Environmental campaigners have taken up a challenge from the producers of the upcoming blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, by launching a new website.
www.thedayaftertomorrow.org is a spoof on the dot com website of the same name. The movie, to be launched on 28 May, recounts a fictional disaster in which climate change brings about a new ice age. The producers have stated that campaigners should take advantage of the film.
The parody website, launched today by Greenpeace in countries, has the same look and feel as the official site for The Day after Tomorrow. But the Greenpeace site lays the blame for climate change squarely at the feet of the U.S. administration and oil company Esso by asking the question: "The Day After Tomorrow - Who will you blame?"
"Millions of people will see this film and want to do something about the growing menace of global warming. When they visit our site, they'll get to hear about the real life disaster of climate change - currently being directed by Esso and produced by George W Bush," said Rob Gueterbock of Greenpeace. "This movie may be fiction, but climate change is real and humans are causing it."
Visitors to the site can see Greenpeace's own movie trailer, which features real impacts of climate change (special effects), a factual update on the science and a chance to 're-write the ending' by taking action.
Greenpeace is also launching a massive subvertising campaign. More than a million movie-style stickers are now in the hands of activists across the UK, ready to let the public know who's to blame for global warming. The environmentalists' campaign comes as the Bush administration attempts to stifle the film's message. The New York Times recently published an internal administration memo showing how NASA scientists were ordered not to comment on the film. NASA later rescinded the order, after scientists protested.
The U.S. refuses to sign up to the only international treaty on global warming, the Kyoto Protocol, with President Bush's policies largely focussing on research with no real cuts in C02. Most American scientists are clear that global warming is happening and is caused by humans. Esso, the world's richest company, also refuses to accept the scientific consensus. The company pays front groups to block action and invests nothing in clean, renewable energy.
For more information contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255
