I am a big fan of documentaries. I know plenty of people who find documentaries boring. Not me. I find them thought provoking, educational and often times they inspire me to be a better person, or find a way to make changes in not only my life, but also the lives of my family and the world around me.
I recently watched a documentary called Greedy Lying Bastards. This is one of those documentaries that not only made me angry, but also made me re-consider a lot of “conveniences” that I take for granted.
There is no arguing that there are A LOT of palms being greased in the government. We all know there are people who run our country who honestly couldn’t care less about us, the people, but rather it’s all about the $$$ and who can pay them off to do things in their favor. If you don’t think that happens every day with government officials, then you must live under a rock. In fact, I was shocked to learn that a presidential hopeful and a Supreme Court Justice received money from one of the worst environmental offenders, a company called Koch (pronounced “coke”).
Greedy Lying Bastards is a documentary that goes to great length to discuss global warming and the effect it has on us worldwide. Global warming is not a new concept. I would think a majority of the people around the globe are aware of it. Some people are trying hard to do something about it where as others just stick their heads in the sand and try and pretend it doesn’t exist. It exists. Trust me it does – and it effects YOU, YOUR FAMILY and YOUR FRIENDS.
One of the most serious effects of global warming is the melting of the polar ice caps. Some people might think “Who cares about a bunch of Polar Bears“. That is not the ONLY thing at stake when the ice caps melt. Think of the polar ice caps as the “coolant” for our planet. For example, think of the planet as a refrigerator. The polar ice caps are what helps the planet keep it’s “chill” and not over heat. When the ice caps melt and disappear, Earth will have no way of cooling it’s self down. That means it’s only going to get hotter and hotter. The heat is going to cause more droughts. Droughts effect crops. When craps die due to drought that means the prices of staples like bread, cereal, fruits and vegetables increase dramatically, and could even get to a point of shortages. Think about what would happen if there were no grains to make bread, cereal, pizza and a lot of other foods we eat on a regular basis?
The hot, dry weather and droughts also cause those horrific brush fires they have out West. Those fires cause billions of dollars in damages and destroy the homes and livelihood of thousands of people.
In addition to droughts, global warming also has a major effect on weather and weather patterns. Hurricane Katrina, deadly tornadoes, severe flooding… all these things occur as a result of regular weather patterns that are intensified due to global warming.
The melting of the ice caps also means that the sea level will rise. That might not be much of a concern for you if you live in central US, or anywhere that is not near a coast line. But think about all the homes, business and everything else that will be effected and disappear due to the rise of the ocean.
There is an island in the Pacific Ocean called Tuvalu. It is talked about in the film Greedy Lying Bastards. It’s one of the many places that is in serious jeopardy of the effects of global warming and the rise of the ocean levels. The highest point on Tuvalu is 15′ above sea level. Most of the island is just over 6′ above sea level. It won’t take long before Tuvalu is swallowed up by the ocean. When that happens, what will become of the people of Tuvalu?
The film Greedy Lying Bastards does a great job of showing viewers just how serious the problem of global warming is. It also goes into great length about how some companies, most especially fossil fuel companies, spend millions of dollars every year to fool people into thinking global warming is not really an issue. They use their money to hire PR firms to make sure no one associates them with having a negative impact on the environment. They also put on their payrolls scientists and have them go around saying that global warming is not a big issue. That is because people ASSUME because they are scientists they must know what is really going on. The truth is that these scientists are saying whatever they are told to say because they want that big fat paycheck. These so called scientists have no integrity.
As if hiring PR firms and putting scientists on their payrolls wasn’t enough, many of these big companies, most especially Koch, create phony “grass roots” organizations – referred to as “AstroTurf” organizations. AstroTurf is fake grass, just like how their organization are fake. AstroTurf organizations pretend to serve the public’s best interests, but the reality is that they are being organized and funded by companies for their own personal benefit.
A lot of this I did not know about. It sickens me that people will LIE to the public for their own personal gains ($$$$). Thus the reason why the film is called Greedy Lying Bastards.
The whole film was a real eye opener for me. A lot of the information I was already aware of, but the film exposed things I was completely oblivious to. I’m shocked that companies are able to get away with such deceitful practices. Sadly, most of the government is on their payroll so nothing will ever be done to stop them.
I would recommend this film to everyone who cares about our environment and does not want to be taken advantage of by big time corporations who don’t give a damn about our well being. All they care about is the $$$$$$$$.
The film is going to be released nationally in US theaters on March 8, 2013 in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Denver and Washington DC.
The documentary is already winning a lot of awards including awards from the 2012 United Nations Association Film Festival and the 2013 Environmental Film Festival (Washington D.C.).
For more information about the film visit the official website, www.GreedyLyingBastards.com. You can also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.
Here is the film’s trailer. You can also find the trailer on the film’s official website.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.
Betty Baez says
I like documentaries to often times I learn of new things like gasland I watched last year and now I understand the importance of banning fracking in New York, ill have to add this one to the watch list
Julie Wood says
I am so glad that I came to your blog today. This is so terrible about the people in the White House not caring about the people that elected them. Yes it is all about money! I want to see this movie for myself!
Bethany Larrabee says
It’s really sad how corporations are now in control of this country and our elected officials could give a rats behind about the people.