Legacy

Legacy is the masterpiece of Yann Artur-Bertrand. It is a must watch 1 hour and 41-minute documentary offered on Amazon Prime. (Prime is available for free on a one-month trial basis.)

Inspired by his love of nature and humanity Bertrand has taken the wisdom attained through 50 years of observing nature and employed his mastery of film to give us a spellbinding history of earth and man. At this critical juncture in man’s ascent, it is his passion, a grandfather’s passion to protect his grandchildren, which drives him to excel at 76.

If we look back to the days of Leonardo De Vinci or Michelangelo these geniuses had a very small audience with whom to communicate, to make a positive impression, and to create change. They communicated primarily with the aristocracy and the clergy.  There was no need to influence the masses since the common man was not involved in decision making. Commoners could not even read or write.

Democracy has widened the base of decision making. By voting we have a say in who calls the shots.  Today most people can read and write. Recently the world has much more to read via the Internet and social media. Information is raining down on us. Some of it is good, most petty, and too much evil. How does a wise and caring person such as Bertrand bring their message to the voter in a sea of eye-catching advertising designed by psychologists to sell us something we could live happily without, or deliver a false narrative about science, or create misinformation meant to prey upon and divide us?

When you watch this documentary, you will observe a craftsman paint and display the history of earth in stunning beauty.  The geology, the rise of photosynthetic life in the seas, the ascent of terrestrial plants, and then the ascent of animals happens before our eyes. All the beauty of creation is on display. Life’s ability to flourish is explained within the context of its ability to capture and utilize the energy of the sun.

The focus of the documentary changes. Much later in the saga of creation, millions of years later, came man. Man did not appear to be a creature worth betting on. Mankind came to creation as a weak, slow, two-legged creature. We did not even have much in the way of teeth or claws. We couldn’t fly. We couldn’t even smell well. Yet we had two powerful attributes. Man was given the ability to think and to cooperate. With these we have, in an incredibly short period of time, become the dominant and most prolific form of life. All of man’s achievements were again explained by Bertrand within the framework of efficiently capturing and utilizing energy.

Human’s crowning energy achievement, so far, is the extracting and exploitation of ancient sun energy. This life changing energy laid hidden and trapped for millions of years underground.  It is coal, oil and gas. We have employed fossil fuels for only 150 years.

This energy bonanza came as a Trojan Horse. In the horse of burning fuel came the invisible climate destroying gasses carbon dioxide and methane. We have emitted these in massive quantities without foreseeing the consequences. The worst consequence being destabilization of the climate. Bertrand’s keen eye and insight convey the message superbly. If you choose to watch the documentary without sound, the message will still be intriguingly beautiful, terrifying, and irrefutable.

The final message, the good news, is also beautiful and irrefutable. But it is not terrifying. The science community has the tools to make the transition to clean energy. The transition to be successful means adopting and employing technology we already have. The timeline has also been set and agreed upon by the science community. We must reduce the use of fossil fuels by 5% per year every year until we reach zero. This is an achievable 20-year timeline.

The unanswered question, though, is profound. Do you and I love mankind and the diversity of nature which nourishes us? Do we love creation enough to achieve the goal?

Do we have the goodwill and good sense to turn our financial and political systems from exploiting earth to serving all of us and all of creation?

Will we harness our greatest gift, cooperation?

Don’t miss the last two minutes of “Legacy”. Here you may find the answer within yourself.

Note 1: This documentary should be seen by everyone. Certainly, educators will find this documentary beneficial and motivational.

Note 2: Access to this documentary is through Amazon Prime. If you do not have Prime, you can sign up for a free one-month trial. Or, if you know someone with Prime, invite yourself over to watch it. Bring the beer.

If you have Prime, ask someone over and tell them to bring the beer!

If that doesn’t work, and you would like to watch this documentary in a group setting, call or email me and I will try to set something up.

Phone: 906-285-3702   climatelynx@earthlink.net

Final note: The audio narrative is done by Sting.