(Australia, 2009, 90 min., English)
Director: Catherine Henkl
Website - http://www.theburningseasonmovie.com/
Every hour in Indonesian rainforests, an area the size of 300 soccer fields is mowed down and burned, often to make way for oil palm plantations. Palm oil used for cooking, cleaning, even as a biofuel. But the fires farmers set to clear their land have helped make Indonesia the world’s third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide – after the U.S. and China. Dorjee Sun, a 29-year-old Australian “green” entrepreneur, believes he has a solution to reduce those harmful greenhouse gas emissions and has canvassed the world pitching the sale of Indonesia’s carbon credits to polluters in the West. The film follows Sun on a whirlwind trip into boardrooms around the world – from eBay to Starbucks to Merrill Lynch – as he tries to convince skeptical financiers his proposal is viable. To carry out his plan, local political leaders in Indonesia must also agree that their forests are worth more alive than dead. Narrated by Hugh Jackman,The Burning Season kindles both sides of the climate divide and explores whether capitalism can step in where altruism has so far failed to succeed.
