wants, and it's available instantly.
Plus, the tiny chapters have a potato-chip effect. You watch one ("eh, what's a few minutes...") and then you want "just one more." I blew a half hour watching him without even realizing it, and I could easily have kept going.
Whereas with An Inconvenient Truth, I put that off for months and months because the thought of investing two hours of my life in a glorified powerpoint presentation just turned me off. (I ended up liking the film when I finally saw it, but it took forever to convince myself that there wasn't a million better things I could be doing. And I'll pretty much NEVER be able to make that leap with Ken Burns's long-ass stuff.)
Funny - it took a teacher to make paying attention to the climate change debate NOT feel like homework. Bravo, sir.
Related:
Smarmy animated flame shows folly of "voluntary" carbon regulations
Teenagers worry about global warming, but don't know why
Top 10 list of climate-change skeptic arguments
Add a comment