Today is Sunday, October 15, 2023.
One of these weekends, very late at night, we watched the documentary "Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography".
So interesting. Expanding and deepening the contents of one post that was very appreciated by our readers: "From carbon we came and to carbon we shall return".
Part of nature, industry, culture, war and love, carbon's story paradoxically builds all life, and yet may end it all. "The most misunderstood element on Earth".
To start with, here is the The Voice of Carbon, inspired by the Italian chemist Primo Levi (worth Google in separate, maybe starting here):
“I was caught by the wind, flung down and buried under the earth. I was breathed in by a falcon and expelled. I was burned in the belly of a machine... You think you know me... but do you?”
And here some more quotes from speakers in the documentary:
(1) Astrophysicist, Neil Degrasse Tyson: “People are saying we have a carbon problem… what is your carbon footprint? What is your carbon tax? And I’m thinking… Don’t blame carbon! It’s not carbon’s fault!";
(2) Historian, David Christian: ‘We've developed this relationship with carbon that has benefited us humans in many, many powerful ways… We now have the feeling that we're managing a planet, but what we're beginning to learn is that we're in a lot less control of things than we thought. And the power itself is dangerous’;
(3) Climate Scientist, Will Steffen: ‘Carbon has gone from being a benevolent force, a protector of the earth system in a stable state, but now she’s being released and increasing in the atmosphere. She is becoming a destroyer’;
(4) Geologist, Bob Hazen: 'Every one of us lives in a carbon world. We have to learn to get along with carbon. And she's very happy to get along with us if we treat her right';
(5) Ecologist, Suzanne Simard: ‘The carbon cycle shows that we're all irretrievably connected … we're all in this together’;
(6) Carbon Capture Scientist, Phil de Luna: ‘My vision for the future is where a hundred percent of our energy consumption comes from renewable sources, sources that do not emit carbon. This means that we no longer have to disturb her. We no longer have to dig her up as a fossil fue, burn her, emit carbon dioxide into the air. Rather we can just leave her where she is’.
Click at the image below for the documentary's official website and watch the trailer (we watched at NatGeo Channel). And press kit here.
