Filmmakers Josh Tickell and his wife Rebecca set out on a journey to take a fresh look at Ethanol and try to separate the myth from the hyperbole. This “green evangelist” couple is uniquely suited to lead this inquiry. Their 2008 Sundance-winning film FUEL explored in depth the world of biofuels here in America and around the world. In their new film, FREEDOM, they again take the pulse of the biofuel industry in 2011 and find that the time is right to correct some misperceptions about America’s original alternative fuel.
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The following was written by Josh Tickell, one of the filmmakers of Freedom.
Freedom is a powerful word. But it tends to be overused in today’s agenda-driven world of politics, consumerism and media.
When my wife Rebecca and I set out to make a movie that dealt truthfully with ethanol, we had mixed feelings around ethanol. Obviously, alcohol based fuel isn’t oil. Growing up deep within the oil laden bayous of Louisiana, I knew that was a good thing. But how much better than oil, if at all, was ethanol?
That was the basic question with which we began our investigation. What emerged was first a formidable and intense set of arguments from three powerful individuals — former NATO commander Wesley Clark, former President Reagan National Security Advisor, Bud McFarlane, and Former CIA director Jim Woolsey. In brief, they explained that our exporting of cash to import oil is bleeding America dry.
But there was a deeper argument that wasn’t at first so clear — Americans aren’t free to choose which fuel they use. Said a different way, each time we fill up with regular gasoline, we have to choose the fuel that actually causes harm to our air, water, soil, economy, communities and security. We’re being forced to sell off our future — and the profits for that sale are going to the shareholders of large oil companies.
But true choice is never forced.
Freedom to choose doesn’t require we buy fuel from companies that drill irresponsibly and endanger our beautiful shores. It doesn’t require we send the wealth of our nation abroad. And it certainly doesn’t mandate that we give trillions to banks that are deeply invested into the oil game.
As we learned on our journey to make the movie that became titled “Freedom,” a lot of people are waking up to the precarious situation that oil dependence has put us in. But most people are still unaware of the solutions. We learned a lot about the benefits of ethanol and the movie shows that, on every account where ethanol was deemed bad by the press, the oil companies, or the NGO’s — their claims were unfounded. Ethanol is beneficial, it works, it cuts emissions, it’s compatible with the environment and it makes sense.
But even if you don’t believe any of that and you like oil, as an American, you should have the freedom to choose between fossil fuel and ethanol. But we don’t — and I assert it’s because not enough of us are fighting for that freedom.
Our forefathers knew that freedom is something that must be defended with vigilance and, if necessary, fought for. Perhaps we got a little lazy as a nation. The promise of endless, cheap oil seduced us. Well, that promise didn’t pay out. The bad news is, we’re deeply addicted. The good news is we have a solution — it’s called ethanol. But to bring that solution to bear, we must be prepared to fight.
It’s not really a fight for a different fuel, or even a fight for a choice at the pump. Instead, this fight is truly for our freedom. If we don’t engage people at every level of our lives — from our friends and neighbors to our business associates and PTA members to our congressional representatives — about the absolute, unequivocal necessity of increased protections for, mandates for, and incentives for ethanol — we do a disservice to the word freedom and to all those who have fought for it. I invite you to use the movie “FREEDOM” as a tool in your arsenal. Let’s make sure our freedom is protected. This is one fight we have to win.
Find out more at their site: thefreedomfilm.com.
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