Monday, May 19, 2008

Free documentary exposes environmental activists' real agenda':

Film shows Thursday at Totah
By Cornelia de Bruin The Daily Times
Article Launched: 05/19/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


FARMINGTON — The Albuquerque-based Rio Grande Foundation and Citizen's Alliance for Responsible Energy partnered to bring the film "Mine Your Own Business" to Farmington's Totah Theater on Thursday.
The film is a one-hour documentary that exposes "the real agenda" of prominent environmental activists, focusing on how the environmental movement ignores the world's poor and their need for economic development, according to advance information sent by the Foundation.

"It has three story lines that intertwine, starting in Romania where a Canadian company wants to mine gold that is there," said Paul Gessing, president of the Foundation. "They want to repair the ground afterward; the place is polluted, the river is filthy, it's ecologically devastated."

The area was mined previously during the communist era, Gessing said.
"Non-local environmentalists discuss how quaint their (the locals') lifestyles are. It shows how the environmentalists are outsiders who want to force the people to live as they are," Gessing said.

Filmmakers then travel to other mining-related situations in Madagascar, where they show white environmentalists from outside telling black locals how to live, Gessing said. It continues to a situation in Chile that has similar overtones.
"The effort is not meant to destroy environmentalists, but it is on the site of the locals," he said. "I think it applies directly to some things that are happening in New Mexico."
The people involved here, he said, are generally from Santa Fe.
"They may think they are well-intentioned, but they don't really care how others are living their lives," Gessing said. "We think that, done responsibly, oil and gas drilling, and mining can be done right."
He hopes some of those in attendance will be people who disagree with the film.
"We feel that government lands should be used the best way for the locals," Gessing said. "It's not right to tell people what they can and can't do."
Following the film, author Paul Driessen will localize the movie's message and field questions from the audience and media.
"The three examples in the film are the tip of the iceberg — it's everywhere," he said. "There's a highly capitalized and organized opposition funded mostly by big foundations that oppose any development."
He likened the effort, which he said includes Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Federation, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and Christian Aid, to a destroy all the traditional, blue-collar industries and turn the West into "a playground for the rich."
Driessen studied geology and law in college, became interested in ecology and was involved with the environmental movement.
"I found out it was tied to the philosophy that Americans use too much resources and they won't change, so let's make the rest of the resources unavailable'," he said. "If we do that it puts tremendous pressure on prices because we're importing everything. We're only running out of resources politically."
The author is also senior policy adviser for the educational and human rights organization Congress of Racial Equality.
A happy hour precedes the film from 5 to 5:30 p.m. The film begins at 5:30 p.m., and will be followed by Driessen's presentation at 6:30 p.m.
The event is open to the public. The film, food and beverages are free. Gessing hopes the freebie will attract more viewers.
"People can stay as long as they want," he said.

Cornelia de Bruin: cdebruin@daily-times.com

Monday, April 28, 2008

Documentary Billed as Environmentalist Exposé Showing in Salt Lake City

Filmmakers are Guests of The Sutherland Institute(KCPW News)

Apr 25, 2008

A controversial documentary being billed as an exposé of the "dark side" of environmentalism is expected to play to a sold-out crowd at the Gateway this morning. "Mine Your Own Business" features interviews with environmentalists hoping to stop the development of a gold mine in Romania, and some local residents who invite the development it would bring.
The husband-and-wife team of Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney directed the film. They came to town from Ireland to present it to guests of conservative think-tank The Sutherland Institute.


KCPW's Jeff Robinson talked with McAleer about the documentary and the reception it's gotten around the world. Listen here: http://www.kcpw.org/article/5854


Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Mine Your Own Business in New Mexico

MAY 2008

Mark you calendars now! CARE and the Rio Grande Foundation are partnering to bring a powerful evening event to New Mexico!

On May 20-22 we will be showing the movie Mine Your Own Business in New Mexico

Albuquerque--May 20: State Bar of New Mexico, 5121 Masthead NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109
Roswell--May 21: Roswell Museum and Art Center, 100 West 11th Street, Roswell, NM 88201
Farmington--May 22: Totah Theater, 315 W. Main Street, , Farmington, NM 87401

The Real Agenda of Global Environmental Activists
Mine Your Own Business is a one-hour feature documentary. It is an entertaining and informative exposé on how the environmental movement is ignoring the world's poor and their dire need for development. The film features interviews with some of the world's poorest people and reflects on their individual goals for a better life. It is the first documentary to ask hard questions of the environmental movement and the right of all people to live prosperous and productive lives. Even if you think you understand the importance of economic development, this film will provide insight into the desperate state of the world's poor--as no book or study can--and why we cannot deny them the dignity of development and economic achievement. (Read a review of the movie. Watch the preview.)

Each showing will be followed with a short presentation by Paul Driessen, author of the book Eco-Imperialism. Driessen will localize the movies message and answer questions from the audience.

Each event will be held in a "happy hour" type timeframe with refreshments (Beer and wine will be available at the Albuquerque and Roswell locations)from 4:30-5:30, showings at 5:30 and Paul Driessen's presentations at 6:30. These events are open to the public free-of-charge and you are encouraged to bring everyone you know! (Event sponsorships are still available.)

