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on July 12, 2010
Bryan D. Hopkins
Posted project update #4Rebirth
Post CommentFunding for this kickstarter project has been canceled for numerous reasons, but most importantly this is not the end of Dirty Energy. My trip to the Gulf was amazingly successful and out of fairness to the unique voices that came out of these interviews, I will be cutting together the film as a stand alone piece and not try to shape the discussion into some larger message. For all of those who contributed directly, thank you! I hope to have the trailer up soon. I have an amazing amount of material to choose from, I can't wait to show you!
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on July 12, 2010
Bryan D. Hopkins
Posted project update #3Retrospective (Update #3)
Post CommentI have been home for two weeks since my trip to the Gulf and I feel a number of emotions. First and foremost, the sad reality is that most people regardless of how bad things get down there will never care unless it directly effects them. I asked numerous people in the south how much they cared about the failing U.S. Auto industry that has devastated Detroit and they said that it hadn't crossed their mind. After returning and talking to people, I can say that to some extent the same is true here. Most people don't care or at least not enough.
We are too disconnected in this country. Have you heard the saying, "Divide and Conquer?" This is what has happened to us and we never saw it coming. We all have our little worlds that we live in, but it seems that few of us ever really care to connect the dots of our actions. If you eat meat you pay people to raise and kill animals. If you pay taxes then you fund ammunition used to fight the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you drive a car then have poured oil in the Gulf and have funded the opposing side of many of our battles overseas. I'm not passing judgment. I eat meat, drive and pay taxes. But it kills me that many look at this situation with indifference.
I realize that in the day of modern media when you hear about things 24/7, it can be hard to remain focused on something after the 70th day, this is especially true when it seems like there is nothing directly you can do. But the reality is that there is. For all of you who helped make this trip possible, thank you. I am going to work hard to pull this together and make a difference by hopefully put people in touch on a level they wouldn't get from the news. If you haven't contributed yet and want to, stay in touch and I will probably need additional funding to make 1 last trip to LA for some final interviews. The one thing I ask is that you never ever stop caring! Someone has destroyed a beautifully rich and diverse region of our country and as we speak our own elected officials are restricting access to scene of the crime. This is wrong!
Some of the things that will never make it into this film need to be heard on the media. Dirty Energy is not a who did it film. I can't compete with the bigger media outlets. It takes a lot more resources than a guy and a camera to get that stuff. As owners of our country we should demand that media is present during this clean-up as a check and balance to the actions of our government and the corporations that have tried to deceive us all at every opportunity.
Please call your congressman and senator to demand media access to the clean-up efforts in the Gulf. We must be our own advocate and not allow our eyes and ears to be banished to the nosebleed section of the biggest tragedy our house has been forced to endure.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/7/media_clampdown_in_the_gulf_coast
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on June 20, 2010
Bryan D. Hopkins
Posted project update #2The Big Hurt (Update #2)
Post CommentSo much has happened over the last week. Since I made my way back down to Grand Isle, I have met a lot of great people and have gotten many powerful interviews that have shaken me to the core. As a Detroit local I am familiar with what it looks like when the bottom falls out of the local economy. The loss of automotive jobs has crippled the state Michigan, especially Detroit. Filmmakers often comment that Detroit is a great place to shoot the apocalypse due to all the empty buildings that stand as reminders of what was. The sad thing is that South Louisiana may eventually look very similar. Without the oil and fishing industry there is nothing. All other businesses are ancillary. Tourism is something New Orleans will probably always have, but this will dwindle as the true culture of the city changes from being a vibrant society full of southern hospitality and great seafood to one that is barely able to keep the lights on due to a lack of jobs.
In my interview yesterday with a well know environmental activist who worked on the Exxon Valdeez Spill, I heard a lot of solid reasons for taking a “cold turkey” approach to oil. However, for the locals I have met this would be a nightmare. The people here have taken a potentially fatal blow to their fishing industry. The Herring never returned after the spill in Alaska and many fear the same will happen here. Then you add the moratorium on top of that and you get a situation that has pushed people to the breaking point. The anger here is as thick as the humidity and this is essentially just the beginning. Oil jobs are disappearing as layoffs pick up and fishermen are desperate to land the only work in town, skimming oil for a fraction of what they would normally get paid. Its sad to think that when most people hear that fisherman were getting paid to skim oil they say to themselves, “well at least they are making something.” Fishing is a seasonal business. The money they are making will do nothing to help them cover the maintenance costs of the boats let a lone pay the mortgage. No fisherman is profiting from this or is even sustained. They are being consumed and run into the ground!
