For a little light reading, check out the above article which I found on nytimes.com this morning (and by morning, I mean 1pm, yay spring break). It is about an upcoming slew of movies which will focus on mankind's detrimental effects on planet earth. Some movies mentioned include the new "Transformers" movie and a new movie by M. Night Shyamalan called, "The Happening." (He wanted to call it "The Green Effect" but after the failure of "Lady in the Water" he doesn't have too much bargaining leeway). The article states that this is part of an effort by Hollywood to define a new set of villains for the American public - although the producers of the movies admit this is something of a gamble. Often times the villain targeted in these movies will be a large corporation whose evil and careless treatment of the environment spawns unimaginable consequences. I included a picture of a transformer above because I was never really that into them as a kid, so I had forgotten what they look like. Also, I am going to take this time to say that, even though I am not a film critic, M. Night Shyamalan is totally underrated. I thought "The Village" was an awesome movie - creative and unexpected with great filming.
If you want to read something a bit more disheartening, try the opinion section with an article entitled, "Whose Oil is it, Anyway?" (See hyperlink below). The article begins with an interesting piece of information - that 35 years ago international oil corporations controlled a lot more of the world's oil supply than they do now. Currently, the world's oil supplies are in the hands of national governments. The article then goes on to detail the situation in Iraq, where a new law, the Hydrocarbon Law, may soon be passed, allowing international companies easy access to Iraq's oil reserves. Iraq itself would receive very little benefit from allowing this type of access, but the United States is pushing for passage of the law.
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