With all that’s going on in the world, you probably weren’t preoccupied with Greta Thunberg and the climate change zealots at the moment. (Though we wonder why they haven’t come out and condemned the fires and literal trashing of Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis as bad for the environment.) Either way they're back, along with The Office actor Rainn Wilson, in a new TV series meant to lecture “idiots” about the threat of climate change.
Dubbed An Idiot’s Guide to Climate Change, the new TV series explores environmental issues along with the actor as he journeys the world discovering just how badly humans are messing it up. That Wilson will be traveling thousands of miles to glean earnest scientific information from 17-year-old Greta Thunberg really sells the show’s title.
Environmentally-conscious blog site, LiveKindly, described the new show’s premise, writing that Wilson “learns first-hand about the ongoing climate crisis and speaks directly with leading scientists and activists. These include teenage environmental advocate Greta Thunberg, astronomer and climate activist Sævar Helgi Bragason, and arctic scientist Dr. David Hik.”
Wilson is the co-founder of digital media company SoulPancake, which produced the upcoming six-part docuseries, along with an earlier, “Instagram-live” series called, “Hey There, Human,” a show meant to give social media users an intimate look at how people around the world have been coping with the Chinese Virus.
The company claimed that both series were made to “inspire and connect” global audiences, so that we can “take action and build a better tomorrow.” Oh yes, bring on that new, one world normal. We’ve been salivating for it.
Wilson’s own description of “An Idiot’s Guide” used the language of “pandemic” to once again try to sell us on the urgency of the climate change problem. He stated, “Before our current devastating pandemic, I took a trip to Greenland with some climate scientists to explore that other devastating future pandemic – climate change.”
“I knew nothing about climate science and global warming, and I’d never seen a glacier before,” the actor added. So sure, go talk to Greta Thunberg. Her tears of rage should really set Wilson on a path to impartial enlightenment. Don’t worry, though, Wilson is a vegan, so that makes him qualified to preach about these issues to a global audience. In 2017, the actor announced via social media that he was going on a vegan diet, which is the “single most effective way to combat climate change.” What a saint.
At the very least, Wilson did acknowledge the irony in making a Hollywood production on saving the planet that involved air, land and sea travel. Seeking absolution from Mother Earth, Wilson admitted plans to offset his production’s carbon footprint by “planting trees,'' which LiveKindly called a “particularly common form of carbon offsetting.”
Good, he’s received a dispensation. For the rest of us however, we need to eat less meat, and fly and drive less. Maybe some of us could commit to living in a commune built out of recycled iPhone packaging and eat bugs. Who knows? Perhaps then our climate sins will be forgiven.