Arizona to screen Mine Your own Business

Memo to uranium opponents: 'Mine' your own business

By DENNIS FOSTER
Guest Editorial
Sunday, April 20, 2008

What good is mining? To those who care to notice, it is a more significant contributor to our standard of living than is our ability to hunt and gather. Without mining, you can't ride around in subsidized buses, you can't heat your affordable home, you can't operate your solar oven, and you can't enjoy your favorite microbrew.

Should uranium mining be banned in northern Arizona? Some argue it should, because it was poorly done in the past and that it poses some risk. But, then, why not ban all production? There is no such thing as a world without risks. Let's assess these risks, and assess the benefits. Then, let's have an open, and honest, discussion about uranium mining. Maybe it shouldn't be allowed, but maybe it should.

Indeed, if you believe all the mumbo jumbo about human-caused global warming dooming our planet to a fiery grave, you should be an unabashed supporter of uranium mining -- the benefits of saving the human race must certainly outweigh mining's risk factors. Stop being bitter, clutching at your solar panels and your copy of "The Population Bomb." Grab a shovel and help move us into a truly nuclear age.

The clash between environmentalists and people struggling for a decent living in mining is going on all around the globe. If that clash interests you, come see a special screening of the documentary, "Mine Your Own Business" at NAU's Cline Library Auditorium on Wednesday, April 23, at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public.


Dennis Foster has a Ph.D. in economics, teaches at the university level, and is an avid Grand Canyon hiker.

SALT LAKE CITY TO SCREEN MINE YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND HOST FILMMAKERS MCELHINNEY & MCALEER

Earth Week: Mine Your Own Business 4/25/2008 9:00 AM Megaplex 12 at the Gateway, 165 South Rio Grande

As part of its Earth Week, the Sutherland Institute will show a free screening of the documentary, "Mine Your Own Business," on Friday, April 25 at Megaplex 12 at the Gateway in Salt Lake City. The documentary reveals the real agenda of liberal environmentalism. The two film-makers, Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer, will be available for questions and comments.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Mine Your Own Business first screening in Arizona

Movies on Global Warming and Environmentalism

Bookmans
8034 North 19th Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona

Thursday, November 29, 2007
6:30 PM - 10:00 PM

Phoenix Objectivists will host a screening of the movies "Mine Your Own Business" and "The Great Global Warming Swindle" that look at the dark side of environmentalism.

"Mine Your Own Business" showcases some of the world's poorest people and about how Western environmentalists are campaigning to keep people in developing countries in poverty because they think that their way of life is quaint.

"The Great Global Warming Swindle" is a film made in Great Britain that challenges the commonly-held view that mankind is responsible for global warming.

Both films are the first documentaries to ask hard questions about the environmentalist movement and the science they use to make their claims.
Homepage
http://phoenixobjectivists.blogspot.com

Thursday, November 15, 2007

PBS To Broadcast Anti-Progress Propaganda

By Bill Hobbs | August 20, 2007 - 01:04 ET
PBS is scheduled to broadcast nationally Tuesday night a biased documentary about a gold-mining project in Romania. The segment of the PBS series Wide Angle, titled "Gold Futures," looks at the ongoing controversy over a proposed gold mine in the village of Rosia Montana and all indications are that it will follow the anti-mine perspective promoted by a variety of European environmentalists who don't live in the village, an effort now backed by leftwing American financier George Soros, whose Soros Foundation-Romania recently opened an office in Rosia to fight the mining project.

(Soros' history of investment in gold-mining companies raises questions about why he has chosen to oppose the Rosia mining project, but that's a subject for another post some day.)

"Gold Futures" portrays the controversy as a David and Goliath battle with the poor residents of Rosia Montana trying to defend themselves against a giant mining corporation.

PBS describes the film this way:

"Gold Futures is a David-and-Goliath story set in a scenic Romanian village in the heart of Transylvania. At stake: Europe's largest deposit of gold ore - and a 2,000-year-old village community that has existed since the ancient Romans found gold in the mountains. Now, as a Canadian company plans the largest open-pit gold mine in Europe, mineral wealth and badly-needed jobs compete with time-honored rural traditions and concerns about poisoning the environment. Set against the backdrop of Rosia Montana's misty forests, Gold Futures captures the unfolding conflict between villagers who welcome the company's buy-out offers and their neighbors who remain fiercely defensive of their way of life and anxious to maintain the stunning landscape of their homeland."

David and Goliath? The truth, however, is much different. The majority of villagers actually support the project, in part because it would provide jobs for a village that, historically, has depended in mining. Additionally, the Canadian mining company would clean up the decades of horrific environmental damage left behind by now-closed state-run mine of Romania's communist era.

Their story is told in the moving and entertaining documentary Mine Your Own Business, a powerful documentary that exposes how powerful environmental activist groups advance their one-sided, highly self-serving agenda at the expense of the well-being of some of the world's poorest people.

