“Greedy Lying Bastards” and the Sadness Card
My great friend, Kim LePiane, does a card reading for me almost every time we get together (trust me, you should call her to do one for you – she is amazing) and recently I turned over the Sadness card. I couldn’t imagine why I was getting it since I really wasn’t feeling sad about anything.
I went down the list of everyone I love to make sure there was nothing I should be feeling sad about, and then Kim – who knows me very well – said, quietly, “You know, this doesn’t have to mean there’s sadness in your personal life. It could be more of a global sadness.”
The minute she said it, I knew that was the truth. Having spent months desperately worrying about the election, and watching in shock and horror every day as women’s rights continue to be stripped away, gun violence spirals out of control and politicians refuse to work together, yes, I am devastatingly sad about the state of the world.
So, I probably shouldn’t have watched Greedy Lying Bastards. This new documentary executive produced by actress and environmental activist Daryl Hannah compares Big Oil to Big Tobacco, and exposes the industry’s multi-million dollar efforts to undermine the scientific facts about climate change.
Director/producer Craig Rosebraugh showcases the major players in this worldwide fraud – the Koch brothers, ExxonMobil, denialist Patrick Michaels, United States Senator James Inhofe – and shows how their carefully constructed PR campaigns have helped keep global warming from being seriously addressed even though we’ve been receiving warnings from the scientific community since the 1950s. While the glaciers are melting, their personal wealth is skyrocketing.
I’m so disgusted after watching this appropriately-named film that I don’t even know what to say. Instead, I will urge you to go see the movie and take the very practical actions suggested by the filmmakers:
* Boycott ExxonMobil and all of the companies owned by the Koch brothers, who have vowed “to fight the battle as long as we live.” They have more money with which to do that than you can possibly imagine, so the only way to lower their budget is to cause their profits to fall.
* Contact your representatives to tell them this is an important cause to you, and ask them to curb greenhouse gases and stop subsidies to oil companies who do not need the financial benefits. Find your senators here and your congressmen/women here. After watching this movie, my new hero is Congressman Henry Waxman (whose rep I got to meet with while I was on Capitol Hill to advocate for Shot@Life). If you live in his district in California, send him a thank-you note for taking on this cause.
* Fight against Citizens United. They are trying to buy our elections and, despite their patriotic name, are putting corporations before our citizens.
* Visit ExposetheBastards.com and get involved. Our future depends on it.
Read about two more important documentaries, The Invisible War and How to Survive a Plague, here.
I am so glad about 20 years ago I started taking an anti depressant as I had global sadness. Today as I read all that’s wrong, I don’t go into a tailspin. I do what I can personally to make my carbon print smaller and try to encourage others. I am mostly tired from reading the news so I am trying to read a lot less. Facebook puts all this on the front burner and it is hard to pass by. All of it sickens me.
I am beyond words, and you know that is not like me. Thank you Lois for referring to our reading. It is my great pleasure and joy to get to share this work with you my dear friend, and those who feel called to know more about their own Knowingness. I am so honored and blessed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I haven’t purchased gas from Exxon since the Valdez spill. Sometimes I think I suffer from outrage exhaustion. But then I remember that’s what they hope for…they hope to just wear us down until we are too depressed to respond. Thank you Lois for the post.
Thank you for this.
Thank you for writing this — while I write humor, I am going to blend it with a passion to help women regain power and move forward. And, I boycotted Exxon years ago and BP after the spill. Next move? A car that doesn’t even require gas. I’ll make myself see this movie even though I don’t want to . . . I’ll see it because I need to. Thank you!