https://www.filmplatform.net/product/happening
Filmmaker James Redford embarks on a colorful personal journey into the dawn of the clean energy era as it creates jobs, turns profits, and makes communities stronger and healthier across the US. Unlikely entrepreneurs in communities from Georgetown, TX to Buffalo, NY reveal pioneering clean energy solutions while James’ discovery of how clean energy works, and what it means at a personal level, becomes the audiences’ discovery too. Reaching well beyond a great story of technology and innovation, “Happening” explores issues of human resilience, social justice, embracing the future, and finding hope for our survival.
Most Americans understand and accept the reality of climate change. Nonetheless, many of us feel uncertain about what we, as individuals, can do. For many of us, solutions to climate change seem out of reach, out of scale and fatally entwined in partisan politics.
Meanwhile, the clean energy revolution is quietly underway. Electricity generated from wind and solar is increasingly more affordable than electricity generated from fossil fuels, and the growth curve for the generation and storage of renewable energy now resembles the exponential curves seen with the advent of radio, TV, and the internet. But can we meet all of our our energy needs with renewable energy? How would we do that? And, most importantly, will we do that?” Happening” chronicles my quest to answer these questions.
During the journey of making “happening”, I met many inspiring citizens, business leaders and politicians leading the clean energy revolution, but the most significant journey involved my own heart and mind. At the start of “Happening”, I was feeling pretty cynical about the value of political engagement. Three years later, I have witnessed first-hand the enduring value of politically engaged citizenry.
In spite of the turbulent political divides we are currently enduring, I feel more hopeful today than ever about our ability as Americans to combat climate change, and I am excited to share this with audiences so that they may feel this way as well.
