March 9, 2011

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Energy at the movies--tonight

By Mark Fischetti

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Nuclear power is evil. Solar power is our savior. Or...is it the other way around? Tonight (March 9), at 7:00 p.m. EST, the University of Texas will present an entertaining program about how movies have depicted energy sources and therefore shaped public opinion and government policy, for 70 years. The evening will be filled with video clips, expert debates and humorous snippets about energy history, technology and policy, and you can watch the whole event, live, on Scientific American's video feed. The stream will also feature live tweets from our own blogger David Wogan, who has a choice seat in the audience.

How did the potential nuclear reactor meltdown in China Syndrome (Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon) affect public opinion about the technology? When the animated robot WALL-E (Ben Burtt voice) rapidly recharges himself with his solar panels, do people feel optimistic about solar's potential?

The evening's host and lecturer is Michael Webber, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, and a Scientific American adviser. The expert panel includes film historian Charles Ramirez-Berg as well as Matthew Chapman, a screenwriter and director (and great-great grandson of Charles Darwin).

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Tune in tonight. Follow the tweets (#energymovies).

Image by Hendrik Tammen at www.CreativeCommons.org

 

Update: David Wogan's blog post summarizing the event can now be accessed on The Guest Blog.

Mark Fischetti was a senior editor at Scientific American for nearly 20 years and covered sustainability issues, including climate, environment, energy, and more. He assigned and edited feature articles and news by journalists and scientists and also wrote in those formats. He was founding managing editor of two spin-off magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 article “Drowning New Orleans” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. Fischetti has written as a freelancer for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and many other outlets. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti has a physics degree and has twice served as Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many radio stations.

More by Mark Fischetti

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