The little-known story of the accelerating destruction of our forests to produce electricity
Watch on Vimeo74 minutes
Building on the accepted science that climate change is real and caused by human activity, BURNED takes an unwavering look at the latest false solution to our vast energy appetite: the burning of trees to create electricity.
This issue and character driven documentary tells the story of how woody biomass has become the latest alternative-energy savior for the power-generation industry and of the people and parties who are both promoting and fighting its adoption and use.
Using cinema-verité footage and interviews with experts, activists, and citizens from the US, EU, and UK, the film explores biomass energy and its impact on our changing climate. It interweaves the dynamics of forest ecology, power-industry practices, the escalating energy-policy disputes, and the actions of activists and citizens who are working to protect their own health, their communities, the forest, and the planet’s unraveling climate.
Woven together, the various stories present an intimate and visceral account of what is at this moment in time a critical, yet somewhat unknown, national and international controversy.
Viewer Comments:
Is it fair to call something renewable if you’re removing it faster than it can be replenished? This sobering film argues no, pointing to carbon impacts of a recent surge in wood-pellet production and burning that’s feeding the burgeoning biomass industry . . . BURNED argues for considering the broader climate impacts of subsidizing a practice that, left unchecked, could ravage more forests than can afford to be lost.
– Yale Climate Connections
Read more at: yaleclimateconnections.org
[BURNED] does a wonderful job illuminating the biomass issues here in the U.S.
— Heather Hillaker
Associate Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center
This film reviews and applies so, so much of what I teach in earth science to real world, relevant issues. While obviously highlighting the short-sighted and economically driven push for burning biomass as a ‘solution’ to CO2 emissions, it reveals how it is indeed possible to manipulate well-intended environmental mandates in ways that end up doing more damage than good. Students can conclude that we, as the general public, need to be actively aware of what is going on and willing to get involved and spread awareness.
— Sarah Geborkoff
7th & 8th Grade Earth Science Teacher, Houghton, MI