A Fierce Green Fire is a big-picture exploration of the environmental movement, grassroots and global activism spanning five decades from conservation to climate change. The title comes from pioneering conservationist Aldo Leopold — who saw a fierce green fire in the eyes of a wolf he’d just shot, and awakened to an ecological perspective. The film unfolds in five acts, each with a central story and character:-- David Brower and the Sierra Club’s battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon,-- Lois Gibbs and Love Canal residents’ struggle against 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals,-- Paul Watson and Greenpeace’s campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals,-- Chico Mendes and Brazilian rubbertappers’ fight to save the Amazon rainforest,-- Bill McKibben and the 25-year effort to address the impossible issue – climate change. Surrounding these stories are strands like environmental justice, going back to the land, and movements of the global south such as Chipko in India and Wangari Maathai in Kenya. Vivid archival film brings it all back and insightful interviews shed light on the events and what they mean. The film offers a deeper view of environmentalism as civilizational change, bringing our industrial society into sustainable balance with nature. It’s the battle for a living planet.