The documentary is a powerful counterpoint to a misleading article in the Jan. 3, 2007, New York Times, "Fighting Over Gold in the Land of Dracula," that was little more than a one-sided piece attacking the proposed gold mine in Rosia Montana, where unemployment has run around 70 percent since the old communist-run state-owned mine was closed.

The NYT portrayed the situation as a struggle between a big, bad mining company and a lone person seeking to stop the mine. The truth is far different, as shown in Mine Your Own Business, directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Phelim McAleer and produced by New Bera Media in association with the Moving Picture Institute.

The NYT article reflected the thinking of left-wing Hollywood elitist cause-celebre environmentalism that runs roughshod over the very real needs of people like the impoverished residents of Rosia Montana - needs such as decent jobs and housing that the mine would bring. The NYT never mentions that a majority of the people of Rosia Montana support the mine or mentions that 60 percent of the property owners affected by the mine have already chosen to sell their property to the mining company. The NYT never mentions the abject poverty that would be alleviated by the development of the mine, and the creation of hundreds of new and desperately needed jobs.

Mine Your Own Business exposes the exaggerations and misleading claims of the foreign environmentalists opposed to the development - and to other mining projects in Madagascar and Chile - and presents the amazing spectacle of some environmentalists asserting that the people in the affected villages don't want prosperity but prefer the simple peasant life where they are poor but happy. On film, however, Rosia villagers speak instead about their desire for development that will bring prosperity and clean up the damage from hundreds of years of environmentally unfriendly mining projects.

"Mine Your Own Business is the first documentary to take a hard look at the environmental movement," says the director, "and what we found was not pretty. Activists believe that people in remote areas are 'poor but happy.' They think that development will spoil their idyllic rural existence. But I've been there, and poverty is neither charming nor quaint, nor is it a lifestyle choice."

I have written more than a dozen posts about or referencing MYOB on my personal blog, billhobbs.com, which you can see here.

PBS ought to show MYOB in addition to "Gold Futures" in order to give viewers a balanced look at the issue. PBS's Wide Angle show is underwitten by the following:

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Bernard and Irene Schwartz, Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation, The Jacob Burns Foundation, Ford Foundation, Josh and Judy Weston, Rosalind P. Walter, and The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

Gheorghe Lucian, a resident of Rosia Montana, has some more discussion of the PBS documentary on his blog, Report from Rosia.

"Gold Futures" airs nationwide on PBS at 9 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday - check your local listings for station and local air times in your city.

—Bill Hobbs is author of Who Is Fred Thompson, a blog-centric look at the presidential candidate.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Mine Your Own Business to be screened in Modesto

'MINE YOUR OWN BUSINESS': Modesto Junior College's Civic Engagement Project will present a film and panel discussion on mining in Romania and farming in the Central Valley on Thursday. The screening of "Mine Your Own Business," will begin at 7 p.m. in Forum 110, east campus of MJC, 435 College Ave. Organizers said the film uses examples of environmentalists' attempts to close down mines in Europe, Africa, and South America to make the broader claim that environmentalists' actions unwittingly increase poverty and environmental degradation. A panel discussion that will follow will center on environmental activism with respect to the Central Valley. Among the topics discussed will be whether "environmental activism" increases poverty and even environmental degradation in the central valley. Panelists are Brad Barker, president-elect of the Stanislaus County Sierra Club, Michel Etchebarne, first vice president of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau and Gary A. Patton, executive director of the Planning and Conservation League in Sacramento. Bill Anelli will be the moderator.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

FILM MAKERS RECEIVE STANDING OVATION AT CONFERENCE

Film Makers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer spoke at the annual State Policy Network in Portland, Maine.

Over 350 people packed a lunchtime talk by McAleer and McElhinney where they also saw excerpts from Mine Your Own Business.

Blogger Dreckless was there:

Mine Your Own Business

While attending a conference here in Maine, we screened a movie entitled Mine Your Own Business. Directed by Irish filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, it looks at the dark side of environmentalism by traveling to some of the world’s most economically challenged areas and talking to some of the world’s poorest people about how western environmentalists are campaigning to keep them in poverty because they think their way of life is quaint.

Without question, it is the hardest-hitting, most effective expose of the hypocrisy, arrogance, condescension, and selfishness of the environmental movement I have ever viewed.

Some of the footage they obtained of liberals from the World Wildlife Fund and like-minded organizations is shocking in what it reveals about the liberal mind.

The directors shared with us the challenges they faced in so effectively exposing the environmentalists – including a number of death threats which were so serious that the police became involved.

Mine Your Own Business asks the hard questions of the environmental movement and exposes it for what it is.

I obtained a DVD of the movie and strongly recommend you do, too. Everyone should see this film.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Standing ovation for Film Maker

Film Maker Ann McElhinney received a standing ovation at a packed Americans For Prosperity summit in Washington DC.

McElhinney was speaking about environmentalism and told of her experiences as a film maker documenting the excesses of the environmental movement.

There was standing room only as over 500 people heard about Mine Your Own Business and the dark side of the environmental movement.

Speaking after most of the Republican Presidential candidates had addressed (and mostly unimpressed) the crowd McElhinney was the only speaker to receive a standing ovation.

"You should run for president," shouted one audience member as Mc Elhinney spoke.