Sigourney's Eco Double Feature: AVATAR & ACID TEST
Posted December 4, 2009 in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, Solving Global Warming, The Media and the Environment
As parents of a toddler, my wife and I don’t get to the movies much, but we’ve already lined up a babysitter for December 18, the night James Cameron’s AVATAR opens. Though I’m excited to see the 3D visual effects, which are supposed to be mind-blowing, what really intrigues me is the film’s environmental theme, and that it co-stars Sigourney Weaver in her second eco-pic of the year.
Sigourney’s other environmentally themed film this year is called ACID TEST, a documentary I co-directed about the global challenge of ocean acidification.
Since having the opportunity to work with Sigourney, it’s been a real treat to go back and watch, with new perspective, her performances in films like The Ice Storm, Working Girl, Gorillas in the Mist, and Alien. I can’t wait to see how Sigourney inhabits the role of Dr. Grace Augustine, the botanist she plays in AVATAR.
Since ACID TEST premiered on Discovery Planet Green in August, Sigourney has done a brilliant job raising awareness about the threat to our oceans from rising acidity caused by CO2 pollution. She’s given TV, radio print and web interviews, appeared at screenings, including one on Capitol Hill for U.S. senators and their staff, and pulled off an amazing Trojan Horse gambit on Fox and Friends, using a segment that was supposed to be largely about AVATAR to focus exclusively on ACID TEST and the looming crisis of ocean acidification.
Sigourney’s commitment to environmental protection is really admirable, and it’s great that her new blockbuster will bring a message about respect for nature to an audience of millions.