Although the moratorium is hugely unpopular here, it is never framed locally as the closing of 33 out of 3,600 oil and gas rigs. It's typically communicated in a heated frenzy of rage, as “the death of all oil jobs in the state.” I'm gonna throw the 33 out of 3,600 statistic out there today at a Father's Day barbecue of underemployed locals and see how it turns out. If this is my last communication, “Thanks, it's been real.” There is so much emotion and fear in South Louisiana that it would be safe to say that much of the state suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, but can you blame them? After Katrina left its mark, in many ways “The Big Easy” became “The Big Hurt;” there are still buildings left in ruins, boats over-turned and cars submerged in water. Most Louisianians that I've met feel forgotten. Sitting in a restaurant I heard, “Once oil hits Florida's white beaches, then something will get done. No one in the country cares about us down here, they like our seafood, oil and natural gas; but soon they'll find out when it's all gone! In the winter we'll shut off our natural gas to the North and let them freeze their asses off. Then they'll know what we do around here.” These statements are not some disgruntled worker venting, they are mantras that can be heard everywhere.
On Wednesday I will begin my long journey home, but this is only the beginning of my work on this film. Once, I return I will edit the footage and post a 5 minute promo piece for the film and make fund raising my fulltime job. I may show clips from time to time, but this is part of a much bigger project that will wrestle with the real challenges we face as we look to the future to shape energy policy in this country. Anyone who is interested in joining me, please let me know and if you haven't please visit, share and contribute the kickstarter.com project.
Thanks,
Bryan D. Hopkins
www.dirtyenergymovie.com -
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on June 11, 2010
Bryan D. Hopkins
Posted project update #1The Beginning (Update #1)
Post CommentDirty Energy is a documentary that will be shot in two phases. The first phase is currently underway, which involves filming in Louisiana to get the local story with regard to the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf. The second phase is build on this work and extend the documentary to the coal industry and Valdeez, Alaska as well as meeting with various experts in the industry. The heart and soul of the project is to truly wrestle with the full human and environmental costs of using fossil fuels and explorer solutions for a more sustainable future.
The first few days have been enlightening to say the least. With each person we meet, it becomes ever more clear that this issue is full of complex contradicting emotions. The primary being the frustration over the BP Spill and the lasting effects it will have on the region's fishing industry, at the same time 17% of the jobs in the state are directly connected to oil and gas.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0524/Despite-BP-oil-spill-Louisiana-still-loves-Big-Oil
For the first few days I've been focusing on trying to get up close and personal with the environmental effects of the spill, but have have faced a variety of obstacles. On day one, I drove south to the marshes of Plaquemines Parish. There I discovered that the marshes that have been effected by oil where approximately 40 miles downriver from the marina where the road ends. Although, things are in the works to land a boat ride out to the marshes with one of the various local organizations, the people I spoke with at the marina explained to me that much of the oil is beneath the surface due to the use of dispersants and is hard to see at times due to changing currents and the fact that the majority of the oil is beneath the surface.
On my second day, I visited Grand Isle and was able to see clearly that there was large amount of oil in the water, but that all of it was floating just below the surface. As the waves roll onto the shore, you see millions of little oil particles spinning around as if someone just stirred the sediment in a puddle. Occasionally, you can see a pelican fly over head with what appears to have oil on it's belly and feet and a small dying fish in the water get scooped up as food. Today I will be returning to Grand Isle to continue to deepen my relationship with the locals there and start conducting interviews to get there views on the mess that has been made of their beautiful island.
So far to date, we have raised over $2,000 between paypal and kickstarter.com. To make it clear, paypal contributions will come to me immediately and will help me through the first phase of this adventure. Kickstarter.com contributions go into a pool of donations that will allow me to expand this into a feature length film. This is an all or nothing deal. If we don't hit 20K in 40 days no money will be received to finish the film. If you are interested in supporting the project, please shamelessly take a moment and share a link to: www.dirtyenergymovie.com. Post it everywhere you think people would be interested in contributing to the film. All funds raised for the film go directly into equipment, food and lodging.
Thanks for all the amazing support I have gotten so far. Please keep it up!!
Sincerely,
Bryan D. Hopkins -
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on June 5, 2010
Bryan D. Hopkins launched a project
Dirty Energy Documentary (Canceled) by Bryan D. Hopkins
Dirty Energy is a documentary about the human and environmental costs of using fossil fuels. The price at the pump is only the beginning.
Funding Canceled (07/12/2010)
Bryan D. Hopkins
Riverview, MI
I am an independent filmmaker. It is who I am and all I want to do. I am passionate, inspired and dream of telling stories that make audiences think and feel in different ways.
